The Khuzayma Verses: The Lines Zayd Found With Only One Man

A Verse Found With Only One Man

When the Muslims buried their dead after the battle of Yamama, they were not only mourning companions — they were, according to the classical narration, at risk of losing something irreplaceable. Among the fallen were many of the qurra', the reciters who carried large portions of the Qur'an in their memories. It was in this atmosphere of loss that the first written compilation of the Qur'an was ordered. And it is inside the report of that very compilation that we meet one of the most discussed sentences in the entire history of the text.

Zayd ibn Thabit, the young Ansari companion entrusted with the collection, tells us that when he reached the closing lines of Surah al-Tawba, he found those final two verses — "Laqad ja'akum rasulun min anfusikum…" — with only one person: Abu Khuzayma al-Ansari. "I did not find them," he says, "with anyone other than him."