Chapter 3: The Contradiction among the Traditions in Their Account of the Collection of the Qur’an

All these traditions are contradicted by information that indicates that the Qur’an was collected and recorded during the lifetime of the Messenger of God (peace beupon him and his progeny). This information has been transmitted by a number of people, including Ibn Abi Shayba, Ibn Habban, al-Hakim, al-Bayhaqi, and al-Diya’ al-Maqdisi, all reporting on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas, who said:

I asked ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan: “What made you turn to ‘Surat al-Anfal’ [sura 8, “The Spoils”], which is one of the mathani suras, ⁵ and to ‘Surat al-Bara’a’ [sura 9], which is one of the mi’in suras, ⁶ and put them next to each other without writing between them the basmala invocation [In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate]? What made you do that?” ‘Uthman replied: “There were times when [long] suras with numerous [verses] used to come down to the Messenger of God. And when something was revealed to him, he would call for one of those who used to transcribe for him and say, ‘Include these verses in the sura in which this and that is mentioned.’ More verses would Come down to him and he would say: ‘Include these in the sura in which this and that is mentioned.’ Al-Anfal’ was among the first of the revelations in Medina, and ‘al-Bara’a was among the last revelations of the Qur’an. The contents of ‘al-Bara’a’ resembled those of ‘al-Anfal,’ so I assumed that it belonged to it. The Prophet died without clarifying for us that it was part of it. It is for this reason that I put them together without writing the line bism Allah al-Rahman, al-Rahim [i.e., the basmala], and I placed them among the seven long suras.” ⁷

In another tradition, related by al- Tabarani and Ibn ‘Asakir, al-Sha’bi says:

The Qur’an was collected, during the lifetime of the Messenger of God, by six individuals from the Ansar (Helpers): Ubayy b. Ka’b, Zayd b. Thabit, Mu’adh b. Jabal, Abu al-Darda’, Sa’d b. ‘Ubayd, and Abu Zayd. Moreover, Majma’ b. Jariya had collected [all of the] Qur’an except for two or three suras. ⁸

Qatadah reports the following:

I asked Anas b. Malik, “Who collected the Qur’an during the lifetime of the Prophet?” He replied, “Four persons, all of them from theAnsar (Helpers): Ubayy b. Ka ‘b, Mu’adh b. Jabal, Zayd b. Thabit, and Abu Zayd.” ⁹

According to Masruq, one day ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Umar remembered ‘Abd Allah b. Mas’ud, and said, “I continue to love him. I heard the Prophet say, ‘Learn the Qur’an from four: ‘Abd Allah b. Mas’ud, Salim, Mu’adh, and Ubayy b. Ka’b.” ¹⁰

Al-Nasa’ reports a tradition with a sound chain of transmission going back to ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Umar, who said, “I collected the Qur’an and I used to read [all of] it every night. The Prophet came to know about it and told me: ‘Read it in a month. …”‘ ¹¹

We shall presently cite the tradition from Ibn Sa’d regarding the collection of the Qur’an by Umm Waraqa.

It is possible to argue that the notion of collection (jam’) in the aforementioned traditions implies collection in the memory and not in recording (tadwin) the revelation in a volume. However, such an assertion rests on no evidence. Additionally, during the Prophet’s time, more people than could be counted memorized the text of the Qur’an. How then could they be limited to four or six persons, as these traditions do? Anyone who has examined the history of the Companions and the Prophet would know with certainty that the Qur’an existed in the form of a complete collection during the Prophet’s time, and that the number of people engaged in collecting it was fairly sizable. However, as for the tradition related by al-Bukhari on the authority of Anas, which says that the Prophet died and no one had collected the Qur’an except four-Abu Darda’, Mu’adh b. Jabal, Zayd b. Thabit, and Abu Zayd–it has to be rejected and discarded because it contradicts all the preceding traditions, including those reported by al-Bukharr himself. Moreover, this tradition is hard to believe, for how could Anas, the narrator of the report, have information about every individual Muslim at the time of the Prophet’s death–they were large in number and spread out in the region-to enable him to limit the persons who collected the Qur’an to four? This assertion is nothing more than a conjecture about the unknown and an opinion without knowledge.

To recapitulate, in view of the above mentioned traditions regarding the Qur’an’s existence in the collected form during the Prophet’s time, how can one believe that Abu Bakr was the first to collect it after assuming the caliphate? If we do accept the validity of such a claim, then the question arises as to why he ordered Zayd and (Umar to collect it from palm branches, flat stones, and the memories of men? Why did he not take it from ( Abd Allah, Mu(adh, and Ubayy, who were alive at the time of the collection, and who, along with Salim, were, according to the Prophet’s instructions, the persons from whom the Qur’an should be acquired? It is true that Salim had been killed in the battle of Yamama, and thus the Qur’an could not be acquired from him. Nevertheless, Zayd, as it appears from this tradition, himself was one of the compilers of the Qur’an. As such, there was no need to look for, or ask, someone else, especially as he was a wise and trusted man, as Abu Bakr himself said. Besides all these points, the tradition about the “two things of high estimation” (thaqalayn) indicates that the Qur’an existed as a complete collection during the Prophet’s time, as we shall explain further below.