Zayd bin Thabit said, Abu Bakr sent for me after the men killed at Yamamah, and Umar was with him. Abu Bakr said, "Umar came to me and said, 'The fighting on the day of Yamamah has taken a heavy toll among those who had memorized the Quran, and I fear that such losses among the reciters will occur on other battlefields as well, so that much of the Quran will be lost. I think you should order that the Quran be collected.'I said to him, 'How can I do something the Messenger of Allah ﷺ never did?'Umar replied, 'By Allah, it is a good thing.' Umar kept coming back to me about it until Allah opened my heart to what He had opened Umar's heart to, and I came to hold the same view as Umar."Zayd continued, Abu Bakr then said to me, "You are a young man of sound judgment and we hold nothing against you. You used to write down the revelation for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, so track down the Quran and gather it together."Zayd said, By Allah, if he had charged me with moving a mountain from its place, it would not have weighed on me more heavily than this task of collecting the Quran.I said, "How can the two of you do something the Messenger of Allah ﷺ never did?"Abu Bakr replied, "By Allah, it is a good thing." He kept pressing me and returning to the matter until Allah opened my heart to what He had opened the hearts of Abu Bakr and Umar to, and I came to hold the view that they held.So I set about tracking down the Quran, gathering it from palm stalks, parchment scraps, thin white stones, and the memories of men. I found the end of Surah Tawbah, "A Messenger has come to you from among yourselves" [Tawbah 9:128] to the end of the surah, with Khuzaymah, or Abu Khuzaymah, and I attached it to its surah.The written sheets remained with Abu Bakr throughout his life until Allah took him , then with Umar throughout his life until Allah took him, and then with Hafsah bint Umar.
بعث إلي أبو بكر لمقتل أهل اليمامة، وعنده عمر، فقال أبو بكر: إن عمر أتاني فقال: إن القتل قد استحر يوم اليمامة بقراء القرآن، وإني أخشى أن يستحر القتل بقراء القرآن في المواطن كلها فيذهب قرآن كثير، وإني أرى أن تأمر بجمع القرآن قلت: كيف أفعل شيئا لم يفعله رسول الله ﷺ؟ فقال عمر: هو والله خير، فلم يزل عمر يراجعني في ذلك حتى شرح الله صدري للذي شرح له صدر عمر ورأيت في ذلك الذي رأى عمر. قال زيد: قال أبو بكر: وإنك رجل شاب عاقل لا نتهمك، قد كنت تكتب الوحي لرسول الله ﷺ، فتتبع القرآن فاجمعه. قال زيد: فوالله لو كلفني نقل جبل من الجبال ما كان بأثقل علي مما كلفني من جمع القرآن. قلت: كيف تفعلان شيئا لم يفعله رسول الله ﷺ؟ قال أبو بكر: هو والله خير فلم يزل يحث مراجعتي حتى شرح الله صدري للذي شرح الله له صدر أبي بكر وعمر، ورأيت في ذلك الذي رأيا، فتتبعت القرآن أجمعه من العسب والرقاع واللخاف وصدور الرجال، فوجدت في آخر سورة التوبة {لقد جاءكم رسول من أنفسكم} [التوبة: ١٢٨] إلى آخرها مع خزيمة أو أبي خزيمة، فألحقتها في سورتها وكانت الصحف عند أبي بكر حياته حتى توفاه الله عز وجل، ثم عند عمر حياته حتى توفاه الله، ثم عند حفصة بنت عمر.
Bukhari narrated it in the Book of Rulings (7191) from Muhammad bin Ubaydullah Abu Thabit, who said, Ibrahim bin Saad narrated to us, from Ibn Shihab, from Ubayd bin Sabbaq, from Zayd bin Thabit, and he mentioned it.