The Preservation of Hadith by Ibrahim Madani

It is known that Abu Huraira recorded the largest collection of Ahadith, which was also documented. Imam Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr narrates on the authority of Hasan ibn ‘Amr, who says:

I narrated a hadīth to Abñ Huraira but he rejected it. I said, “I have heard this hadīth from you.”.

He said, “If you have heard this hadīth from me, then I must have it written down.” He held my hand and took me to his room. He showed me his library of books that comprised of his narrations from the Blessed Prophet (PBUH). He found the hadīth I had narrated in the books. After that, Abñ Huraira said to me, .

“Did I not tell you that if I narrated any hadīth to you I must have it written down?”35.

Hafiz ibn Hajar has also narrated this hadīth in his book, Fatú al- Bari, with another chain. This incident proves that Abu Huraira did not document only a few aúódõth, but in fact all the ahadith which eventually became his store of hadīth books.

However this method of preservation does not stop here. Even his students wrote the aúódõth they heard from him. One student named Bashir ibn Nuhaiq wrote:

I wrote down whatever aúódõth I heard from Abu Huraira. When I decided to leave, I read all the aúódõth he narrated to me by his side. Then I asked, “Are these all the aúódõth you narrated to me?”.

He replied, “Yes.”36