THE MAN WHO WROTE DOWN THE FIRST OFFICIAL COPY OF THE QURAN
The revelations given to Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) were not written down by himself: "Narrated al Bara: There was revealed 'Not equal are those believers who sit and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah' (Surah 4, Nisaa, verse 95). The prophet said: 'Call Zaid for me and let him bring the board, the ink pot and the scapula bone.' Then he said: 'Write: Not equal are those believers...'" (Bukhari,VI, No.512)The Quran was written down during the prophets lifetime but only on loose pieces of different material. When at the battle of Yamama in 633 AD a number of Muslims were killed it was feared that part of the revelations might be lost. Therefore, Abu Bakr, the first Muslim leader after Muhammad's (p.b.u.h.) death, asked Zaid ibn Thabit to collect all the different writing materials on which the Quran was written down. This was his reaction: "...By Allah, if he (Abu Bakr) had ordered me to shift one of the mountains it would not have been harder for me than what he had ordered me concerning the collection of the Quran. I said to both of them, 'How dare you do what the prophet has not done?' Abu Bakr said, 'By Allah, it's a good thing'... So I started locating the Quranic material and collecting it from parchments, scapula, leafstalks of date palms and from the memories of men. I found with Khuzaima two verses of Surah Tauba which I had not found with anybody else..." (Bukhari,VI, No.201)
Even though those verses had only been found with one person and only one man, had the sole responsibility to collect the first official Quran, Muslims believe it contained all the revelations given to their prophet.
THE MEN WHO WROTE DOWN THE FIRST OFFICIAL COPIES OF THE INJIL
The message Jesus brought was not written down by himself. As already mentioned, Matthew, one of his disciples wrote down what he said and did in the Hebrew language. These things were also memorized by the followers of Jesus. The first four books of the New Testament contain the words and deeds of Jesus. They were written down by four different authors, Matthew, Mark, Luke (he also wrote "Acts") and John (he also wrote "1,2,3 John" and "Revelation"). These men wrote under God's inspiration (2 Peter 1, verses 20-21) for different communities with different needs. The book of Matthew, for example was originally directed at Jewish readers. The book of Mark on the other hand was written for Gentiles. (see N.I.V. Study Bible, 1985, pages 1439, 1490)God inspired the authors to write down the known words and deeds of Jesus in their particular fashion, according to the needs of the original recipients of their books. They, like the other writers of New Testament books, Paul, Peter, James and Jude, were either eyewitnesses or had first hand knowledge of Jesus' ministry. The remaining 23 books of the New Testament again addressed different needs. God inspired the authors to comment and elaborate on the words and facts of Jesus' ministry. Muslims and Christians alike believe that inspiration from God comes in different ways but nevertheless in as great a degree, that means, in the same perfect quality. (See also "Dictionary of Islam" by T.P. Hughes, 1988, p.213)
