In the name of Allah most gracious most merciful
Assalaamualikum wa rahmatuallahi wa barakatuhu,
Did prophet forbade writing of Hadith?
Few muslim brother and sisters have some misconceptions about prophet forbade writing of Hadith forever.Below are few claims alon with its
refutations.
CLAIM 1
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Ibn Saeed Al-Khudry reported that the messenger of God had said,
"Do not write anything from me EXCEPT QURAN. Anyone who wrote anything other than the Quran shall erase it."
REFUTATION: 1
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Initially it was forbidden to write to keep Quran as the only manuscript.
Sunan of Abu-DawoodHadith 3639 Narrated byAbdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As
I used to write everything which I heard from the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him). I intended (by it) to memorise it. The Quraysh prohibited me
saying: Do you write everything that you hear from him while the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) is a human being: he speaks in anger and pleasure?
So I stopped writing, and mentioned it to the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him). He signalled with his finger to him mouth and said: Write, by Him
in Whose hand my soul lies, only right comes out from it.
CLAIM 2
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From Ibn Hanbal;
Zayd Ibn Thabit (The Prophet's closest revelation writer) visited the Khalifa Mu'aawiyah (more than 30 years after the Prophet's death), and told
him a story about the Prophet. Mu'aawiyah liked the story and ordered someone to write it down. But Zayd said. " the messenger of God ordered us
NEVER to write anything of his hadith,"
REFUTATION- 2
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Zayd Ibn Thabit used to write Quran ,its seen well that those who used to write Quran in majority did'nt write hadith,To keep manuscripts separetely.
As per the claim,Zayd ibn thabit [r.a] met Muaawiyah ,the hadith no where says this incident happend after 30 years.
Sunan of Abu-DawoodHadith 3640 Narrated byZayd ibn Thabit
Al-Muttalib ibn Abdullah ibn Hantab said: Zayd ibn Thabit entered upon Mu'awiyah and asked him about a tradition. He ordered a man to write it.
Zayd said: The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) ordered us not to write any of his traditions. So he erased it.
it was erased because of initial injunction.
Muawiya[r.a] did got some hadith written down later as per the permission.
Sahih Al-Bukhari HadithHadith 9.395 Narrated byWarrad
(The clerk of Al-Mughira) Muawiya wrote to Al-Mughira: "Write to me what you have heard from Allah's Apostle." So he (Al-Mughira) wrote to him: Allah's
Prophet used to say at the end of each prayer: "La ilaha illalla-h wahdahu la sharika lahu, lahul Mulku, wa lahul Hamdu wa hula ala kulli shai'in
qadir. 'Allahumma la mani' a lima a'taita, wala mu'tiya lima mana'ta, wala yanfa'u dhuljadd minkal-jadd." He also wrote to him that the Prophet used
to forbid (1) Qil and Qal (idle useless talk or that you talk too much about others), (2) Asking too many questions (in disputed religious matters); (3)
And wasting one's wealth by extravagance; (4) and to be undutiful to one'smother (5) and to bury the daughters alive (6) and to prevent your favors
(benevolence) to others (i.e. not to pay the rights of others) (7) And asking others for something (except when it is unavoidable).
Sahih Al-Bukhari HadithHadith 8.612 Narrated byWarrad
(the freed slave of Al-Mughira bin Shu'ba) Muawiya wrote to Mughira, "Write to me what you heard the Prophet saying after his prayer." So Al-Mughira
dictated to me and said, "I heard the Prophet saying after the prayer, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah Alone Who has no partner. O Allah!
No one can withhold what You give, and none can give what You withhold, and the fortune of a man of means is useless before You (i.e., only good deeds
are of value).' "
CLAIM 3
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The famous book, "Ulum Al-Hadith" by Ibn Al-Salah, reports a hadith by Abu Hurayra in which Abu Hurayra said the messenger of God came out to us while
we were writing his hadiths and said; "What are you writing?" We said, "Hadiths that we hear from you, messenger of God." He said, "A book other
than the book of God ?!" We said, "Should we talk about you?" He said, Talk about me, that would be fine, but those who will lie will go to Hell. Abu
Hurayra said, we collected what we wrote of Hadiths and burned them in fire.
REFUTATION 3
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Initially it was forbidden to write to keep Quran as the only text. Another important point to note is,talking about messenger was permitted,it
cleary proves that many injunctions of Quran require explanation by Rasool Allah to practice Islam.That explanation was completely part of Quran i.e
teaching how to practice Islam practically. That is why they wrote it as different text.
Sunan of Abu-DawoodHadith 3639 Narrated byAbdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As
I used to write everything which I heard from the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him). I intended (by it) to memorise it. The Quraysh prohibited me
saying: Do you write everything that you hear from him while the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) is a human being: he speaks in anger and pleasure?
So I stopped writing, and mentioned it to the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him). He signalled with his finger to him mouth and said: Write, by Him
in Whose hand my soul lies, only right comes out from it.
CLAIM 4
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In the famous book, "Taq-yeed Al-Ilm", Abu Hurayra said, the messenger of God was informed that some people are writing his hadiths. He took to the
pulpit of the mosque and said, "What are these books that I heard you wrote? I am just a human being. Anyone who has any of these writings should bring
it here. Abu Hurayra said we collected all these and burned them in fire.
REFUTATION 4
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As written earlier this prohibited is before the permission of writing.
CLAIM 5
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Ibn Hanbal in his Musnad book, narrates a hadith in which Abdullah Ibn Omar said, "the messenger of God one day came out to us as if he was going to
depart us soon and said, "When I depart you (die), hold to the book of God, prohibit what it prohibits and accept as halal what it makes halal."
He never mentioned the Sunna in this hadiths.
REFUTATION 5:
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Muwatta Book 46, Number 46.1.3:
Yahya related to me from Malik that he heard that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "I have left two matters with
you. As long as you hold to them, you will not go the wrong way. They are the Book of Allah and the Sunna of His Prophet."
CLAIM 6
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Again, in the book "Taq-yeed Al-Ilm", Abu Saeed Al-Khudry said, " I asked the messenger of God a permission to write his hadiths, but he refused to
give me a permission."
REFUTATION 6
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As written earlier this prohibited is before the permission of writing.
CLAIM 7
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The farewell Pilgrimage of the Prophet Muhammed is a corner stone in the Muslim history. The Final Sermon given by the Prophet during this pilgrimage
was witnessed by thousands of Muslims. There are however THREE versions of this sermon in the Hadiths books.
[A] 1- First version, " I left for you what if you hold up to, you will never be misguided, the book of God and my Family.
[B]2-Second version, "I left for you what if you hold up to, you will never be misguided, the book of God and my Sunnah" .
[C]3- Third version, "I left for you what if you hold up to, you will never be misguided, the BOOK OF GOD."
Refutations :Dealing with each claim one by one:A,B & C
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[A] 1- First version, " I left for you what if you hold up to, you will never be misguided, the book of God and my Family.
EXPLANATION OF [A]
Al-Tirmidhi HadithHadith 6143 Narrated byJabir ibn Abdullah
Jabir saw Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) when performing the hajj seated on his she-camel al-Qaswa' on the day of Arafah giving an address,
and he heard him saying, "O people, I have left among you something of such a nature that if you adhere to it you will not go astray: Allah's Book and
my close relatives who belong to my household."
Tirmidhi transmitted it.
Following Allah's book and close relatives as close relatives used to follow sunnah of rasool Allah.
[B]2-Second version, "I left for you what if you hold up to, you will never be misguided, the book of God and my Sunnah" .
EXPLANATION OF B
Sunnah is in Hadith.
Muwatta Book 46, Number 46.1.3:
Yahya related to me from Malik that he heard that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "I have left two matters with
you. As long as you hold to them, you will not go the wrong way. They are the Book of Allah and the Sunna of His Prophet."
This is self explanatory.
[C]3- Third version, "I left for you what if you hold up to, you will never be misguided, the BOOK OF GOD."
EXPLANATION OF C
Excerpt from last[Final] sermon,
Sahih Muslim HadithHadith 1885 Narrated byJabir ibn Abdullah
.................. I have left among you the Book of Allah, and if you hold fast to it, you would never go astray. And you would be asked about me (on
the Day of Resurrection), (now tell me) what would you say? They (the audience) said: We will bear witness that you have conveyed (the message),
discharged (the ministry of Prophethood) and given wise (sincere) counsel. He (the narrator) said: He (the Holy Prophet) then raised his forefinger
towards the sky and pointing it at the people (said): "O Allah, be witness. O Allah be witness," saying it thrice ...............................
Implementing Quran itself requires Hadith as it carries to an extent laws and explanations of Quran.From prayer to capital punishments.
There are three versions ,this is where we require hadith exegesis,just like Quran explains some other parts of Quran,Quran exegesis:EXAMPLE.
First version-2:34 And when We said unto the angels: Prostrate yourselves before Adam, they fell prostrate, all save Iblis. He demurred through pride,
and so became a disbeliever.
35 And We said: O Adam! Dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden, and eat ye freely (of the fruits) thereof where ye will; but come not nigh this tree
lest ye become wrongdoers.
Second version-7:11 And We created you, then fashioned you, then told the angels: Fall ye prostrate before Adam! And they fell prostrate, all save
Iblis, who was not of those who make prostration.
12:He said: What hindered thee that thou didst not fall prostrate when I bade thee? (Iblis) said: I am better than him. Thou createdst me of fire
while him Thou didst create of mud.
Third version:20:116 When We said to the angels "Prostrate yourselves to Adam" they prostrated themselves but not Iblis: he refused.
117 Then We said: "O Adam! verily this is an enemy to thee and thy wife: so let him not get you both out of the Garden so that thou art landed in
misery.
Common sense works very well here,
To simply explain,Satan was haughty,thinking he is better,thus he refused,but the point here is to note that the way verses were revealed,each
has its own sequence hence we require Quran exegesis.
The same law of exegesis[An explanation or critical(Characterized by careful evaluation and judgment) interpretation ]
Follow Quran,its details of implementing are in sunnah[hadith] which was followed by prophets clse relatives.Simple!!!
Allah says in Quran to pray and the method in detail is in Hadith,hajj details are in hadith,even how many times circumambulate around kaba is in
hadith as Quran mentions circumambulate without giving any number.
CLAIM 8 :
HADITHS AND THE GUIDED KHALIFAS[Caliphs]
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The four guided Khalifas who ruled the Muslim Umma (nation) after the death of the Prophet Muhammed, respected the order of the Prophet and prohibited
the writing and collection of Hadiths. They did believe God in his book and accepted the commandment of the Prophet.
Abu Bakr at one point was not sure whether to keep what he knows of hadiths or not. He had collected 500 Hadiths during very long companionship of the
Prophet Muhammed, but he could not sleep the night until he burned them. Omar Ibn Al-Khattab insisted on destroying the Hadiths collected by his son
Abdullah. Islamic history mentioned the story of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab restraining four of the Prophet's companions because of their insistence on
telling Hadiths, these were Ibn Masoud, Abu Al-Dardaa, Abu Masoud Al-Anssary and Abu Tharr Al-Ghaffary.
Ali Ibn Abu Talib, the fourth Khalifa in one of his speeches said, "I urge all those who have writing taken from the messenger of God to go home and
erase it. The people before you were annihilated because they followed the Hadiths of their scholars and left the book of their Lord." (Sunan
Al-Daramy)
REFUTATION 8:
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This itself proves they all wrote Hadith ,its dire need to preserve knowledge.But those who wrote Quran seldom saved written Hadith yet few
saved like Ali [r.a]& some did not write at all.To keep two texts seperate.
Sahih Al-Bukhari HadithHadith 3.263 Narrated byAbu Huraira
You people say that Abu Huraira tells many narrations from Allah's Apostle and you also wonder why the emigrants and Ansar do not narrate from Allah's
Apostle as Abu Huraira does. My emigrant brothers were busy in the market while I used to stick to Allah's Apostle content with what fills my stomach;
so I used to be present when they were absent and I used to remember when they used to forget, and my Ansari brothers used to be busy with their
properties and I was one of the poor men of Suffa. I used to remember the narrations when they used to forget. No doubt, Allah's Apostle once said,
"Whoever spreads his garment till I have finished my present speech and then gathers it to himself, will remember whatever I will say." So, I spread my
colored garment which I was wearing till Allah's Apostle had finished his saying, and then I gathered it to my chest. So, I did not forget any of that
narrations.
CLAIM 9
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Abu Hurayra narrated more Hadiths than anybody else including Abu Bakr, Omar, Ali, and Ayesha who lived with the prophet all their lives. In less
than two years of being with the prophet, Abu Hurayra narrated more Hadiths than all these companions of the prophet altogether. He narrated 5374
Hadiths. Ibn Hanbal quoted 3848 of his Hadiths in his book.
REFUTATION:9
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Sahih Al-Bukhari HadithHadith 3.263 Narrated byAbu Huraira
You people say that Abu Huraira tells many narrations from Allah's Apostle and you also wonder why the emigrants and Ansar do not narrate from Allah's
Apostle as Abu Huraira does. My emigrant brothers were busy in the market while I used to stick to Allah's Apostle content with what fills my stomach;
so I used to be present when they were absent and I used to remember when they used to forget, and my Ansari brothers used to be busy with their
properties and I was one of the poor men of Suffa. I used to remember the narrations when they used to forget. No doubt, Allah's Apostle once said,
"Whoever spreads his garment till I have finished my present speech and then gathers it to himself, will remember whatever I will say." So, I spread my
colored garment which I was wearing till Allah's Apostle had finished his saying, and then I gathered it to my chest. So, I did not forget any of that
narrations.
CLAIM 10
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Omar Ibn Abdel-Aziz permitted the writing of Hadiths and Sunna, then manybooks and (Kararees) appeared containing Hadiths, e.g. Ibn Greeg, Malik Ibn
Anas, Mohammed Ibn Is'haq. The most famous from among these were the book of Malik Ibn Anas, (Al-Muwattaa). that had about 500 Hadiths. At the end of the
second century the books known as (Masaned) appeared, e.g. the Masnad of Ahmed Ibn Hanbal that has about 40,000 Hadiths. In the first half of the
third century the famous six books of hadiths appeared and these are the books used by many of the scholars these days. 1- Sahih Bukhary. 2- Sahih
Muslem. 3- Sunan Abu Daoud. 4-Sunan Al-tirmidhi. 5-Sunan Al-Nasaai. 6- Sunan Ibn Magah.
REFUTATION 10 :
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[a]The increase in number is because of excessive number of narrators with repetations of same information,
[b].Many sahabas[companions] gave details about their personal experiences with Prophet Muhammad[pbuh],
[c] events through which we learnt practse of prophet Muhammad [pbuh].
[d]The later generation needed more detailed information of Prophet as they were not aware of his practices as they were not born during prophet's era.
Conclusion: Hadith self explanatory to see the importance of Sunnah[authentic Hadith]
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Sunan of Abu-DawoodHadith 3585 Narrated byMu'adh ibn Jabal
Some companions of Mu'adh ibn Jabal said: When the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) intended to send Mu'adh ibn Jabal to the Yemen, he asked: How
will you judge when the occasion of deciding a case arises? He replied: I shall judge in accordance with Allah's Book. He asked: (What will you do)
if you do not find any guidance in Allah's Book? He replied: (I shall act) in accordance with the Sunnah of the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him).
He asked: (What will you do) if you do not find any guidance in the Sunnah of the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) and in Allah's Book? He
replied: I shall do my best to form an opinion and I shall spare no effort. The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) then patted him on the breast and
said: Praise be to Allah Who has helped the messenger of the Apostle of Allah to find something which pleases the Apostle of Allah.
Sahih Al-Bukhari HadithHadith 9.382 Narrated byAbdullah
The best talk (speech) is Allah's Book (Qur'an), and the best way is the way of Muhammad, and the worst matters are the heresies (those new things which
are introduced into the religion); and whatever you have been promised will surely come to pass, and you cannot escape (it).
Sahih Al-Bukhari HadithHadith 9.374 Narrated byAnas bin Malik
That he heard 'Umar speaking while standing on the pulpit of the Prophet in the morning (following the death of the Prophet), when the people had sworn
allegiance to Abu Bakr. He said the Tashah-hud before Abu Bakr, and said, "Amma Ba'du (then after) Allah has chosen for his Apostle what is with Him
(Paradise) rather than what is with you (the world). This is that Book (Qur'an) with which Allah guided your Apostle, so stick to it, for then you
will be guided on the right path as Allah guided His Apostle with it."
Sahih Al-Bukhari HadithHadith 8.120 Narrated byTariq
'Abdullah said, "The best talk is Allah's Book (Qur'an), and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad."
Sahih Muslim HadithHadith 878 Narrated byAbuSa'id al-Khudri
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) saw (a tendency) among his Companions to go to the back, so he said to them: Come forward and follow my
lead, and let those who come after you follow your lead. People will continue to keep back till Allah will put them at the back.
Al-Tirmidhi HadithHadith 6221 Narrated byAbdullah ibn Mas'ud
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "When I am gone copy those two of my companions, AbuBakr and Umar, follow the guidance of Ammar, and hold fast to
the injunction of Ibn Umm Abd." Hudhayfah's version says "Believe what Ibn Mas'ud tells you" instead of "Hold fast to the injunction of Ibn Umm
Abd."*note[wallahu alam ,may be prophet said both names].
Tirmidhi transmitted it.
Allah knows best.
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