Hafsa, keeper of the Quran

Hafsa was both the wife of the Prophet Muhammad and the daughter of the companion Umar ibn al-Khattab. As well as transmitting some of the hadith, she played a crucial role in the collection of the Quran. She was the keeper of one of the few written copies of the Quran.

When Hudaifa came back from a battle between the people of Sham and Iraq and the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan, he observed that the people of Sham and Iraq would pronounce the Quran differently. He approached Caliph Uthman and advised him to record the Quran so that its pronunciation (and therefore meaning) would not be changed as different people of different dialects and pronunciation began accepting Islam.

Caliph Uthman requested Hafsa lend him her Quran, and then he set up a committee where Zaid ibn Thabit, Abdullah ibn Az Zubair, Said ibn Al As and Abdur Rahman ibn Harith copied the Quran.

Caliph Uthman then ordered that a copy of each Quran be sent to every Muslim province and to be kept as the original with all other copies in having different pronunciations, be burned to avoid any confusion.

[Bukhari 6/510]

Imagine, every Quran we have today, is  based on the collection of the Quran held by Hafsa. The word of God Almighty, the final revelation, kept and held safely, in the hands of, not a big powerful warrior, not even a tribal leader, but none other than a wife of the Prophet, a woman.

To think that there are some people men, and even some amongst the women who do not recognise the rights, the value, and the honor of women. How lucky she was to be the 'ward' of the Quran, its keeper and protector. And how unlucky we are when we do not benefit or recognise the fuller beauty of Islam.

May God Almighty have Mercy and guide us all, ameen.