Page:Selections from Muhammadan Traditions - tr. William Goldsack (1923).djvu/126

106 recited well.'" And whilst the man was speaking to Ibn Masʿûd, behold the latter discerned the smell of wine upon him, and he said, "Dost thou drink wine, and falsify the Book!" Then he beat him to the utmost limits of the law.'—Muslim, Al Bukhárí.

It is related from Zaid bin Thábit that he said, 'Abú Bakr sent to me at the time of the battle of the people of Yamámah, and behold ʿOmar binuʾl-Khaṭṭáb was with him. Abú Bakr said, "Verily ʿOmar came to me and said, 'Verily the slaughter amongst the reciters of the Qurʾán was very severe on the day (of the battle) of Yamámah, and I fear that if the slaughter of reciters in the (surrounding) countries be severe, much will go from the Qurʾán. I am therefore of opinion that thou shouldst order the collection of the Qurʾán.' I said to ʿOmar, 'How canst thou do a thing which the Apostle of God did not do?' ʿOmar said, 'By God! this is good.' And ʿOmar continued repeating it to me until God opened my mind to (understand) that, and I became of the same opinion about it as ʿOmar."' Zaid said, 'Abú Bakr said to me, "Verily thou art a young man and wise, and we do not suspect thee, and thou wert in the habit of writing down the revelations for the Apostle of God. Therefore do thou search out the Qurʾán and collect it together." Then by God! if they had imposed upon me the task of removing one of the mountains, it would not have been more difficult for me than what he ordered me regarding the collection of the Qurʾán. I said, "How canst thou do a thing which the Apostle of God never did?" He replied, "By God! it is good." And Abú Bakr continued repeating it to me until God opened my mind to understand that which he had opened Abú Bakr's and ʿOmar's minds to understand. Then I sought out the Qurʾán and collected it together from leaves of dates and white stones and the breasts of men until I found the last part of Súratuʾt-Tauba with Abú Khazaimahuʾl-Anṣári. I found it with none else beside him. (It was this) "There hath come to you an Apostle from amongst yourselves," up to the end of the chapter. And the written pages remained with Abú Bakr until God caused him to die, after that (they remained) with ʿOmar during his lifetime. Then (they remained) with Ḥafṣa the daughter of ʿOmar.'—Al Bukhárí.