Ibn Isḥāq states that Zayd ibn Thābit wrote for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. If neither Ibn al-Arqam nor Zayd ibn Thābit was present, whoever happened to be on hand would write instead. ʿUmar, ʿAlī, Zayd, al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, Muʿāwiyah, Khālid ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ, and a number of other Arabs whose names have been recorded all took up the pen for him.
Al-Aʿmash relates: I asked Shaqīq ibn Salamah, “Who was the Prophet’s scribe?” He replied, “ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Arqam. A letter from ʿUmar reached us at al-Qādisiyyah, and at the bottom of it was written: ‘Written by ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Arqam.’ ”
Al-Bayhaqī reports—through a chain that ends with ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar—that a letter once came to the Prophet ﷺ. He said to ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Arqam, “Answer on my behalf.” Ibn al-Arqam wrote the reply and read it back to him. The Prophet remarked, “You have spoken correctly and done well. O Allah, grant him success.” When ʿUmar became caliph he would regularly consult him.
It is also related from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb that he said, “Among my officials I have never seen anyone more God-fearing than he”—meaning ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Arqam, who lost his sight before his death, may Allah be pleased with him.
Among them, too, was ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zayd ibn ʿAbd Rabbih al-Anṣārī al-Khazrajī, the Companion of the Call to Prayer. He embraced Islam early, was present at the pledge of the Seventy at al-ʿAqabah, and fought at Badr and every battle thereafter. One of his greatest distinctions is that he saw the words of the adhān and the iqāmah in a dream, related it to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and received his confirmation. The Prophet said to him, “It is a true vision; teach it to Bilāl, for his voice is more resonant than yours.” We have already cited the ḥadīth in its proper place.
Al-Wāqidī, through his chains from Ibn ʿAbbās, narrates that he wrote a document for the new Muslims of Jurash, instructing them to establish the prayer, pay the zakāh, and hand over one-fifth of any spoils of war.
He died in 32 AH at the age of sixty-four, and ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, may Allah be pleased with him, led the funeral prayer over him.
Among them likewise was ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Sarḥ al-Qurashī al-ʿĀmirī, the foster-brother of ʿUthmān ibn