روى البخاري أن زيد بن ثابت قال: أرسل إليّ أبو بكر لمقتل أهل اليمامة، وعمر عنده، فقال أبو بكر: "إن عمر أتاني فقال: إن القتل قد استحر يوم اليمامة بقراء القرآن، وإني أخشى أن يستحر القتل بالقراء في المواطن فيذهب كثير من القرآن، وإني أرى أن تأمر بجمع القرآن". قال أبو بكر: فقلت لعمر: كيف أفعل شيئاً لم يفعله رسول الله ﷺ؟ فقال عمر: هو والله خير، فلم يزل يراجعني حتى شرح الله صدري لذلك، ورأيت في ذلك الذي رأى عمر. قال زيد: وعمر جالس عنده لا يتكلم. فقال أبو بكر: إنك رجل شاب عاقل لا نتهمك، وقد كنت تكتب الوحي لرسول الله ﷺ، فتتبع القرآن فاجمعه. فوالله لو كلفوني نقل جبل من الجبال ما كان أثقل عليّ مما أمرني به من جمع القرآن. قلت: كيف تفعلان شيئاً لم يفعله رسول الله ﷺ؟ فقال أبو بكر: هو والله خير، فلم يزل يراجعني حتى شرح الله صدري للذي شرح له صدر أبي بكر وعمر.

Al-Bukhari narrated that Zaid ibn Thabit said: Abu Bakr sent for me at the time of the slaughter of people of al-Yamamah and cUmar was with him. Abu Bakr said, ‘cUmar came to me and said, “The slaughter of people was very extensive on the Day of al-Yamamah and I fear the killing will extend to the reciters in these engagements, so that a lot of Qur’an will disappear unless they gather it together. I believe that the Qur’an should be gathered.’” Abu Bakr said, ‘I said to cUmar, “How can I do something that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not do?” cUmar said, “It, by Allah! is good,” and cUmar did not give up returning to the matter until Allah expanded my breast to that, and I came to hold the view that cUmar held.’ Zaid said: cUmar was sitting with him, not talking. Abu Bakr said, ‘You are an intelligent young man and we liave no doubts of you. You used to write the revelation for the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace; (search out the Qur’an and collect it together.’ By Allah, if he had Imposed on me the responsibility of removing one of the mountains 11 would not have been heavier for me than what they ordered me to do of collecting the Qur’an. I said, ‘How can the two of you do something which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not do?’ So Abu Bakr said, ‘It, by Allah! is good,’ and he continued insisting on it until Allah expanded my breast to that which he had expanded the breasts of Abu Bakr and cUmar.

لقد تتبعتُ القرآنَ لأجمعَه، من الرِّقاعِ وعظامِ الأكتافِ وجريدِ النخلِ وصدورِ الرجالِ، حتى وجدتُ آيتين من سورةِ التوبةِ مع خزيمةَ بنِ ثابتٍ، لم أجدْهما عند أحدٍ غيرِه: ﴿لَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتُّمْ حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُم بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ﴾ ... إلى آخرِ السورة [سورة التوبة: 128-129].

I searched out the Qur’an to collect it all together, from scraps (of paper), shoulder blade bones, palm branches and from the breasts of men, until I found two ay at from Surah at-Tawbah (The Surah of Repentance) along with Khuzaymah ibn Thabit which I found with no-one else, 1 There has come to you a messenger from among yourselves ...’ (Qur’an 9: 128-129) to the end of the surah.

كانت الصحف التي جُمع عليها القرآن عند أبي بكر حتى توفاه الله، ثم كانت عند عمر حتى توفاه الله، ثم كانت عند حفصة بنت عمر، رضي الله عنها.

The pages upon which the Qur’an was collected were with Abu Bakr until Allah took him, then they were with cUmar until Allah took him, then they were with Hafsah the daughter of cUmar, may Allah be pleased with her.

رَوَى أَبُو يَعْلَى أَنَّ عَلِيًّا قَالَ: أَعْظَمُ النَّاسِ أَجْرًا فِي الْمَصَاحِفِ أَبُو بَكْرٍ، كَانَ أَوَّلَ مَنْ جَمَعَ الْقُرْآنَ بَيْنَ اللَّوْحَيْنِ.

Abu Yacla narrated that cAli said: The one with the greatest reward for the written copies of the Qur’an is Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr was the first to gather the Qur’an between two boards.