Scribes of revelation - By: Areej Moez

  Scribes of revelation

·     The Quran was revealed to the Prophet (SAW) through angel Gabriel.

·     The revelation started when the Prophet was 40 years old.

·     In the month of Ramadan.

·     The Prophet use to recite the revelation to his followers.

·     The revelation was written down by the scribes.

·     It was written down on the branches of palm trees, tablets of stones etc.

·     The number of scribes who wrote down Quran was about 40.

·     Allah called them all pious, honest and trustworthy and said

    “(it is) in Books held (greatly) in honor. Exalted (in dignity) kept pure and holy (written) by hands of scribes honorable and pious and just”.

·       The most important scribes of the prophet were the first four caliphs.

·       Zayed bin Thabit, Abdullah ibn masud, ubay bin kab, muadh bin jandal, muawiyah bin abu sufyan, abu zayd, Khalid bin saeed and some others.

·       The prophet use to instruct his scribes about the shape of the letters and cut of the pen point.

·       The Quran exists in its present form because of the devotion of these scribes.

·     The best known amongst the scribes was Zayd bin Thabit.

·     He was from the ansar.

·     He accepted Islam at the age of 13 after prophet migrated to madina.

·     He was not allowed to participate in the battle of Badr and Uhad as he was too young however he participated in the battle of trench.

·     He is remembered because of his knowledge and his great contribution as a scribe of revelation.

·     Prophet asked Zayd to learn Hebrew and Syriac.

·     When he became proficient in those languages, he appointed Zayd as his interpreter and gave him the task of writing.

·     Zayd also collected portions of the Quran that were written down by others and arranged them.

Zayd said

“We used to compile the Quran from small manuscripts in the presence of the prophet (SAW)”

·       After the death of the Prophet Zayd took part in the battles against false Prophet Hood.

·       After the battle of Yamanah when many hafiz Quran died, Abu Bakr entrusted Zayd bin Thabit to collect and compile the Quran in one manuscript.

·       He took this responsibility seriously and stared locating the Quran and said

“I started locating the quranic material and collecting it from parchments, scapula, leafstalks of date palms and from memories of men (who knew it by heart)”