Shaddad bin Maqil and I entered upon Ibn Abbas, and Shaddad bin Maqil asked him, "Did the Prophet ﷺ leave behind anything?"Ibn Abbas replied, "He left nothing except what is between the two covers."Then we went to Muhammad bin Hanafiya and asked him the same question, and he said, "He left nothing except what is between the two covers."
دخلت أنا وشداد بن معقل علي ابن عباس، فقال له شداد بن معقل: أترك النبي ﷺ من شيء؟ قال: ما ترك إلا ما بين الدفتين. قال: ودخلنا على محمد بن الحنفية فسألناه فقال: ما ترك إلا ما بين الدفتين.
Bukhari narrated it in the Virtues of the Quran (5019), from Qutayba bin Saeed, who said, Sufyan narrated to us, from Abdul-Aziz bin Rafi, and he mentioned it. This means that the Quran that exists now is the same one the Prophet ﷺ left written on tablets and other materials, and Abu Bakr gathered it between the two covers, as Zayd bin Thabit stated in the hadith that will be mentioned next. It does not mean that the Prophet ﷺ left the Quran written between two covers. Whoever claims that there is another Quran not included in the existing copy has fabricated a lie against Allah, the Exalted, for He says
, "Indeed, it is upon Us to collect it and recite it" [Qiyamah 75:17], and the Exalted also says, "Indeed, it is We who sent down the message, and indeed, We will be its guardian" [Hijr 15:9].