Prophet is buzzing with activity as the Muslims prepare for the long
march southwards to Badr.
The noble Prophet made a final inspection of the first army to
bemobilized under his leadership to wage Jihad against those who had
tormented the Muslimsfor many years and who were still bent on putting
an end to his mission.
A youth, not yet thirteen, walkedup to the ranks. He was confident and
alert. He held a sword which was as long or possibly slightly longer
than his own height. He went up to the Prophet, may God bless him and
grant him peace, and said: "I dedicate myself to you, Messenger of
God. Permit me to be with you and to fight the enemies of God under
your banner."
The noble Prophet looked at himwith admiration and patted his shoulder
with loving tenderness.He commended him for his courage but refused to
enlist him because he was still too young.
The youth, Zayd ibn Thabit, turned and walked away, dejected and sad.
As he walked, in slow and measured paces, he stuck his sword in the
ground asa sign of his disappointment. He was denied the honor of
accompanying the Prophet on his first campaign. Behind him was his
mother, an-Nawar bint Malik. She felt equally dejected and sad. She
had dearly wished to see her young son go with the army of mujahidin
and to be with the Prophet at this most critical time.
One year later, as preparations were underway for the second encounter
with the Quraysh which took place at Uhud, a group of Muslim teenagers
bearing arms of various kinds - swords, spears, bows and arrows and
shields - approachedthe Prophet. They were seeking to be enlisted in
any capacity in the Muslim ranks. Some of them,like Rafi ibn Khadij
and Samurah ibn Jundub, who were strong and well-built for their age
and who demonstrated their ability to wrestle and handle weapons, were
granted permission by the Prophet to join the Muslim forces. Others
like Abdullah the son of Umar and Zayd ibn Thabit were still
considered by the Prophet to be too young and immature to fight. He
promised though to consider them for a later campaign. It was only at
the Battle of the Ditch when Zayd was about sixteen years oldthat he
was at last allowed to bear arms in defence of the Muslim community.
Although Zayd was keen to participate in battles, it is not as a
warrior that he is remembered. After his rejection for the Badr
campaign, he accepted the fact then that he was too young to fight in
major battles. His alert mind turned to other fields of service, which
hadno connection with age and which could bring him closer to the
Prophet, peace be on him. He considered the field of knowledge and in
particular of memorizing the Quran. He mentioned the idea to his
mother. She was delighted and immediately made attempts to have his
ambition realized. An-Nuwar spoke to some men ofthe Ansar about the
youth's desire and they in turn broachedthe matter with the Prophet,
saying: "O Messenger of Allah, 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."
The Prophet, peace be on him, listened to Zayd reciting some surahs he
had memorized. His recitation was clear and beautiful and his stops
and pauses indicated clearly that he understood well what he recited.
The Prophet was pleased. Indeed he found that Zayd's ability exceeded
the commendation he had been given by his relatives. The Prophet then
set him a task which required intelligence, skill and persistence.
"Zayd, learn the writing of the Jews for me," instructed the Prophet.
"At your command, Messenger of Allah," replied Zaydwho set about
learning Hebrew with enthusiasm. He became quite proficient in the
language and wrote it for the Prophet when he wanted to communicate
with the Jews. Zayd also read and translated from Hebrew when the Jews
wrote to the Prophet. The Prophet instructed him to learn Syriac also
and this he did. Zayd thus came to perform the important function of
an interpreter for the Prophet in hisdealings with non-Arabic speaking
peoples.
Zayd's enthusiasm and skill wereobvious. When the Prophet felt
confident of his faithfulness in the discharge of duties and the care,
precision and understanding with which he carried out tasks, he
entrusted Zayd with the weighty responsibility of recording the Divine
revelation.
When any part of the Quran was revealed to the Prophet, he often sent
for Zayd and instructed him to bring the writing materials, "the
parchment, the ink-pot and the scapula", and write the revelation.
Zayd was not the only one who acted as a scribe for the Prophet.One
source has listed forty-eight persons who used to write for him. Zayd
was very prominent among them. He did not only write but during the
Prophet's time he collected portions of theQuran that were written
down by others and arranged these under the supervision of the
Prophet. He is reported to have said:
"We used to compile the Quran from small manuscripts in the presence
of the Prophet." In thisway, Zayd experienced the Qurandirectly from
the Prophet himself. It could be said that he grew up with the verses
of the Quran, understanding well the circumstances surrounding
eachrevelation. He thus became well-versed in the secrets of the
Shariah and at an early age gained the well-deserved reputation as a
leading scholar among the companions of the Prophet.
After the death of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, the task fell on this fortunate young man who specialized in
the Quran to authenticate the first and most important reference for
the ummah of Muhammad. This became an urgent task after the wars of
apostasy and the Battle of Yamamah in particular in which a large
number of those who had committed the Quran to memory perished.
Umar convinced the Khalifah AbuBakr that unless the Quran was
collected in one manuscript, a large part of it was in danger of being
lost. Abu Bakr summoned Zayd ibn Thabit and said to him:"You are an
intelligent young man and we do not suspect you (of telling lies or of
forgetfulness) and you used to write the Divine revelation for Allah's
Messenger. Therefore look for (all parts of) the Quran and collect it
in one manuscript."
Zayd was immediately aware of the weighty responsibility. He later
said: "By Allah, if he (Abu Bakr) 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."
Zayd finally accepted the task and, according to him, "started
locating the Quranic material and collecting it from parchments,
scapula, leafstalks of date palms and from the memories of men (who
knew it by heart)".
It was a painstaking task and Zayd was careful that not a single
error, however slight or unintentional, should creep into the work.
When Zayd had completed his task, he left the prepared suhuf or sheets
with Abu Bakr. Before he died, Abu Bakr left the suhuf with Umar who
in turn left it with his daughter Hafsah. Hafsah, Umm Salamah and
Aishah were wives of the Prophet, may Allah be pleased with them, who
memorized the Quran.
During the time of Uthman, by which time Islam had spread far and
wide, differences in reading the Quran became obvious. A group of
companions of the Prophet, headed by Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, who was
then stationed in Iraq, came to Uthman and urged him to "save the
Muslim ummah before they differ about the Quran".
Uthman obtained the manuscript of the Quran from Hafsah and again
summoned theleading authority, Zayd ibn Thabit, and some other
competent companions to makeaccurate copies of it. Zayd was put in
charge of the operation. He completed the task with the same
meticulousness with which he compiled the original suhuf during the
time of Abu Bakr.
Zayd and his assistants wrote many copies. One of these Uthman sent to
every Muslim province with the order that all other Quranic materials
whetherwritten in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies be burnt.
This was important in order to eliminate any variationsor differences
from the standardtext of the Quran. Uthman kept acopy for himself and
returned the original manuscript to Hafsah.
Zayd ibn Thabit thus became oneof the foremost authorities on the
Quran. Umar ibn al-Khattab once addressed the Muslims andsaid: "O
people, whoever wants to ask about the Quran, let him go to Zayd ibn
Thabit."
And so it was that seekers of knowledge from among the companions of
the Prophet and the generation who succeeded them, known as the
"Tabiun", came from far and wide to benefit from his knowledge. When
Zayd died, Abu Hurayrah said: "Today, the scholar of this ummah has
died."
When a Muslim holds the Quran and reads it or hears it being recited,
surah after surah, ayah after ayah, he should know that he owes a
tremendous debt of gratitude and recognition to a truly great
companion of the Prophet, Zayd ibn Thabit, for helping to preserve for
all time to come the Book of Eternal Wisdom. Truly did Allah, the
Blessed and Exalted, say: "Surely We have revealed the Book of
Remembrance and We shall certainly preserve it." (The Quran, Surah
al-Hijr, 15:9)
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And Allah Knows the Best!
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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA
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