English translation
7191. Narrated Zaid bin Thabit: Abū Bakr sent for me, owing to the large number of casualties in the battle of Al-Yamāma, while 'Umar was sitting with him. Abū Bakr said (to me), 'Umar has come to me and said, "A great number of Qurra' (those who know the Qur'an by heart) of the Qur'an were killed on the day (of the battle) of Al-Yamāma, and I am afraid that the casualties among the Qurra' of the Qur'an may increase on other battlefields whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost. Therefore, I consider it advisable that you (Abū Bakr) should have the Qur'an collected." I said, "How dare I do something which Allāh's Messenger ﷺ did not do?" 'Umar said, "By Allāh, it is something beneficial." 'Umar kept on pressing me for that till Allāh opened my chest for that for which He had opened the chest of 'Umar and I had in that matter the same opinion as 'Umar had. Abū Bakr then said to me (Zaid), "You are a wise young man and we do not have any suspicion about you, and you used to write the Divine Revelation for Allāh's Messenger ﷺ. So you should search for the fragmentary scripts of the Qur'ān and collect it (in one Book).” Zaid further said: By Allāh, if Abū Bakr had ordered me to shift a mountain among the mountains from one place to another it would not have been heavier for me than this ordering me to collect the Qur'ān. Then I said (to 'Umar and Abū Bakr), “How can you do something which Allāh's Messenger ﷺ did not do?” Abū Bakr said, “By Allāh, it is something beneficial.” Zaid added: So he (Abū Bakr) kept on pressing me for that, until Allāh opened my chest for that for which He had opened the chests of Abū Bakr and 'Umar, and I had in that matter the same opinion as theirs. So I started compiling the Qur'ān by collecting it from the leafless stalks of the date-palm tree and from the pieces of leather and hides and from the stones, and from the chests of men (who had memorized the Qur'ān). I found the last Verses of Sūrat At-Tauba: “Verily there has come unto you a Messenger (Muḥammad ﷺ) from amongst yourselves...” (V.9:128,129)) from Khuzaima or Abu Khuzaima and I added it to the rest of the Sūrah. The manuscripts of the Qur'ān remained with Abū Bakr till Allāh took him unto Him. Then it remained with 'Umar till Allāh took him unto Him, and then with Ḥafsa bint 'Umar.