The Compilation of the Qur'an under Abu Bakr

The story of the compilation of the Qur'an in the caliphate of Abu Bakr is related on the authority of Zayd ibn Thabit, and its origin is in the Sahih of al-Bukhari. ¹

Abu Bakr sent for Zayd after the killing of the people of al-Yamama, and Umar was with him. Umar said that the killing had raged among the reciters, and he feared that much of the Qur'an would be lost, and he saw that it should be gathered. Abu Bakr hesitated because the Prophet had not done it, and Umar said that it was good, and kept urging him until God opened his heart to it. ¹

Then Abu Bakr told Zayd that he was a young man of sense who could not be accused and who had written down the revelation, and asked him to trace the Qur'an and gather it. Zayd in turn hesitated, until God opened his heart. He gathered it from scraps, shoulder-blades, palm-stalks and the breasts of men. ¹

Zayd found two verses from the end of Sura al-Tawba with Khuzayma ibn Thabit, which he did not find with anyone else. ¹

The full text in al-Bukhari is in the chapter on the virtues of the Qur'an, on the authority of Ibn Shihab from Ubayd ibn al-Sabbaq from Zayd. ¹