A Sunnah

Zaid bin Thabit Ansari, committed the whole of the Qur’an to memory. Towards the end of his life, the Prophet recited the whole of the Qur’an in its proper sequence in the presence of a large number of the companions. This has been called the Last Recitation in the books of tradition. At the time of the Prophet’s death, the Qur’an was safe either in the hearts of the people, or written on separate pages and tablets. However, there was no compilation of all the verses of the Qur’an in book form. The Prophet was certainly aware of the fact that doubts would later arise over the compilation of the Book of God. Orientalists have tried to sow the seeds of doubt on this issue, and the Encyclopaedia of Islam compiled by them, have offered different explanations. One theory is that the Prophet of Islam, feeling that the Day of Judgement was near, and that the world would soon come to an end, never entertained the idea of compiling the Qur’an in book form. The non-compilation of the Qur’an by the Prophet was not an act of omission. With the mission of the Prophet being to make the faith complete, there was no question of his leaving a religious task incomplete in any way. This was something which, in spite of the obvious risks, he purposely left undone, because of the inherent religious advantages in so doing. If the Prophet had had the Qur’an compiled in book form and copies of it placed in the different mosques, it could easily have become neglected in essence, while Muslims busied themselves with the purely ritual matters pertaining to its physical presence. By leaving the work of compilation to his followers, the Prophet ensured that they gave their full attention to the spirit of the Qur’an. The annals of history show that during the rule of Abu Bakr, in 12 Hijra, a battle was fought at Yamamah in Arab, in which 70 Hafiz (Muslims who know the entire Qur’an by heart) were martyred. This caused great concern to Umar, who thought that if the Hafiz were to be martyred in such great numbers, the content of the Qur’an would soon be lost to posterity. He expressed his fears to Abu Bakr, who then had the work of compilation carried out. This was not an easy task. First of all, the Caliph was worried about the propriety of his doing something which the Prophet had never himself undertaken. He agreed only after a great deal of deliberation. This generated unprecedented activity, with Umar and Zaid sitting at the entrance to the