It is narrated from Alqamah (may Allah have mercy on him) that a man came to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) while he was at Arafah and said: O Commander of the Believers! I have come from Kufah, and I left there a man who dictates copies of the Qur'an from memory. On hearing this, Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) became intensely angry and swelled (with anger) so much that he nearly filled the space between the two wooden bows of the saddle. Then he said: Woe to you! Who is he? He said: Abdullah bin Mas'ud. Then his anger kept subsiding little by little until he returned to his former state, and he said: Woe to you! By Allah! As far as I know, there is now no one among the Muslims more entitled to this task than he is. I will tell you the reason for this: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would often stay up late into the night at the house of Abu Bakr consulting about the affairs of the Muslims. One night I too was with him. When we came out, a man was praying in the mosque. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stood listening to his recitation. When we had difficulty recognising him, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever would like to recite the Qur'an fresh (and tender) just as it was revealed, let him recite it according to the recitation of Ibn Umm Abd (Abdullah bin Mas'ud)." Then the man began to supplicate, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Ask! You will be given." Sayyiduna Umar says: I thought that in the morning I would go and give him this good news, but when I went I found that Abu Bakr had reached there before me and had already given him the good news. And by Allah! Never did I try to outstrip Abu Bakr in any good deed but that he was always ahead of me.