First Companion to Collect the Quran

The first to collect the Qur’an from the Companions

1 - Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq The first to collect the Holy Qur’an

2 - What was reported that the first to collect the Qur’an was Ali bin Abi Talib

3 - What was reported that the first to collect the Qur’an was Omar bin Al-Khattab

4 - What was reported that the first to collect the Qur’an was Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhaifa

1 - Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq The first to collect the Holy Qur’an

Most of the narrations indicate that the first to order the collection of the Holy Qur’an from the Companions was Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, on the advice of Omar bin Al-Khattab, and that the one who carried out this collection was Zaid bin Thabit Al-Ansari. (1) Among

this is what we have seen from the hadith of Zaid bin Thabit, and his saying: Abu Bakr sent to me when the people of Al-Yamamah were killed, and Omar was with him, so he said: Abu Bakr, Omar came to me and said: The killing has intensified on the day of Al-Yamamah with the people, and I fear that the killing of the reciters will increase in the places and much of the Qur’an will be lost, unless you collect it, and I think that you collect the Qur’an… the hadith. (2)

And from that is what Ibn Abi Dawud narrated with a good chain of transmission on the authority of Abd al-Khayr on the authority of Ali, may God have mercy on him, who said: May God have mercy on Abu Bakr; He was the greatest of people in the reward of collecting the Qur’an, and he was the first to collect between the two sheets. (3)

Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said: It was included by Ibn Abi Dawud in “Al-Masahif” with a good chain of transmission. (4)

Al-Suyuti said: With a good chain of transmission. (5)

However, there are narrations that indicate that the first to undertake this collection was other than Abu Bakr, including:

2What was reported that the first to collect the Qur’an was Ali ibn Abi Talib

• on the authority of Muhammad ibn Sirin, who said: When the Prophet died, Ali swore that he would not wear a cloak except for Friday prayers, until he collected the Qur’an in a single Qur’an, so he did. (6)
  Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said: Its chain of transmission is weak because it is interrupted, and if it is assumed that it is preserved, then what he meant by collecting it was to preserve it in his chest… and what was mentioned previously from the narration of Abd al-Khayr on the authority of Ali is more authentic, so it is the reliable one. (7)

• on the authority of Ikrimah, who said: When it was after the pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr, Ali bin Abi Talib sat in his house, and it was said to Abu Bakr: He disliked your pledge of allegiance. So he sent to him and said: Do you dislike my pledge of allegiance? He said: No, by God. He said: What made you sit and not go away from me? He said: I saw the Book of Allah being added to, so I told myself not to wear my cloak except for prayer until I had collected it. Abu Bakr said: You have seen well. (8)
  This hadith has an interruption, as Ikrimah was born in the year twenty-five of the Hijrah, (9) and the incident mentioned about Ali’s delay in pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr occurred in the year eleven.
  It also has the scent of Shi’ism, as it states that the Muslims - most of whom at that time were companions - were adding to the Book of Allah what was not from it, and the companions of the Prophet - may Allah exalt his mention - were far from doing that.

Assuming its authenticity, it can also be interpreted as collecting it in the chest and memorizing it by heart as mentioned, or that he wanted to strip his copy of what was not from the Qur’an, such as interpretation and rulings.

It has also been said that Ali’s collection was more like a book of knowledge, in which he collected other than the Qur’an with the Qur’an. Therefore, its form is different from that of Bakri’s collection, and its purpose is different from its purpose.

This story was narrated by Ibn Ashtah in his book Al-Masahif from another source on the authority of Ibn Sirin, in which he wrote in his Mushaf the abrogating and the abrogated, and that Ibn Sirin said: So I sought that book, and I wrote about it to Medina, but I was not able to find it. (10)

3 - What was reported that the first to collect the Qur’an was Umar ibn Al-Khattab

On the authority of Al-Hasan that Umar ibn Al-Khattab asked about a verse from the Book of God, and it was said: It was with so-and-so, and he was killed on the day of Yamamah. So he said: To God we belong and to Him we belong, and he ordered the collection of the Qur’an, and he was the first to collect it in the Mushaf. (11)

The chain of transmission of this narration is broken, (12) and it is thought that it does not go beyond the narration of Al-Bukhari that we mentioned earlier, which states that Umar was indeed the one who had the idea of ​​the first collection, and that he suggested it to Abu Bakr, and he continued to review it with him until God opened his heart to it.

Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said: This is disconnected. If it is preserved, it is taken to mean that what is meant by his saying: “He was the first to collect it” is: He indicated its collection during the caliphate of Abu Bakr, so the collection was attributed to him for that reason. (13)

4 - What was reported that the first to collect the Qur’an was Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhayfah

, on the authority of Ibn Buraidah, who said: The first to collect the Qur’an in a mushaf was Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhayfah. He swore that he would not wear a cloak until he collected it, so he collected it. (14)

This is one of the strange things that were reported about the first to collect the Qur’an.

Al-Suyuti said: Its chain of transmission is also interrupted, and it is based on the fact that he was one of the compilers on the orders of Abu Bakr. (15)

Al-Alusi (16) described this statement of Al-Suyuti as a stumbling block that cannot be called a curse (17) because Salim was killed in the Battle of Yamamah, in which the death of the memorizers was the reason for the compilation. (18)

The truth - and God knows best - is that Abu Bakr’s priority in compiling the Qur’an was a special priority, as the Companions had copies of the Qur’an in which they wrote the Qur’an before Abu Bakr’s collection. This does not cloud the statement that the first to compile the Qur’an was Al-Siddiq, because the copies of the Qur’an of the other Companions were only individual works that did not achieve what Al-Siddiq’s copy achieved in terms of the precision of research and investigation, and in limiting it to what was not abrogated in recitation, and in reaching the level of mutawatir, and in terms of the consensus of the nation on it, and other advantages that Al-Siddiq’s copy of the Qur’an had.

With all these advantages, it does not harm to narrate that Ali, Omar, or Salim were the first to collect the Qur’an. The most that these narrations prove is that some of the Companions had written the Qur’an in a mushaf, but they do not give this mushaf that unanimous quality, nor do they bestow upon it those

advantages

that the mushaf collected during the time of Abu Bakr? ( 19 ) ----- …Fath al-Bari, commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari (8/628). (8) Narrated by Ibn al-Durais in Fadha’il al-Qur’an, pp. 76-77. (9) See Tahdhib al-Kamal (20/291-292). (10) Kitab al-Masahif by Ibn Ishtah is missing, and this report was mentioned by al-Suyuti in al-Itqan (1/166). (11) Narrated by Ibn Abi Dawud in Kitab al-Masahif, chapter on ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab’s collection of the Qur’an in the Mushaf, p. 16. (12) Because al-Hasan did not hear from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, as he was born two years before the end of his caliphate. See Tahdhib al-Kamal (6/95-97). Al-Suyuti said about this report: Its chain of transmission is broken. See al-Itqan in ‘Ulum al-Qur’an (1/166). (13) Fath al-Bari, commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari (8/628). (14) Nukat al-Intisar li-Naql al-Qur’an, p. 353.

(15) Al-Itqan fi Ulum Al-Quran (1/166).

(16) Abu Al-Ma’ali Mahmoud Shukri bin Abdullah bin Shihab Al-Din Al-Alusi, born in 1273 AH, the imam, historian, man of letters, preacher, reformer and fighter, he taught and fought innovations, author of useful books, the greatest of which is Ruh Al-Ma’ani in the interpretation of the Noble Qur’an and the Seven Mathani, he died in 1342 AH. Al-A’lam by Al-Zarkali (7/172).

(17) It is said to the one who stumbles: “Damn you,” praying for him to recover. Ka’b bin Zuhair said:

If you do not do so, I am not sorry nor will I say, “If you stumble, damn you.” See: Al-Sahah by Al-Jawhari (Damn you) (6/2483), and the explanation of Ka’b bin Zuhair’s poem (Banat Su’ad) by Ibn Hisham Al-Ansari, p. 34.

(18) Ruh Al-Ma’ani (1/22).

(19) Sources of Knowledge in the Sciences of the Qur’an (1/254-255).