We have explained elsewhere why the Prophet ﷺ recited to him, and that he ﷺ recited Sūrat al-Bayyinah:
“Those who disbelieved from among the People of the Book and the polytheists were not about to desist until there came to them clear evidence (1) a Messenger from Allah reciting purified scriptures (2) wherein are writings upright and just (3).” (al-Bayyinah 98:1–3)
The occasion was that Ubayy ibn Kaʿb had objected to a man’s recitation of a sūrah that differed from the way Ubayy himself read it. Ubayy brought the matter to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. The Prophet said, “Recite, Ubayy.” He recited, and the Prophet affirmed, “It was revealed in this way.” He then said to the other man, “Recite.” The man did so, and the Prophet said, “It was revealed in this way.”
Ubayy relates: “A doubt seized me—something I had never experienced even in the Days of Ignorance. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ struck my chest, sweat burst forth from me, and it was as though I were looking at Allah in awe.” The Prophet ﷺ then recited this sūrah to him to reassure him and to make plain that the Qur’an is true and certain, revealed upon several aḥruf as a mercy and kindness to the servants.
Ibn Abī Khaythamah said, “He was the first to write down the Revelation in the presence of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” Muḥammad ibn Saʿd likewise stated, “He used to write the Revelation in front of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”
Scholars differ on the year of his death: some say 19 AH, others 20 AH, 23 AH, or a week before the assassination of ʿUthmān—Allah knows best.
Among those scribes—may Allah be pleased with them—was al-Arqam ibn Abī al-Arqam, whose personal name was ʿAbd Manāf ibn Asad ibn Jundub ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn Makhzūm al-Makhzūmī. He accepted Islam early, and it was in his house at al-Ṣafā that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ met secretly; the house was later known as al-Khayzurān. He emigrated, fought at Badr and every battle thereafter, and the Prophet ﷺ paired him in brotherhood with ʿAbd Allāh ibn Unays.
By order of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ he drafted the land grants for ʿUẓaym ibn al-Ḥārith al-Muḥāribī at Fakh and elsewhere. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir relates this through the chain: ʿAtīq ibn Yaʿqūb al-Zubayrī → ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Bakr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm → his father → his grandfather → ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm.
He is reported to have died in 53 AH, though others say 55 AH, at the age of eighty-five. Imam Ahmad transmitted two ḥadīths from him.