Compilation of Hadith

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.

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• During the Prophet’s time there was no official recording or transcripts of Hadiths of what he said.

• The Prophet taught by (1) verbally (2) writing it down (3) demonstration

  Anas ibn Malik reported: "We sat with the Prophet, maybe sixty persons in number and the Prophet taught them hadith. Later on when he went out for any necessity, we used to memorize it amongst us, when we departed it was as if cultivated in our hearts."

• Instead the generation of Muslims who lived with the Prophet (pbuh) sought to preserve his words and deeds either in their memory or through some means of writing.

• Amongst the documents that became part of Hadith collections were the official records of the Prophet’s discourses and statements etc.
  • e.g.
    • The Peace deal for Suraqa bin Naufal;
    • As-Sahifa ‘Ali etc.

• After the Prophet’s death the Companions assumed both religious and political leadership in the community.
  • For example, Ibn 'Abbas in Makkah, Ubayy ibn Ka'b in Medina, Ibn Mas'ud 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 (pbuh).

• 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 (pbuh).

• It was often the junior Companions who became the most prolific collectors and transmitters of Hadiths.
  • Abu Hurayra narrated 5300 Hadiths,
    • Abu Hurairah used to divide the night in three portions; one third for sleeping, one third for prayer and one third for the recollection of the hadith of the Prophet.
  • ibn 'Umar was 23 years old when the Prophet (pbuh) died but is the second largest source of Hadiths, narrating 2600 Hadiths,
  • Anas ibn Malik narrated 2300 Hadiths
  • Ibn Abbas narrated 1700 Hadiths.
  • Though narrators like Ibn Abbas and Abu Hurayra knew the Prophet (pbuh) for a short period of time they gathered their vast volumes of Hadith by seeking them out from the senior Companions.

• The Prophet’s wives were also a great source of Hadiths.
  • Aisha was gifted with a great memory and not only narrated 2,200 Hadiths but was a critic of badly remembered ones.

• 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.
  • 'Umar, the second Caliph, entrusted his governors with the duty of teaching the Qur'an and the sunna of the Prophet

Why did it become important to compile the prophetic Hadiths after the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs?

• During the early Islamic period the companions had spread far and wide and had settled in countries that had been conquered by the Muslims.

• There was no single collection of the Prophet’s Hadiths that could be referred to.

• Different centres arose around each companion where they lived, however students were not satisfied with one centre as that companion may not have known all the Hadiths and as the Muslims in that period were anxious to guide themselves and the future generations by following the teachings of the Prophet as closely as they could they felt the need to compile the Prophet’s Hadiths.

• The Islamic governments that followed the Khulafa e Rashidun were more political and divisive.

• The four Rightly Guided Caliphs were close Companions of the Prophet (pbuh).
  • They followed his Sunna closely and after the end of their caliphate it became important to compile the Prophetic Hadiths so that future generations could use the Prophet’s example to clarify and resolve questions and disputes.

• Some people fabricated Hadiths.
  • Overzealous teachers, perhaps with the best of intentions, made up Hadiths to advance the teachings of Islam.
  • Yet some heretics attributed Hadiths to the Prophet (pbuh) that were false.

• The increasing number of people accepting Islam needed guidance on the Islamic way of life and wanted to follow the pattern of conduct set by the Prophet (pbuh).

• The close Companions of the Prophet (pbuh) were also passing away due to age or wars, and a need was felt to preserve the Hadiths of the Prophet (pbuh) even more with their demise.

• Islamic jurisprudence was developing rapidly and needed a compiled collection of authentic Hadiths as source material.

• In order to eliminate genuine errors in Hadiths on account of verbal narrations, faulty memories, forgetfulness, etc., Hadiths needed to be compiled.

• The command to follow the Prophet (pbuh) is given in the Qur’an and it was with the help of the Hadith movement that the Prophet’s Hadiths were preserved and spread for all time.

For all these reasons, it was felt that it was crucial to preserve and compile the Hadiths of the Prophet (pbuh) for all generations to follow. Candidates can refer to other reasons apart from the ones given above and, if valid, marks should be credited.

Describe the compilation of Hadith during the period of Tabi' Tabi'un

• This period is considered as the Golden Age of Hadith compilation and many hundreds of thousands of Hadiths were compiled by the Successors of the Successors.

• During this period, Hadith scholars established rules of Matn and Sanad to sift through the Hadiths to categorise them and include them in their collections.

• A large number of jurists combined the two categories of musnad and musannaf in the form of sunan / sahih books.
  • A sunan was organised topic-wise and thus could be easily used as legal reference, and it focussed on Ahadith-e-Nabavi with full isnads.

• Foremost amongst the jurists at this time were Bukhari and Muslim.
  • They broke away from the tradition of using weak Hadiths in law and their collections were devoted only to Hadiths whose isnads met with the requirements of authenticity.
  • The collections of Bukhari and Muslim became the most famous books of Hadith collection called the Sahihayn (literally meaning the two Sahihs).

• Bukhari devoted sixteen years of his life to sifting the Hadiths he included in his Sahih from a pool of 600,000 narrations.
  • The finished work was a massive expression of Bukhari’s vision of Islamic law and belief. Backed with Hadiths, the author felt the most rigorous standards of authenticity were met.

• Muslim’s Sahih contains fewer chapters and lacks Bukhari’s legal commentary.
  • Muslim kept all narrations of a certain Hadith in the same section but without the commentary reports from Companions and later figures.

• Their work had a great influence on their students and contemporaries.

• Candidates can go on to give the names and collections of the other muhaddithun of this time to develop their answer.

• Four books in particular attained great renown and together with the Sahihayn have come to be known as the Sahih Sitta.

• The names of these four books with some detail about them and a brief account of the Shi’a collections that are comparable to the Sahih Sitta could be given by candidates to develop their answer. Clarity of the points in the answer and their development will help the candidates get to the higher levels.

In your opinion what were the main reasons for Hadith collections? Give reasons for your answer.

• A whole range of reasons can be given in response to this question.

• For example, it could be said that the Prophet (pbuh) was the final authority on all secular and spiritual matters and with his death a template was needed to clarify, adjudicate or resolve questions and disputes as he would have done.

• Another reason could be that the Prophet’s Companions, who had first-hand knowledge of his Sunnah, were themselves dying and hence a need was felt to preserve the Hadiths for future generations.

• All valid answers backed by reasoning to be credited.

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Musnad

• Musnad means ‘supported’ and these Hadiths are listed under the names of companion narrator, and so guarantee the Hadith’s authenticity.

• The late second/early third century AH saw a shift towards Musnad collections which were arranged according to isnads.

• Collections were organised by their compilers along isnad lines.

• Examples of Musnad collections e.g. Musnad of Imam Hanbal and others could be given.

• The shortcomings of the Musnad collection could be given as well.

Musannaf

• Speaking of the Musannaf collection they could say that it was the first organised work of Hadith collection and was made topic-wise.
  • The word musannaf means ‘divided up’ quite simply because it divides the Hadiths according to their themes.
    • e.g. zakat; salat; inheritance etc.

• The Musannafs developed during the first two centuries of Islam.

• The Musannaf collection were mainly legal documents that served an important function in law and Hadith literature.

• Later scholars and Hadith critics referred to Musannaf collections to:
  1. Know legal opinions of the Companions and Successors.
  2. As evidence when establishing the authenticity of a Hadith.

• The Muwatta by Imam Malik is an early example of a Musannaf collection.

• Examples of Musannaf:
  1. Sahih Bukhari: 7397 hadiths
  2. Sahih Muslim: 2,200 hadiths
  3. Sunan Ibn Majah: 4000 hadiths
  4. Sunan Abu Dawud: 4800 hadiths
  5. Jami of Tirmidhi: 4400 hadiths
  6. Sunan Nasa'i: 5700 hadiths