During the caliphate of the Ṣiddīq, may Allah be pleased with him, the battle of Yamāmah was fought, and on that day—according to some reports—seven hundred of the Qur’an‐reciters were killed. Fearing that the senior reciters—men such as Ubayy, Ibn Masʿūd, and Zayd—might pass away and portions of the Qur’an be lost, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb advised Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, may Allah be pleased with them both, to collect the Qur’an into a single corpus. The two of them therefore appointed Zayd ibn Thābit to undertake the task, and—after great exertion, may Allah be pleased with him—he gathered it, though the sūrahs were not yet arranged in order.

Al-Bukhārī transmits from Zayd ibn Thābit, who said:

Abū Bakr sent for me after the casualties at Yamāmah, while ʿUmar was with him. Abū Bakr said:

“ʿUmar has come to me and said, ‘The slaughter among the people on the Day of Yamāmah has been severe, and I fear that further losses among the reciters in other engagements may cause much of the Qur’an to be lost unless you collect it. In my view you should compile the Qur’an.’”

Abū Bakr continued:

“I said to ʿUmar, ‘How can I do something that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—never did?’”

He replied, “By Allah, it is good.” He kept urging me until Allah opened my heart to it and I came to see what ʿUmar saw.

Zayd said:

“ʿUmar was sitting there in silence, and Abū Bakr said to me, ‘You are a young, intelligent man, and we harbor no suspicion about you. You used to write down revelation for the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him. So trace the Qur’an and collect it. By Allah, had he charged me with moving a mountain, it would not have weighed more heavily upon me than what he has ordered me to do concerning the compilation of the Qur’an.’”

I said, “How will you two undertake a task the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—never did?”

Abū Bakr answered, “By Allah, it is good.” He continued to press me until Allah opened my heart to the same conviction He had opened the hearts of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar to. I then set about tracing the Qur’an, gathering it from parchments, shoulder-blades (1), palm stalks (2), and the memories of men. I eventually found with Khuzaymah al-Anṣārī two verses from Sūrat al-Tawbah that I had not found with anyone else:

“Indeed, there has come to you a Messenger from among yourselves …” to the end of the passage.

The folios in which the Qur’an had been compiled remained with Abū Bakr until Allah took him, then with ʿUmar until Allah took him, and after that with Ḥafṣah bint ʿUmar.

Al-Layth said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ghālib narrated to me from Ibn Shihāb, who said: “with Abū Khuzaymah al-Anṣārī.”

Abū Thābit said: Ibrāhīm narrated to us and said: “with Khuzaymah—or Abū Khuzaymah—

‘But if they turn away, say: Allah is enough for me; there is no deity but Him. In Him I place my trust, and He is the Lord of the Mighty Throne.’”

(1) Flat shoulder‐blades of animals on which text would be written.
(2) The ribbed stalks of date palms used as writing material.