English translation
4986. Narrated Zaid bin Thâbit رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ: Abû Bakr Aş-Siddîq sent for me when the people of Yamâma had been killed (i.e., a number of the Prophet's Companions who fought against Mûsailima). (I went to him) and found 'Umar bin Al-Khaţţâb sitting with him. Abû Bakr رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ then said (to me), "Umar has come to me and said: 'Casualties were heavy among the Qurra' of the Qur'an (i.e., those who knew the Qur'an by heart) on the day of the battle of Yamâma, and I am afraid that more heavy casualties may take place among the Qurra' on other battlefields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost. Therefore I suggest you (Abû Bakr) order that the Qur'an be collected." I said to 'Umar, "How can you do something which Allâh's Messenger ﷺ did not do?" 'Umar said, "By Allâh, that is a good thing to be done." 'Umar kept on urging me to accept his proposal till Allâh opened my chest for it and I began to realise the good in the idea which 'Umar had realised." Then Abû Bakr said (to me), "You are a wise young man and we do not have any suspicion about you, and you used to write the Divine Revelation for Allâh's Messenger ﷺ. So you should search for (the fragmentary scripts of) the Qur'an and collect it (in one book)." By Allâh! If they had ordered me to shift one of the mountains, it would not have been heavier for me than this ordering me to collect the Qur'an. Then I said to Abû Bakr, "How will you do something which Allâh's Messenger ﷺ did not do?" Abû Bakr replied, "By Allāh, it is a good thing to be done.” Abū Bakr kept on urging me to accept his idea until Allāh opened my chest for what He had opened the chests of Abū Bakr and ‘Umar رضي الله عنهما. So I started looking for the Qur’ān and collecting it from (what was written on) palm-leaf stalks, thin white stones and also from the men who knew it by heart, till I found the last Verse of Sūrat At-Tauba (Repentance) with Abī Khuzaima Al-Anṣārī, and I did not find it with anybody other than him. The Verse is: “Verily, there has come unto you a Messenger (Muḥammad ﷺ) from amongst yourselves (i.e., whom you know well). It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty...” (till the end of “Sūrat Barā’a (At-Tauba) (V.9:128,129). Then the complete manuscript of the Qur’ān remained with Abū Bakr till he died, then with ‘Umar till the end of his life, and then with Ḥafṣa, the daughter of ‘Umar رضي الله عنه.