By Kolade Sodiq

“By Allah, if they asked me to move a whole mountain from its place, it would have been easier than the task of compiling the Qur’an which they ordered me to fulfill!” – Zayd Ibn Thaabit

It was shortly after the death of the prophet (S.A.W) when falsehood began. Musaylimah ibn Habib proclaimed himself a prophet and had a large amount of followers. Abu Bakr bn Abi Quhafah (RA), the successor of the prophet, would not allow the falsehood to spread among the faithful and thereby waged war on it. The rebels maintained that they had submitted to Muhammad (S.A.W) as the prophet of Allah but owed nothing to Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr divided his army into different portions and gave the largest portion to Khaalid Ibn Walid. Ultimately, the army of Khaalid prevailed in Yamamah (the battlefield) and the liars were defeated but it came at a huge cost to the Muslims. More than 70 reciters of the holy Qur’an who knew the Qur’an by heart died in the battle of Yamamah. Umar ibn Khattab (RA) hurried to Caliph Abu Bakr(RA) and asked him to allow the faithful to compile the Qur’an before the remaining reciters and scribes passed away.

   Abu Bakr (RA) sought Allah’s guidance and also consulted his companions. He then called for Zaid Ibn Thaabit and expressed his trust in his abilities. He ordered Zaid to begin compiling the Holy Qur’an with the assistance of the other well versed scholars. He collected works from trustworthy reciters and scribes and compared, investigated and refuted until he gathered the whole Qur’an in the order in which the Prophet put them shortly before he died.

Here was one man entrusted with the compilation of the holy book that will serve as a guide to mankind and he carried it out flawlessly.  He took solace in the fact that Allah has promised that: “Indeed! We are the One Who have revealed the Qur’an, and surely, We will guard it from corruption.” – Quran 15:9.   

After compilation, he was able to get the companions to reach a consensus on the quality and soundness of his work. Even when the time came when the disbelievers started accepting Islam in groups, there arose a need to standardize the Qur’an. Before then, the Qur’an had been compiled and written down in more than one book. Hudaifah Ibn Al Yamaan went to Caliph Uthman Ibn Affaan and explained the necessity to unite all the different books into one. Uthman also entrusted Zaid with the work. Zaid formed a team of scribes and Qur’an reciters and after considering the different versions, they united the Qur’an into a single version.

Zaid Ibn Thaabit was a lover of the Qur’an and he memorized the Qur’an by heart. He also had a good grasp of many languages because, as the scribe of the prophet (SAW), he was required to get acquainted with many languages so that he could relay the Prophet’s messages to king and emperors who did not speak Arabic.

Whenever we want to recite Qur’an, we should remember that the hard work has been done by our pious predecessors especially Zaid Ibn Thaabit to make sure that the benefit of the holy Qur’an extends to our generation and beyond.

May Allah overlook our shortcomings and make us better Muslims.