“And Zayd, and Abū Zayd,” he said, “and we are the ones who inherited it.”
In another wording he related: “Abū Zayd died leaving no offspring; he had fought at Badr, and Abū Zayd’s personal name was Saʿd ibn ʿUbayd.”
Ibn al-Ṭayyib—may Allah be pleased with him—commented: “These reports do not show that during the Prophet’s lifetime—blessings and peace be upon him—no one memorized and compiled the Qur’an except four men from the Anṣār, as Anas ibn Mālik stated. On the contrary, mass-transmitted chains establish that ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Tamīm al-Dārī, ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit, and ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ also compiled the Qur’an. Anas’s remark that only four people gathered it may therefore be understood to mean that no one besides that group both collected the Qur’an and learned it directly from the Messenger—blessings and peace be upon him—by oral instruction; most Companions received part of it from him and part from others. Numerous accounts likewise agree that those four eminent Companions completed the compilation in the Prophet’s lifetime because they were early converts and held a special place in his regard.
I say: In what I have seen, the Qāḍī did not mention ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd or Sālim, the freedman of Abū Ḥudhayfah—may Allah be pleased with them—though both of them compiled the Qur’an.
Jarīr narrated—through ʿAbd Allah ibn Yazīd al-Ṣahbānī—from Kumayl—that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said: “I was with the Messenger of Allah—blessings and peace be upon him—along with Abū Bakr and others whom Allah willed, when we passed by ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd while he was praying. The Messenger of Allah—blessings and peace be upon him—asked, ‘Who is that reciting the Qur’an?’ They said, ‘That is ʿAbd Allah ibn Umm ʿAbd.’ He replied, ‘Indeed, ʿAbd Allah is reciting the Qur’an fresh, just as it was revealed.’” (The ḥadīth continues.)
Some scholars explain that his words “fresh, just as it was revealed” mean that he was reciting according to the first ḥarf in which the Qur’an was sent down, without the seven modes that the Messenger of Allah—blessings and peace be upon him—was later permitted to use after Gabriel, peace be upon him, reviewed the Qur’an with him each Ramadan.
Wakīʿ and others likewise transmitted—through al-Aʿmash—from Abū Ḍabyān that ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās asked me, “Which of the two recitations do you read?” I replied, “The first recitation, that of Ibn Umm ʿAbd.” He said, “Rather, it is the last. The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—used to present the Qur’an to Gabriel once each year, but in the year he was taken he presented it twice, and ʿAbd Allah was present at that, so he came to know what had been abrogated …”