One might argue that the collection or compilation mentioned...

One might argue that the collection or compilation mentioned in these reports denote committing the Qur'an to memory, and not to the papers. This presumption cannot be corroborated. Besides, it is a known fact that there were numerous believers at the time of the Prophet (‘s) who knew the Qur'an by heart, so how can the memorising of the Qur'an be confined to four or six names?

Those who have studied carefully the lives of the companions of the Prophet (‘s) would know it for certain that the Qur'an was ready compiled during the days of the Prophet (‘s) and that the number of its compilers were too many to be ignored. The report by al‑Bukhari through Anas stating that when the Prophet (‘s) died, the Qur'an had not been compiled by anyone except four: Abu al Darda, Muadh b. Jabal, Zaid b.

Thabit and Abu Zaid, is a report which ought to be discarded and rejected because it contradicts not only the earlier reports, but also what al‑Bukhari himself reported. Moreover, the report cannot be accepted because it is difficult to conceive that the reporter knew all the Muslims at the time of the death of the Prophet (‘s), and that in spite of the great number of the Muslims, scattered all around, he was able to find only four who had collected the Qur'an. This is a mere conjecture.

To summarize the whole situation, one may ask: (a) With all the foregoing reports, how can one believe that Abu Bakr was the first to compile the Qur'an, after he had become a Caliph?

(b) And if we accept the report, it is strange that Abu Bakr should ask Zaid and Umar to collect the Qur'an from leather parchments, pieces of papers and from the people's memory, while Abdullah, Muadh and Ubayy were present alive among the people, especially when the Prophet (‘s) had himself recom­mended that the Qur'an be taken from them? (c) Of course, they could not have anything from Salim because he was one of those killed at the battle of Yamamah.

But Zaid, one of the compilers of the Qur'an, was there, and Abu Bakr had certified his character as young, intelligent and without blemish. So what was the need of resorting to others? (d) Finally, the widely acknowledged and authentic tradition about thaqalayn leaves us with no doubt that the Qur'an existed in a complete book form. We shall point this out later.