Zaid (Islamic Scribe)

Zaid (Islamic Scribe)

Zayd ibn Thabit (زيد بن ثابت ) was the personal scribe of Muhammad and an Muhajir.

When Zayd was 6 years old his father died in the Battle of Bu'ath. Zayd was 13 years old when he asked permission to participate in the Battle of Badr. Since he was younger than 15 years old, Muhammad did not allow him to do so, and sent him back. He then decided to try to win favor with Muhammad by learning the Qur'an. He was later appointed to write letters to non-Muslims and to collect and keep record of the Qur'anic verses. Zayd was among those chosen by Muhammad to write down the verses of the Qur'an. He used to spend most of his time reciting the Qur'an, and continued to learn the Quranic verses as they were recited by Muhammad. Zayd later volunteered to fight when he was 19 years old. This time he was accepted in the ranks of the Muslim army. Zayd's time to fight had come nine years after the establishment of the Muslim community in Medina. Zayd had the role of writing down the Quranic verses that were sent to Muhammad from Allah through the Angel Gabriel. After Muhammad's death, Zayd, who by this time had become an expert in the Qur'an, was assigned the role of authenticating and collecting the oral and textual Quranic revelation into a single bounded volume. This initiative was high on the Caliph Abu Bakr's agenda, especially after the Riddah Wars,and the Battle of Yamamah in particular, in which a large number of Quran memorizers perished. Umar convinced Abu Bakr that the Quran should be collected in one manuscript. During Abu Bakr's reign as caliph, he was given the task of collecting the Quranic verses from all over the muslim communities. 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.When Zayd had completed his task, he left the prepared sheets with Abu Bakr. Before he died, Abu Bakr left the sheets with Umar who in turn left it with his daughter Hafsah. Hafsah, Umm Salamah, and Aishah were wives of Muhammad who memorized the Qur'an. Zayd ibn Thabit thus became one of the foremost authorities on the Quran. Umar ibn al-Khattab once addressed the Muslims and said: "O people, whoever wants to ask about the Quran, let him go to Zayd ibn Thabit."