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Q: (a) Write an account of the collection of Hadiths during:

• the Prophet’s lifetime, and
• the time of the Companions immediately after the Prophet’s death. [10]
[MJ-2020]
The Hadith and Sunnah refers to the words, actions, silent approval, treaties, and letters by the
Prophet [PBUH] that he had said or done during the 23 years of his divine mission. The Hadith
explains, interprets, and even guides at places where the Quran remains silent. About the
importance of Hadith Allah says, “Nor does he say anything of his own desire, it is no less than
revelation sent down to him.” The Hadith were needed for the guidance of the future
generations as the Prophet had said “I am leaving behind two things, the Quran and Sunnah, if
you follow them, you will never go astray.”
During the Prophet’s time there was no official recording or transcripts of Hadiths. Instead, the
generation of Muslims who lived with the Prophet sought to preserve his words and deeds with
great accuracy of detail, thanks to Arabs’ for exceptionally retentive memories. Moreover,
there is a great reward for following the Prophet’s sunnah, “If you love Allah then follow me, for
Allah will love you and forgive your sins” hence the need to compile Ahadith arose.
The Prophet had ordered in the early years of revelation “Do not write from me and he who has
written from me except the Quran then let him erase it.” Scholars refer the reason of this
prohibition to not confuse the Ahadith with Quran while the revelation was still new. Also,
there were very few literate people in that era. Furthermore, there was no pressing need to
write down all his statements or to record his actions because he was present and could be
consulted at any time.
Primarily, the focus was on memorization & verbal transmission, e.g., study & pray circles in
Mina, House of Arqam, Ashab e Suffah, teaching delegations sent to different tribes, cities etc.
Amongst the documents that became part of Hadith collections were the official records of the
Prophet’s discourses and statements e.g., the peace document for Saraqah bin Malik, charter of
Madinah, Treaty of Hudaibiya, Letters to kings and emperors and the treaty with the Christians
of Najran etc.
However later this ban was lifted. The Prophet said “May Allah brighten the face of a person
who hears what I say, retains it and pass it on to others as well.” However, there are many
authentic narrations collected by the scholars of Hadith which prove that hadiths were
recorded in writing even during the lifetime of Prophet.
At the time of conquest of Mecca in 8 AH a man from Yemen that is Abu Shah asked the
Prophet “Should I have this sermon in written form”, the Prophet hence ordered this sermon
that he gave to people of Mecca to be written. Moreover, at time of the last sermon of Prophet
in 10 AH. At the plain of Arafat, the Prophet ordered “Let him who is present here carry this
message to him who is absent.”
Abdullah bin Amr, used to write down everything that he heard from the Prophet to which the
people objected and said, “He is a human, he speaks when he’s angry or pleased.” Abdullah
stopped writing until he consulted the Prophet that “should I write down everything that you
say in state of contentment and anger?” to which the Prophet replied “Yes, for I speak nothing
but truth.” It was for this reason that Abu Hurairah said, “No one from the companions of
Prophet had more Ahadith than me except for Abdullah bin Amr for he used to write and I did
not write.”
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Abu Hurairah reported that once a man came to Prophet and complained about his memory
saying, “We hear many things from you now and then but most of them slip from our mind.”
The Prophet replied “Ask your right hand for help” which means to write them down.
Ashab-e-Suffah who lived in the Prophet’s Mosque used to teach the religion to tribes outside
Madinah. Prominent companions of Prophet who narrated ahadith were Ayesha, Abdullah bin
Amr, Abdullah bin Abbas, Anas bin Malik, Abu Said al Khudri, and Jabir bin Abdullah. The
Prophet also warned against lying upon him “Whoever lies against me intentionally then let him
take his seat in hellfire.”
The prominent hadith work during this first century Hijri includes Sahifa Sadiqa (the book of
Truth) by Abdullah bin Amr (later incorporated in Musnad of Imam Ahmed bin Hambal), Sahifa
Saheha by Hamam bin Munnaba’h, Musnad Abu Hurrairah, Sahifa Jabir and Sahifa Ali (blood-
money, law, order & retaliation). The Prophet’s wives were vital custodians of ahadith e.g.,
Ayesha (narrated 2210 ahadith), Hafsa, Umme Habibah, Maimunah, Umme Salmah etc.
While appointing Amr bin Hazm as the governor of Yemen, the Prophet himself gave him a
letter containing the times of prayer, methods of prayer, details of ablution, booty taxation,
zakat etc.
The last companion of Prophet who was a hadith narrator died in 92 AH i.e., Anas bin Malik.
Anas bin Malik was the Prophet’s personal attendant and reported 2286 Ahadith. He had
written down the traditions on scrolls. He used to enroll these documents and say: “These are
the sayings of the Prophet, which I have noted and then also read out to him to have any
mistakes corrected.”
Beside these there were some other documents dictated by the Prophet himself—official
letters, missionary letters, treaties of peace and alliance to different tribes—all these were later
incorporated into larger collections of Hadith.
After the Prophet’s death the Companions assumed both religious and political leadership in
the community. For example, Ibn Abbas in Makkah, Ibn Masud in Kufa, and Salman Farsi in
Isfahan had the responsibility of teaching the new generations of Muslims and new converts
about the religion and Sunnah of the Prophet. Thus, the study of Hadiths began as a practical
attempt to gather, organise and sift through the authoritative statements and behaviour
attributed to the Prophet.
It was often the junior Companions who became the most prolific collectors and transmitters of
Hadiths. Abu Hurrairah narrated 5374 Hadiths, Abdallah ibn Umar was 23 years old when the
Prophet died but is the second largest source of Hadiths, narrating 2630 Hadiths, Ibn Abbas
narrated 1660 Hadiths. Though narrators like Ibn Abbas and Abu Hurrairah knew the Prophet
for a short period of time they gathered their vast volumes of Hadith by seeking them out from
the senior Companions.
Companions like Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Ali did not record large number of Hadiths but rather
preserved the teachings in their actions and methods of reasoning rather than by citing them
directly. During the time of Prophet’s companions, there was no question of trustworthiness
and accuracy of narrators of hadith remained as the Prophet had said, “My Companions are
like the stars, whichever of them you follow you will be rightly guided.”