Thus a group of the companions gradually became literate...

Thus a group of the companions gradually became literate Those of this group who engaged in the recitation of the Qur'an, learning by heart the chapters and verses were called qurth'; it was from amongst this group that forty (some report seventy) died as martyrs in an accident called Bi'r Ma'ünah The Qur'an was recorded, as it was revealed, on tablets, bones and the wide flat end of the date palm fronds There is no doubt that most chapters were in use amongst early Muslims since they are mentioned in numerous sayings by both Sunni and Shi'ah sources, relating the Prophet's use of the Qur'an as a call to Islam, the making of prayer and the manner of recitation Similarly, one comes across names of chapters in traditions which describe the time when the Prophet was still alive, namely the very long chapters and "al-F?tibah" After the Death of the Prophet After the death of the Prophet, 'All who, (according to a tradition of absolute authority), was more knowledgeable of the Qur'an than any other man, retired to his house and compiled the Qur'an in one volume in the order corresponding to its revelation Before six months had elapsed after the death of the Prophet, the volume was completed and carried by camel to show to other people Just about a year after the death of the Prophet The war of Yam?mah took place in which seventy of the Reciters were Killed and the Caliphs conceived the idea of collecting the different chapters and verses into one volume They feared that should a future battle take place and the rest of the qurrd' be killed, the whole Qur'an would disappear with them Thus, on the orders of the Caliph, a group of the qurni' from amongst the companions including Zayd ibn Th?bit, collected the chapters and verses (written on tablets, bones and date palm fronds and kept in the Prophet's house or the houses of reciters), and produced several hand-written copies of the complete Book They then sent copies of this compilation to all areas of the Muslim domain After a time, during the rule of the third Caliph, it came to the attention of the Caliph himself that differences and inconsistencies were appearing in the copying down of the Qur'an; some calligraphers lacked precision in their writing and some reciters were not accurate in their recitation Since the word of God seemed threatened with alteration, the Caliph ordered that five of the qurrd' from amongst the cornpanion~, (one of them being Zayd ibn Th?bit who had compiled the first volume), produce other copies from the first volume which had been prepared on the orders of the first Caliph and which had been kept with Haf~ah, the wife of the Prophet and daughter of the second Caliph.