Zaid ibn Thābit

Zaid ibn Thābit al-Ansārī ( Arabic زيد بن ثابت الأنصاري, DMG Zaid ibn Ṯābit al-Anṣārī died between 662 and 676 in Medina ) was a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and wrote down his revelations.

Zaid ibn Thabit is considered to be one of the most respected writers of Muhammad, of whom there are said to have been around 40 up to the death of the Prophet (632). As the Prophet was ignorant of the writing, these scribes (also known as "secretaries") laid down the sacred wording of the revelations at Muhammad's command. According to reports, in the last years of the Prophet's life, Zaid ibn Thabit was supposed to have worked on a compilation of the suras that were then only available and collected as "literal protocols" without being able to finish this work.

At the instigation of the third caliph Uthman ibn Affan , he compiled a compilation of the Koran texts between 644 and 653, which is still valid today as the canonical version of the Koran for all Islamic communities. Previous versions of the Koran are considered incomplete (although the wording is correct). They were already in use under the first caliph Abu Bakr. After its completion, the Uthmanian edition of the Koran was sent to the five core areas of Islam, Mecca , Medina , Damascus , Basra and Kufa . Decisive for a relatively slow dissemination of the final version of the Koran was the fact that the teaching was mainly passed on by preachers and reciters, according to the Arabic tradition in writing. Written copies only served as a template. The Uthmanian version counts as the only valid one. As far as they can still be found, the previous copies have only historical significance.

Between 634 and 666, Zaid ibn Thābit also served as the main fatwa authority of Medina. Ibn Sīrīn (died 728) was one of his disciples.

literature

• M. Lecker: Art. "Zayd b. Th ābit" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. XI, p. 476.

supporting documents

1. ↑ See M.Kh. Masud, B. Messick and DS Powers: Islamic Legal Interpretation. Muftis and their fatwas . Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Ma., 1996. p. 7.