The Scribes of Quraysh and the Prophet's House

كتبة قريش وأهل بيت النبي

Abu Bakr ibn Abdallah ibn Abi Jahm al-'Adawi counted the literate of Quraysh when Islam came — seventeen men: Umar, Ali, Uthman, Abu Ubayda, Talha, Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan (may God be pleased with him), Abu Hudhayfa ibn 'Utba, Hatib ibn 'Amr, Abu Salama ibn Abd al-Asad, Aban ibn Sa'id and his brother Khalid ibn Sa'id, Abdallah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh, Huwaytib ibn Abd al-'Uzza, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, Mu'awiya, Juhm ibn al-Salt — and of Quraysh's allies al-A'la' ibn al-Hadrami. Al-Shifa' bint Abdallah, a Jahiliya scribe, was told 'teach Hafsa the ant-charm as you taught her writing'; Hafsa wrote, Umm Kulthum bint 'Uqba wrote, A'isha bint Sa'd said 'my father taught me', Karima bint al-Miqdad wrote — while A'isha and Umm Salama read the mushaf but did not write. First to write for the Prophet ﷺ at Medina was Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and when absent Zayd ibn Thabit (may God be pleased with him) — both wrote revelation and correspondence before him; first Qurashi scribe was Abdallah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh, who then apostatized to Mecca having altered the dictation, and in his case al-An'am's verse came down on the one who claims to bring the like of the revelation.