464 Abu Bakr distinguished Zayd with this task as he was one...

464 Abu Bakr distinguished Zayd with this task as he was one of the scribes of the wahy and memorizers of the Qur'an. So he collected the scattered pieces of the Qur'an, written in codices (suhuf) making it in one mushaf. Seeking to Collect the Qur'an: When it was unanimously agreed on collecting and writing of the Qur'an, Umar addressed the people saying: Whosoever has acquired any part of the Qur'an from the Prophet should bring it.

Abu Bakr told Umar and Zayd: Sit at the door of the mosque and write down the verses of the Qur'an from anyone who brings two witnesses (to testify it). It is known that Umar was never accepting from anyone any hadith reported from the Messenger of Allah, unless when bringing two witnesses testifying they have acquired it from the Prophet (directly).

Then Bilal was charged with announcing all over Madinah that whosoever had acquired any part of the Qur'an should bring it to the mosque and hand it to the scribes. Abu Shamah says: It is likely that the witnesses were called to testify that whatever was brought had been presented at the last presentation before the Prophet (S) in the year of his demise and was written in front of him (S).

Hence Zayd ibn Thabit said at the last part of the Surat al-Tawbah that he could not find it with anybody else (other than Abu Khuzaymah), i.e. I did not find it written with other than him, as he was never satisfied with what was memorized alone other than what was written. Ibn Wahb reported in his Muwatta’ from Malik, on the authority of Ibn Shihab, from Salim ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar that he said: Abu Bakr has collected and compiled the Qur'an in masahif.

Thus he was the first to collect the Qur'an in suhuf (codices), and this was the first collecting. The aforementioned was only an abstract of what is said briefly about the subject of writing of the Qur'an. I haven't gone into details in regard of this critical matter, on which multifarious narrations, were cited, and the words of the narrators differed, since that being not of our concern and out of the scope of this book.

Whoever desires to be acquainted with whatever said about this issue, can refer to al-Suyuti's book al-Itqan, and al-Jaza’iri’s al-Tibyan, and the first volume of al-Bayan fi tafsir al-Qur’an of al-Allamah the great researcher al-Sayyid Abu al-Qasim al-Musawi al-Khu'i.