RECORDING SUNNAH

Q. Why did the companions decide to record Sunnah?

Answer: Omar ibn Abdul Aziz
Introduction: Sunnah is the –
 Actions
 Habits
 Sayings
 Deeds of the Prophet
 Along with thinks that he never disagreed to

 They decided to record Sunnah out of fear of the knowledge being

erased along with the demise of its bearers.
 They wanted it to be authentic and ensure that people do not
muffle its meaning or the wording while passing it down from
generation to generation
 It was a way to store the knowledge
(Salah, fasting…general etiquettes…Taught to all companions…transmitted to
generations….no need of a book…)

Q. State the difference between Hadith and Sunnah

 Sunnah is always authentic while Hadith can be authentic as well as
unauthentic.
 Hadith have been written and interpreted by scholars of Islam.
Thus, these are dependent upon their ways of thinking, their
character, and their memory and intellect.
 Sunnah has been passed on from one generation to another, so
there is little chance of any error.
 Sunnah is related with certain aspects of life while Hadith are not confined
to certain aspects of life.
 Sunnah means a path that has been trodden and treats Prophet as a
messenger of the almighty. Resurrected the abandoned practices of the
religion.
 Addition and modification in some matters
 The two most important religious institutions of Islam, for instance, are the
Prayer and Zakat; yet when the injunctions relating to the Prayer and Zakat
were delivered, and they are repeatedly met with both in Makka and Madina
revelations, no details were supplied.
 This tradition is called Sunnah…It is the structure or tradition of the religion
 Hadith is the historical record of Prophet’s era…narration of the
stories of Prophet

Page 1 of 7
 Understanding the Hadith
Omar ibn Abdul Aziz sent a message to the people of Madinah and justifying
himself by: “I fear the disappearance of the knowledge and the demise of its
bearers.” (bukhari)
AMIR AL MU MININ – OMAR IBN ABDUL AZIZ
Disappearance of knowledge means loss.
They were written in classification in the form of books and chapters.
The first person or scholar to do this was ibn muslim, famously
known as ibn Shihab Al Zuhri BORN IN 50 HIJRI . One of the first
generation scholars after the Prophet’s Companions.
In Sahih Muslim on the authority of Abu Sa'id AI-Khudri (RA), Allah's
Messenger (SAW), said: "Do not write anything from me except the Qur'an.
Anyone who wrote anything other than the Quran shall erase it."
Meaning – The prophet had prohibited writing down anything he said
before the complete revelation of the Quran.
This was to ensure that the believers would not confuse between what
he said about aspects of life or during sermons and the contents of the
Quran. He had prohibited writing anything but the Quran.
 They decided to record Sunnah out of fear of the knowledge being
erased along with the demise of its bearers.
 They wanted it to be authentic and ensure that people do not
muffle its meaning or the wording while passing it down from
generation to generation
 It was a way to store the knowledge
Sunnah is the second source of Islamic legislation hence it must not
be lost.

“Write that for Abu Shah” (Bukhari and muslim)

Meaning – A man came from Yemen and the prophet requested the
sermon be written.
The prophet had permitted some companions to record Sunnah, when
he felt like it was not going to be confused with the Holy Quran

Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As (RA), said to Allah's Messenger (SAW): "O'
Allah's Messenger, I hear from you things, shall I write them down?" Allah's
Messenger, Peace be upon him, said: "Yes." Abdullah asked: "In states of anger
and contentment?" Allah's Messenger, Peace be upon him, said: "Yes, for I speak
nothing but the truth.”

Page 2 of 7
 Meaning- The prophet has never omitted anything that that has to be
conveyed. He always spoke the truth and conveyed authentically even
when he was contented or was angry. The prophet (SAW) was flawless
or error free in the message he gave. This was narrated by Musnad Ahmed

In prophet’s time after assuring that it was not mixed with Hadith: Private
writings done by the companions who wrote for themselves whatever they wanted
to memorize or scared that they would forget (Amr bin Al A'as-The true booklet)
In the time of Caliph Umar ibn Abdul Aziz: (Mohammad Ibn Muslin Ibn Shihab
Zahri-Scholar of hadith in Madinah)
Public writing done by the scholars for the next generation in the form of
collection and compilation as books of hadith.
Two types of Collection:

In prophet’s time after assuring that it was not mixed with Hadith:
Private writings done by the companions who wrote for themselves whatever they
wanted to memorize or scared that they would forget

In the time of Caliph Umar ibn Abdul Aziz:

Public writing done by the scholars for the next generation in the form of collection
and compilation as books of hadith.

TYPES OF COMPILATION
Sahih Books
Books that mention only 'sahih' (authentic) hadiths such as 'Sahih Al-Bukhari'
and 'Sahih Muslim'.

Sunan
Books collect hadiths on rulings referred to the Prophet, (SAW) arranged
in terms of fiqh chapters such as 'Sunan Abi Dawud', 'Sunan at-
Tirmidhi', 'Sunan an-Nasa'i' and Sunan Ibn Majah

Compilations
Books containing hadiths ascribed to the Prophet, (SAW) and strictly
narrated by a Companion or a Tabi'ee (Any Muslim that has had the honour
of meeting a companion of prophet (saw) and died a muslim) such al 'Musannaf
'Abd al-Razzaq and 'Musannaf Abi Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah'.

Masanid
Hadiths are arranged according to the names of the Companions and in
terms of the Arabic alphabet; an example is 'Musnad Imam Ahmed ibn
Hanbal'.

Ma'ajim
Hadiths are arranged according to the Sheikhs of the author such as AI-
Tabarani's 'Mu'jam al-Kabir'.

Ajzaa’

Page 3 of 7
Small books in which the author collects certain hadiths or the sayings
of a Sheikh, such as Imam AI-Bukhari's 'Juz' fi Raf' al-Yadayn ' (Section
of Raising the Hands) and Imam AI-Bayhaqi's 'Reading after the Imam'.

AMIR AL MU MININ – OMAR IBN ABDUL AZIZ

THE SCHOLARS’ EFFORTS

 Used to take turn in attending the Prophet's Majlis
 Some Companions devoted all their time to memorize the Prophet's hadiths such as
Abu Hurairah
Sunnah as the source of Shariah Original:

Not found in Quran but has been proven. Applicable if not contrary to Quran such as Rakaat,
Timings of prayers and Nisab of Zakah Explanatory: Proven by Sunnah and has origins in
Quran such as definition of Zulm and some historical events not mentioned by Quran in
details
Companions used to take turn in attending the Prophet's Majlis Some Companions devoted
all their time to memorize the Prophet's hadiths such as Abu Hurairah
Muslim scholars put their efforts to investigate the reliability of hadith reporters and
transmitters
Jabir ibn Abdullah travelled all the way to Abdullah ibn Unais for a single Hadith of the
prophet.
“May Allah bless whoever listens to my speech, and conveys it as it’s heard. The
propagator might be more conscious than the reader”(Tirmidhi)

Isnad – chain of hadith transmitters.

 Instituting a methodology of studying Isnad and regarding it as a standard of
accepting hadiths or refuting them; this science has been given the term "Mustalahat
Al Hadith"; i.e. 'Hadith Terminology'.
 Examining the method of reporting hadith, controlling the chain of transmitters
and the connotations (hidden meaning) of utterances (expression, remark) used
in reporting hadith
 Distinguishing hadiths and classifying them into Marfoo' (attributed specifically
to the Prophet), maqtu' (attributed to a successor of one of the Prophet's
Companions) and Mawquf (attributed to a Companion)
 Knowledge of the narrators, this includes their biographies, characteristics, and
status as to confidence and fairness.

Page 4 of 7
Matn – text of the hadith

 Setting methodological rules for studying Matn and making a judgment as to

acceptance or rejection.
 Distinguishing between 'al-nasikh wal-mansukh' (the abrogating and abrogated) in
hadiths
 Working on studying the Matn to deduce Sharia rulings and Islamic morals
 Clarifying problematic hadiths which common people find difficult to understand

Marfu` - "elevated":
A narration from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), e.g. a
reporter (whether a Companion, Successor or other) says, "The Messenger of
Allah said ..." For example, the very first hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari is as follows:
"I heard Allah's Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
saying: The reward of deeds depends on the intentions, and every person
will get the reward according to what he has intended; so whoever
emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration
was for what he migrated."
Mauquf - "stopped":
A narration from a Companion only, i.e. his own statement; e.g. al-Bukhari
reports in his Sahih, in Kitab al-Fara'id (Book of the Laws of
Inheritance), that Abu Bakr, Ibn `Abbas and Ibn al-Zubair said, "The
grandfather is (treated like) a father." It should be noted that certain
expressions used by a Companion generally render a hadith to be considered as being
effectively Marfu` although it is Mauquf on the face of it, e.g. the following:
 "We were commanded to ..."
 "We were forbidden from ..."
 "We used to do ..."
 "We used to say/do ... while the Messenger of Allah was amongst
us."
 "We did not use to mind such-and-such..."
 "It used to be said ..."
 "It is from the Sunnah to ..."
 "It was revealed in the following circumstances: ...", speaking
about a verse of the Qur'an.
Maqtu` - "severed":
A narration from a Successor, e.g. Muslim reports in the Introduction to
his Sahih that Ibn Sirin said, "This knowledge (i.e. Hadith) is the
Religion, so be careful from whom you take your religion."

The authenticity of each of the above three types of hadith depends on other factors
such as the reliability of its reporters, the nature of the linkage amongst
them, etc. However, the above classification is extremely useful, since through it
the sayings of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) can be
distinguished at once from those of Companions or Successors; this is especially
helpful in debate about matters of Fiqh.

Page 5 of 7
The method of comparison was practiced in many ways:
 Comparison between the hadith of different students of one scholar.
 Comparison between the statements of single scholar at different times.
 Comparison between oral recitation and written document
 Comparison between the hadith and related verse of the al-Qur’an
 After doing these procedure, a scholar of hadith will be able to determine not
only the quality of a hadith but also the quality of its narrators.
Quality of Hadith and the narrators are analysed so as to understand
the difference between them and who possess the highest accuracy.
Different students have different interpretations but will receive
major part of their ideologies and understandings from their teacher.
A single scholar and think in different ways along with how life
experiences change their outlook. It is even possible that people may
indulge into worldly desires at one point diverting from how their
original recordings used to be.
Between oral and written when one speaks we have more of an
understanding through their connotations and expressions.

Ṣaḥīḥ:
 Continuous isnād (Muttasil)
 Trustworthy reporters (‘adl)
 Good memory (ḍābṭ)
 Free from any irregularities (shādh)
 Free from any defects (‘illah)
The last two criteria are not only applied to isnād but also to matn.

Forged hadiths identified by one of the following indications:

First, they contradict reason (al-ʿuqul), for example, the statement that no
Creator exists.
Second, the ḥ adith contradicts the al-Qurʾān, a widely established precedent of the
Prophet (al-sunnah al-mutawātirah) or a report that the Muslim community has
agreed upon (ijmāʻ) as being authentic.
Third, the report conveys information that is so essential for Muslims that God
would not allow it to be reported by a means other than one that assured its
certainty.
Finally, a report about some evident, unmistakable event that, if it had occurred,
would have necessarily been described via widely transmitted reports.

Ibn al-Qayyim: (Belonging to the Hanbali school of orthodox Sunni

jurisprudence)
 First, hadith that contradict the al-Qur’an.
 Second, hadith that contradict other authenticated hadith.
 Third, hadith that contradict the basics of the sharīʻah;
 Fourth, hadith that have a severe, aggravated, or grievous
connotation.
 Fifth, hadith that contradict authenticated historical facts.
 Sixth, hadith that have illogical connotations.
 Seventh, hadith that contradict reality.
 Eight, hadith that does reflect the words of the Prophet

Page 6 of 7
Shadh:
Shadh ("irregular") hadith is one which is reported by a trustworthy person but goes
against the narration of a person more reliable than him.
An example of a Shadhdh hadith according to some scholars is one which Abu
Dawud and al-Tirmidhi transmit, through the following isnad:
`Abdul Wahid b. Ziyad --- al-A'mash --- Abu Salih --- Abu Hurairah === the Prophet
(May Allah bless him and grant him peace):
"When one of you offers the two rak'ahs before the Dawn Prayer, he should lie down
on his right side."
Regarding it, al-Baihaqi said,
Abdul Wahid has gone against many people with this narration, for they have
reported the above as an act of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace), and not as his saying; `Abdul Wahid is alone amongst the trustworthy
students of al-A'mash in narrating these words.

In simple words:
there are two sources and one maybe be considered more
experienced and hence a better alternative answer but then
both are actually reliable hence you are unable to decide and
this causes accusations although you may be right.

Ma'lul or Mu'allal:
Ibn al-Salah says, "A ma'lul (defective) hadith is one which appears to be sound,
but thorough research reveals a disapproving factor." Such factors can be:
declaring a hadith musnad when it is in fact mursal, or marfu' when it is in fact
mauquf;
showing a reporter to narrate from his shaikh when in fact he did not meet the latter;
or attributing a hadith to one Companion when it in fact comes through another.

In simple words, A hadith that consists of errors. It appears

normal just like every other hadith but it has contradictions
and does not connect to the topic or way it’s used. For example
a compiled book of hadith that does not follow any order or
has wrong wordings or connotations.

How can you say that Sunnah is an authentic source of Shariah?

1. Prophet speaks nothing but the truth,
2. It consists of prophets actions and and thing she did not disagree with.
3. Sunnah was only recorded after making sure that people would not be confused between
Quran and Sunnah.
4. There two major parts of Sunnah one tells is origins, parts not present in the quran then
the ones proven and has origins in Quran.
5. Without the origins which told us how many Rakas to pray or how much is the alms for
zakah which was not there in Quran we would be lacking behind.
6. further more Sunnah is considered the 2nd legislation of Islam and also is responsible for
sharia ruling not proven by the quran.

Page 7 of 7