Scribes of the Divine

Revelation

The Quran was revealed to Holy Prophet over a

period of 23 years through the archangel Jibrail.
When the Prophet was 40 years old he was given a
revelation at the cave of Hira in the month of
Ramadan. As soon as a surah was revealed the Holy
Prophet would instruct his companions to write it
down. 40 companions of Holy Prophet wrote down
the Quran. The people who wrote down the
revelation are known as scribes of the divine
revelation. The first four caliphs were the most
important scribes of the divine revelation. Zaid bin
Thabit and Abdullah bin Masud were also very
important scribes of the Holy Quran.
 Zaid bin Thabit
Zaid bin Thabit was an Ansar who had accepted
Islam at the age of 13 when the Holy Prophet
migrated to Madinah. He was eager to participate in
the battle of Badr and Uhad but was not allowed as
he was too young. When Zaid bin Thabit was 16
when he was allowed to participate in the battle of
Ditch. He was very keen to take part in battles but
after the refusal to do so in Badr he started focusing
on acquiring knowledge from the Quran. Zaid used
to recite surahs to Holy Prophet after he had
memorized it and he did it beautifully. His
punctuation and pauses made it clear that he
understood what he was reciting. The Holy Prophet
was pleased with him that he instructed him to
memorize the Hebrew. He translated it and recited
it to the Jews. From then on he was given important
functions to do as an interpreter. The Holy Prophet
appointed Zaid bin Thabit to write the Divine
Revelation and he wrote it during and after the
lifetime of Holy Prophet. After the death of Holy
Prophet he was ordered to compile the Quran by
the Holy Prophet. The manuscript that he had
prepared was put in the care of Abu Bakr, after his
death it was passed to Umar (R) and after he had
passed away it was given to Hazrat Hafsa wife of
Holy Prophet. During the reign of Hazrat Uthman
many new converts had started reciting the Quran
differently and a companion of Prophet urged him
to make the recitation clear before the Muslim
Ummah started reciting the Quran wrongly. Zaid
bin Thabit was again entrusted to compile the
Quran and make more copies of it in the Quraish
dialect in which it was revealed. After this was done
one copy of the Quran was given to each province
and the other copies burned.
When Zaid bin Thabit died Abu Huraira said “Today
the scholar of this Ummah has died”.
 Abdullah bin Masud (R)

He was a slave and used to tend the flocks of his

master. Once the Prophet(S) and Abu Bakr (R) came
from a journey and were very thirsty. They asked
him to give some of the milk of the flock to quench
their thirst. He refused saying that they were not his
flock.

He was impressed by the Prophet(S) and accepted

Islam after which he left the flock and used to take
care of the needs of the Prophet. He accompanied
him on journeys and expeditions. He would carry his
staff and his miswak.

He received a special training of the Quran in the

Prophet’s house. He was known to have narrated
800 Hadith. He was a brave warrior and a fervent
worshipper. He was appointed as the administrator
of the treasury of Kufa during the time of Hazrat
Umar(R).

By Muzammil Abdul Rauf