11. Ramzan Quiz.

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاتة   

بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِٱلرَّحِيمِ   

11. Name the Companion of the Prophet ﷺ who is a scribe as well as the compiler of the Holy Quran.

Answer: Zaid ibn Thabith (RA).

Zaid ibn Thabith (RA) under the service of the Prophet ﷺ:

Zaid bin Thabit (RA) was from Najjar clan of Banu Khazraj of Madhina. He was an orphan. At his 11 years, he asked permission to participate in the Battle of Badr. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ did not allow him to participate, due to his young age. Dejected he, turned his attention in memorizing Quran. Some Ansar mentioned about this youth to the Prophet ﷺ, by saying: "O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, our son Zayd ibn Thabit has memorized seventeen surahs of the Book of Allah and recites them as correctly as they were revealed to you. In addition to that he is good at reading and writing. It is in this field of service that he desires to be close to you. Listen to him if you will."

He also learnt Hebrew and Syrian languages and served Prophet ﷺ as translator:

The Prophet ﷺ listened to his clear, beautiful recitation, with understanding where to stop, how to prolong etc. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ is highly pleased with his recitation. Observing his intelligence, skill and understanding in linguistics, he asked him to learn Jewish language. He learnt Hebrew in 15 days to read and well as to write and Syrian language in 17 days and helped the Prophet ﷺ to converse easily with non-Arabs, and also helped in written communications. He acted as an official interpreter and translator for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

Seeing his intelligence, enthusiasm in memorizing the Quran, the skill in writing, his care, precision and responsibility in carrying his duties, he was appointed as the one of the scribes to write down the revealed verses of Quran. Once he told, "We used to compile the Quran from small manuscripts in the presence of the Prophet ﷺ." Among the Companions of Prophet ﷺ he was raised as a leading Scholar. Once Prophet ﷺ corrected him, “Whenever you write بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْم, make the سین clearly apparent.” After receiving revelation, the Prophet ﷺ used to say, “Call Zaid (RA) to me, and tell him to bring a shoulder bone, an inkpot, and a tablet to write on.”

First compilation of Quran:

Narrated Zaid bin Thabit Al-Ansari in a long hadhees:  Abu Bakr (RA) sent for me after the (heavy) casualties among the warriors (of the battle) of Yamama (where a great number of Qurra' were killed). `Umar (RA) was present with Abu Bakr (RA) who said, `Umar (RA) has come to me and said, "The people have suffered heavy casualties on the day of (the battle of) Yamama, and I am afraid that there will be more casualties among the Qurra' (those who know the Qur'an by heart) at other battle-fields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost, unless you collect it. And I am of the opinion that you should collect the Qur'an." Abu Bakr (RA) added, "I said to `Umar, 'How can I do something which Allah's Apostle ﷺ has not done?' `Umar (RA) said (to me), 'By Allah, it is (really) a good thing.' So `Umar (RA) kept on pressing, trying to persuade me to accept his proposal, till Allah opened my bosom for it and I had the same opinion as `Umar (RA)."

(Zaid bin Thabit [RA] added:) `Umar (RA) was sitting with him (Abu Bak r[RA]) and was not speaking me. "You are a wise young man and we do not suspect you (of telling lies or of forgetfulness): and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Messenger ﷺ. Therefore, look for the Quran and collect it (in one manuscript)." " By Allah, if he (Abu Bakr [RA]) had ordered me to shift one of the mountains (from its place) it would not have been harder for me than what he had ordered me concerning the collection of the Quran. I said to both of them, "How dare you do a thing which the Prophet ﷺ has not done?" Abu Bakr (RA) said, "By Allah, it is (really) a good thing. So I kept on arguing with him about it till Allah opened my bosom for that which He had opened the bosoms of Abu Bakr (RA) and `Umar 9RA). So I started locating Quranic material and collecting it from parchments, scapula, leaf-stalks of date palms and from the memories of men (who knew it by heart). I found with Khuza`ima two Verses of Surat-at-Tauba which I had not found with anybody else, (and they were) - "Verily there has come to you an Apostle (Muhammad) from amongst yourselves. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty He (Muhammad) is ardently anxious over you (to be rightly guided)" (9.128) The manuscript on which the Quran was collected, remained with Abu Bakr (RA) till Allah took him unto Him, and then with `Umar (RA) till Allah took him unto Him, and finally it remained with Hafsa (RA), `Umar (RA)'s daughter. [Sahih Bukari, 4697].

Second Compilation:

In the new expanded Islamic empire, different regions followed different dialects (form or way) of Quran due to the oral recitation of different companions of the Prophet ﷺ: "The Syrians followed Ubayy ibn Ka'b (RA), the Kufans followed Abdullah ibn Masud (RA), the people of Hims followed Miqdad ibn Aswad (RA), and the people of Basra followed Abu Musa (RA).

Observing these regional differences, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman (RA) and told Uthman (RA) the Calipha, "Take this umma in hand before they differ about the Book like the Christians and Jews."

Usman (RA) obtained the manuscript of the Quran from Hafsah (RA) and again summoned the leading authority, Zaid ibn Thabit (RA) along with other companions to make copies of it.  The style of Arabic dialect used was that of the Quraish tribe. Hence this style was emphasized over all the others, thus eliminating the variations or differences in the dialect from the standard text of the Quran.

Bilal Philips writes, "Usman (RA) sent these copies along with the Quranic reciters to the major centres of Islam. This decision was approved by Companions of the Prophet ﷺ and all unofficial copies of the Quran were destroyed. Thus, the Quran which is available throughout the world today is written and recited in only one style."

Later dots and vowels are added during Caliph Ali ibn Abi Thalib (RA):

Arabs understood the meaning of a word through the context of a sentence; As Islam later spread to non-Arabic countries understanding what a word, how to pronounce a word by context was hard. Adding dots and vowels, also known as diacritical marks, helped non-Arab understand what sound a word makes and what the meaning of a word is. Under the instruction of Imam Ali (RA), his student Abul-Aswad al-Doeli was "the first person who put the dots on the words of the holy Quran."(Sobhul-A’sha, vol. 1, p. 420). Later developed by Yahya Bin Ya’mar oand by Nasr Bin ‘Asem, who were both the students of Abul-Aswad.

Even though Allah Almighty Himself took the responsibility of preserving Quran from distortion by Shaithan.,He worked through humans gradually removing the difficulties and problems, made it to be universal, to be avilable to humanity of all times with no deviation.

الحمدلله