Proofs of its Preservation
Proofs that Allah preserved the sunnah are both textual and logical. The textual argument is based on the following verse “Of a surety, We certainly reveal the reminder, and We certainly are its definite guardians” (15:9). It can’t be stated that the word “reminder” in this verse is only referring to the Quran. It is either referring to the Quran and hadith or only the hadith. It is not possible that it is referring to only the Quran. This is true because it is inconceivable that only the wording of the Quran would be preserved. Preserving the Quran must imply both preserving both its wording and meaning. The meaning of the Quran is captured in the hadith of the Prophet peace be upon him, that is, its meaning cannot be had without the hadith of the Prophet peace be upon him.
The logical argument runs as follows: According to Islamic belief, the Quran is Allah’s final revelation and the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him is Allah’s final messenger. Allah orders Muslims to follow the sunnah of the Prophet peace be upon him. If Allah did not preserve the sunnah, the true sunnah would have been lost and Allah would be ordering Muslims to follow something that they could not possibly follow. This would not be consistent with what is known of the mercy, wisdom, and justice of Allah. Therefore, logically speaking, Allah must have preserved the hadith. These arguments do not mean that Allah did not use some earthly means to preserve the Quran and the hadith. Allah, through humans, used many means by which He preserved the sunnah. Some of these aspects are unique to the Muslim nation. This is a great blessing and bounty from Allah for which every Muslim should be sincerely grateful to Allah and to those individuals who sacrificed their time and wealth in order to preserve the teachings of the Prophet peace be upon him.
Many people have a false conception of how the hadith were preserved. I will be discussing in some detail some of the means of preservation of hadith. There are yet other aspects in the preservation of hadith that “do not appear in the statistics,” as they say in the world of sports. For example, one cannot look at the chains of hadith and see the great desire that the early Muslims had in learning, memorizing, and gathering the hadith of the Prophet peace be upon him. This great desire to learn the hadith has been demonstrated in many different ways, one of them being the journeying and sacrificing of time and wealth to learn and record the hadith of the Prophet peace be upon him. The manner in which Allah preserved the Quran is well known and clear. However, the ways and means by which the hadith were preserved are not that well known. Hence some of the means by which the hadith were preserved will be discussed here.
The Prophet peace be upon him and His Position According to the Quran
a) Expounder of the Quran: The Prophet peace be upon him is the expounder of the Quran appointed by Allah. Allah mentions this in the Quran “We have revealed unto you the Remembrance that you may explain to mankind that which has been revealed for them” (16: 44). For example the Quran tells us to pray, but the details for the method of praying are not prescribed in the Quran. It was the Prophet’s task to demonstrate the forms of prayer.
b) Legislator: Allah says about the Prophet peace be upon him in Chapter 7 verse 157 “He will make lawful for them all good things and prohibit for them only the foul…”
c) Model behavior for the Muslim Society: Allah says in chapter 33 verse 21 “Indeed a noble model you have in Allah’s Messenger...” If we consider the Prophet peace be upon him as the model for the community, then Muslims have to follow his example in every way. Allah did not leave this open to debate and ordered complete obedience to the Prophet peace be upon him. For this reason the Muslim community accepted the authority of the Prophet peace be upon him from the very day his mission began.
Teaching of Ahadith by the Prophet peace be upon him
The methods used by the prophet peace be upon him to teach his sunnah or ahadith can be put in three categories:
1) Teaching of the sunnah in verbal form: the Prophet peace be upon him was the teacher of his sunnah, he would often times repeat important statements three times to make it easier for his companions to understand and memorize. New comers were often times to be accommodated by Medinites (people of Medina), not only for accommodations, but also for education in the Quran and Hadith.
2) Teaching the sunnah in writing; All letters sent by the Prophet peace be upon him to kings, chieftains, and Muslim governors can be included in his sunnah. Some of those letters were very lengthy and contained legal matters concerning zakah, taxation, forms of worship etc. The Prophet peace be upon him had at least 45 scribes who wrote for him at one time or another.
3) Teaching of the sunnah by practical demonstration: The Prophet peace be upon him taught the method of ablution, prayer, hajj etc all by practical demonstration. He gave practical lessons in excellence with clear instructions to follow his practice. He further said “Learn from the rituals of hajj” Many times he would tell questioners to stay with him and learn by observing his practice.
Measures taken by the Prophet peace be upon him for the Diffusion of Sunnah
1) Establishment of schools: The Prophet peace be upon him established a school in Mecca soon after he became a Prophet. Schools were also established by the Prophet peace be upon him in Medina soon after his arrival. His general policy was to send teachers to areas outside of Medina.
2) His Directions about Diffusion of Knowledge: The Prophet peace be upon him said “Pass on knowledge from me even if it is only one verse” He also said something similar during his farewell pilgrimage “Those who are present should convey the message to those who are absent” It was a common practice of the companions to tell absentees about the Prophets deeds and sayings.
3) Creation of incentive for teachers and students: The Prophet peace be upon him mentioned great rewards for teachers and students.
a) Reward for students: The Prophet peace be upon him said: “If anyone pursues a path in search of knowledge Allah will thereby make easy for him a path to paradise, and the angels spread their wings from good pleasure with one who seeks knowledge, and all the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth, even the fish in the depths of the water ask forgiveness for him”
b) Rewards for teachers: In this regard the Prophet peace be upon him mentioned that after death all deeds come to and end except three, one of them being knowledge that people still reap benefit from.
How the Sunnah was Received by the Companions
People always try to watch and remember the sayings and deeds of their loved ones. In regards to Mohammad peace be upon him, we can say for sure that he was the most beloved person on earth in his community. Some companions like Zayd said they would rather die, than have the Prophet peace be upon him even pricked with a thorn. Abu Sufyan a one time enemy of Islam said “I have never seen a man who was so loved by his companions as Mohammad was”. Thus the Prophet peace be upon him was the most beloved in his community. The community’s involvement in worldly pursuits was minimal and this made the opportunity for learning greater. The Arabs were known to have had excellent memories and used remember many verses of their tribal poets by heart.
Companions Learning of Ahadith
The Companions used three methods of learning
a) Learning by memorizing: They used to listen to every word of the prophet peace be upon him with utmost care. If he went away for any reason they would recollect what they had learned. Anas ibn Malik, the servant of the Prophet peace be upon him said “We sat with the Prophet peace be upon him, maybe sixty persons in number and the Prophet peace be upon him taught them ahadith. Later on when he went out for any necessity, we used to memorize it among us, when we departed it was as if cultivated in our hearts” Those who were absent also used learn from those who were present. Some of them even came to agreement among themselves to attend the gatherings of the Prophet peace be upon him in shifts, as we find in the case of Umar.
b) Learning ahadith through writing: The companions learned the ahadith by recording it in writing as well. There were a good number of companions who recorded the ahadith of the Prophet peace be upon him.
c) Learning ahadith by practice: The companions put into practice everything they learned by writing or memory. Knowledge in Islam is for practice and not just for the sake of knowledge. This is why it took Umar eight years to memorize the second chapter of the Quran
This is a sketch of how the ahadith of the Prophet peace be upon him was learned by the companions. After his death the method was almost the same except that he was no longer among them.
Recollection of ahadith in the Period of the Companions
Recollection of ahadith was carried in the time of the companions as it was during the life of the Prophet peace be upon him. Abu Huraira used to divide his night into three portions; one third for sleep, one third for prayer, and one third for the recollection of ahadith. Umar and Abu Musa al Ashari used to memorize ahadith through the night until the morning. They companions used to memorize in groups and individually.
Recording of Hadith in the life of the Prophet peace be upon him and the Companions
Certain companions wrote down ahadith in the life of the Prophet peace be upon him and in some cases he dictated it to them. There numbers are smaller than that of the later scholars. Not all companions narrated the same number of ahadith. Some had transmitted more than a thousand while others transmitted only one or two. Abu Hurairah transmitted the most ahadith and it was reported that he had books in his possession and at least nine of his students wrote ahadith from him. Others who transmitted large number of ahadith and had others collect them in written form are: Anas ibn Mailk, Aisha bint Abu Bakr, Ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Amr, Umar ibn al Khattab, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Abu Musa al Ashari and others.
Some Misunderstanding about Recording of Ahadith
The Hadith Against Writing Down the Ahadith: There is only one authentic hadith about this matter which says “Do not write down from me anything except the Quran and whoever has written anything from me other than the Quran should erase it.” According to Bukhari and others it is the statement of the narrator Abu Said himself and it is erroneously attributed to the Prophet peace be upon him. Others say it means that nothing should be written on the same sheet as the Quran so the two don’t get mixed up. It should be remembered that this command was given in the early days of Islam and the Prophet peace be upon him wanted all attention to be paid to the Quran and its preservation, and later on there was no danger of neglecting the Quran, thus the previous order was abrogated and writing ahadith was permitted. The Prophet peace be upon him himself sent hundreds of letters containing formulae for forms and rituals of worship.
Chain System
Every Hadith consists of two parts; the first portion is the chain of narrators while the second protion is the actual statement of the Prophet peace be upon him. The chain system was used to some extent in transmitting pre-Islamic poetry, but it was in the hadith literature that its importance culminated. It was also in hadith literature when the system was used to its full and in some cases to extravagant limits. Since hadith was the store where we get the sunnah it was natural to deal with the isnad with utmost care. Thus with the introduction of the chains, a unique science came into existence for the evaluation of chain and text of ahadith. At the end of the first century the science of the chain system was fully developed.
The Proliferation of Chains
It is a common phenomenon of the chain system that as we go further in time the number of transmitters increases. Sometimes a hadith transmitted by one companion acquires ten students in the next generation, in the class of successors, and these ten students have in some cases twenty or thirty students from different countries. For example Abu Huraira reported that the Prophet peace be upon him said when anyone amongst you wakes up from sleep, he must not put his hand in a utensil until he washed it three times, for he doesn’t know where his hand was during sleep. At least thirteen students of Abu Huraira transmitted this hadith from him. 8 out of 13 were from Medina, 1 from Kufah, 2 from Basrah, 1 from Yemen, 1 from Syria. There are sixteen scholars who transmitted this hadith from the students of Abu Huraira. 6 out of the 16 were from Medina, 4 from Basrah, 2 from Kufah, 1 from Makkah, 1 from Yemen, 1 from Khurasan, 1 from Syria.
Further down the chain the number of narrators increase and localities spread even further into different provinces. The flourishing of chains and diffusion of ahadith in this way made it easy to check the faults of scholars or any forgery that was committed. This proves the early existence of the chain system and shows how impossible it would have been to fabricate chains of transmission on this large a scale. The scholars used rigorous methods to examine chains of transmission, eliminating all ahadith passed by unreliable sources. Given centuries of this kind of activity we are logically justified in accepting the whole chain system and methodology of hadith scholars as accurate and valid.
Forgery and Errors in Transmitting Ahadith
The Prophet peace be upon him said “If anyone tells a lie about me intentionally, let him be sure of his place in hell fire.” This hadith and others had a tremendous effect on the companions and most of them refrained from imparting hadith in case of doubtful memory. Early scholars played their roles with due caution in transmitting or copying ahadith. As is known to all scholars, even the most sincere person may commit a mistake. Since the sunnah is an everlasting example for the Muslim community, the community couldn’t afford to let ahadith be polluted or diluted in any way. Therefore it was necessary to use criticism with full force.
Yahya ibn Sa’id al-Qatan, one of the greatest scholars of the second century was known for his strong criticism and he said “In the hereafter I would prefer to be opposed by anyone rather than have the Prophet peace be upon him saying ‘you heard a hadith attributed to me and it came to your mind that it was not true but you did not criticize it.’” With this intention criticism of hadith was carried out, without fear or favor for anyone. We find that a father graded down his own son, a son criticized his father, a brother criticized his own kin without any fear or favor except the fear of Allah.
Beginning of Criticism
Criticism of hadith began during the life of the Prophet peace be upon him. At that time it meant nothing more than going to the prophet peace be upon him and verifying something he was reported to have said. With the death of the Prophet peace be upon him it was the duty of the Muslim individuals, community, and state to be very careful in ascribing statements to the Prophet peace be upon him, and they had to scrutinize them carefully. The first Caliph Abu Bakr was a pioneer in the field, next came Umar and Ali. To err is human and with the spread of hadith in different regions of the Islamic world, the possibility of mistakes arose. Consequently the necessity for criticism became apparent.
During the time of trials of the assassination of Uthman the first fabrication of hadith began. During this stage the general trend of learning ahadith became stricter and schools of criticism began to appear. There were two prominent schools of that time, the school of Medina and the school of Iraq. The scholars of both schools belonged to the first century of Hijra and after this period of criticism of hadith entered a new phase. From the second century to a few centuries later it was a general requirement for the student of hadith to make extensive journeys in search of knowledge of hadith. Since the early scholars mostly learned from scholars in their area their criticism was confined to the same locality. When people began learning ahadith from hundreds of scholars their criticisms were not confined to one locality.
Methodology of Criticism
As far as it concerns the criticism of the text there were several methods that can all be brought under the broad heading of comparison. This method was by gathering all the related material and comparing them carefully with each other. Ayyub al Sakhtiyani said “If you wish to know the mistakes of your teacher, then you ought to sit down with others as well.” This method was practiced in many ways; the following are some of them:
1) Comparison between the hadith of different students of one scholar: By this method one discovered the mistakes of almost every student and was able to differentiate between the mistakes made by the teacher and the mistakes made by the students. This also gave one the ability to grade the different students and determine their accuracy.
2) Comparison between the statements of a single scholar at different times: Once Aisha told her nephew Urwah to go to Abdullah ibn Amr and ask him about the hadith of the Prophet peace be upon him. Abdullah mentioned a hadith that states that knowledge will be taken away from the earth. Aisha was discontented and sent Urwah a year later and when he returned to Aisha he told her Abdullah narrated the same hadith and didn’t add or subtract anything to it upon which she said he must be correct.
3) Comparison between oral recitation and written documents: In case two scholars have a difference about a hadith the one written in the texts will be accepted because books are more accurate in the eyes of scholars.
4) Comparison between hadith with related verses of the Quran: we find this method was used by Umar in rejecting the hadith of Fatima bint Qais concerning maintenance money for divorced women. This method was also applied by Aisha in several cases.
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