Scribes of Divine revelation

• Past paper question

Q1a.Describe the task performed by the scribes of divine revelation./10   (Knowledge part, length 250-300 words)

Ans. The scribes of divine revelation were the people who were instucted by the Holy Prophet (SAW) to write the Quran.They had an unbounded passion for the Quran so not only did they commit to their hearts and minds but also followed it. They were the people bearing lofty character, Quran says about them, “Honourable, pious and just”. These scribes were nearly 40 in number, they include the 4 pious caliphs, Zayd bin Thabit, Abdullah bin Masood, Khalid bin Waleed are some of the prominent scribes.

As soon as the Prophet (SAW) receives any revelation, he would immediately instruct his scribes to record it under his supervision and use to recheck it. The scribes would record the revelation on the pieces of leather, bones of camel, tablets of stones, palm leaves, bark of tree or any available thing. Hazrat Ali would exactly know about each and every verse of Quran, when and why was it revealed and what its meaning was. Zayd’s recitation was clear and beautiful and his punctuations and pauses indicated clearly that he understood well what he recited. Hazrat Zayd concentrated most of his time in acquiring knowledge and particularly in memorizing the Holy Quran. Once Prophet (SAW) asked him to recite Surah Qaf and became very happy to find him as a man of sharp memory and sweet sound and often Prophet (SAW) would pay him a compliment due to his fore said qualities

Abdullah bin Masood, another prominent scribe of Holy Quran. He learned Quran with great fondness and attention so became a great reciter and scribe of Holy Quran.Prophet (SAW) said about him, “whoever wants to read the Holy Quran as fresh as when it was revealed then let him read according to the recitation of ibn e umme abd”.