Qays bin Marwan reported,

He came to Umar and said, "Commander of the Faithful, I have come from Kufa, where I left behind a man who dictates copies of the Quran from memory."Umar became furious and swelled with anger until he nearly filled the space between the two posts of the saddle. He demanded, "Woe to you, who is he?"The man replied, "Abdullah bin Masud."At that, Umar's anger gradually subsided and left him until he returned to his normal state. Then he said, "Woe to you, by Allah, I do not know of anyone left among the people who is more deserving of that than him. Let me tell you about him.The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to stay up late at night with Abu Bakr discussing matters concerning the Muslims. One night he was up late with him, and I was with him. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out, and we went out with him, and there was a man standing in the mosque praying. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ stopped to listen to his recitation, and just as we were about to recognize him, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, 'Whoever wishes to recite the Quran fresh as it was revealed, let him recite according to the recitation of Ibn Umm Abd.'Then the man sat down and began to supplicate, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ kept saying to him, 'Ask, and you will be given. Ask, and you will be given.'"Umar continued, "I said to myself, 'By Allah, I will go to him in the morning and give him the good news.' So I went to him in the morning to give him the good news, but I found that Abu Bakr had beaten me to him and had already given him the good news. By Allah, I never raced him to any good thing except that he beat me to it."

عن قيس بن مروان

أنه أتى عمر- فقال: جئت يا أمير المؤمنين من الكوفة، وتركت بها رجلا يملي المصاحف عن ظهر قلبه، فغضب وانتفخ حتى كاد يملأ ما بين شعبتي الرحل، فقال: ومن هو ويحك؟ قال: عبد الله بن مسعود. فما زال يطفأ ويسرى عنه الغضب، حتى عاد إلى حاله التي كان عليها. ثم قال: ويحك، والله ما أعلمه بقي من الناس أحد هو أحق بذلك منه، وسأحدثك عن ذلك، كان رسول الله ﷺ لا يزال يسمر عند أبي بكر الليلة كذاك في الأمر من أمر المسلمين، وإنه سمر عنده ذات ليلة وأنا معه، فخرج رسول الله ﷺ وخرجنا معه، فإذا رجل قائم يصلي في وأنا معه، المسجد، فقام رسول الله ﷺ لا يستمع قراءته، فلما كدنا أن نعرفه، قال رسول الله ﷺ: من سره أن يقرأ القرآن رطبا كما أنزل، فليقراء على قراءة ابن أم عبد، قال: ثم جلس الرجل يدعو، فجعل رسول الله ﷺ يقول له: سل تعطه، سل تعطه قال عمر: قلت: والله لأغدون إليه فلا بشرنه، قال: فغدوت إليه لأبشره فوجدت أبا بكر قد سبقني إليه فبشره، ولا والله ما سابقته إلى خير قط إلا سبقني إليه.