The Preservation of Hadith by Ibrahim Madani

The third method of preservation is the written documentation of the Ahadith. Some people believe that Ahadith were first documented in the third century, while other more reliable scholars hold the view that documentation of Ahadith began in the first century. If we go deeper into this matter, we will find that that the Ahadith were even written during the time of the Blessed Prophet (PBUH) and his Sahaba. The difference between the recording of Ahadith in the time of the Blessed Prophet (PBUH) and those written after he passed away was that not everyone was allowed to note down the Ahadith in his lifetime. The ones who were allowed wrote the Ahadith with the permission of the Blessed Prophet (PBUH) himself. However, during the end of his life, the Blessed Prophet (PBUH) abrogated this restriction and gave permission for everyone to write his Ahadith. He said, “Write! There is no harm.”31 Once he said, “Preserve knowledge by writing it.”32.

‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As said that the Blessed Prophet (PBUH) told him, “Preserve the knowledge.”.

He replied, “How should I preserve it?”.

He said, “By writing it.”33.

This is why many collections of Ahadith were compiled during the lifetime of the Blessed Prophet (PBUH). For example, there is the al-Sahifat al-Sadiqa [The Authentic Scroll] in which ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As wrote all the Ahadith of the Blessed Prophet (PBUH). He himself said:

I wrote whatever I heard from the Blessed Prophet (PBUH) and memorized it. Some members of Quraish discouraged me from recording the Ahadith. They said, “Do you write whatever you hear from the Prophet? He is a man; sometimes he jokes and sometimes he gets angry like any other person.”.

What they meant was that the Blessed Prophet (PBUH) may get angry or joke and say what he did not mean to say, therefore one should not write down everything he says. ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-As brought this to the Blessed Prophet’s (PBUH) attention. The Blessed Prophet (PBUH) pointed to his lips and said, “I swear in the name of Allah (SWTH), in whose hands is my life, that nothing but truth [Haqq] comes from these two lips.”34

This was clear proof that every word of the Blessed Prophet (PBUH) was the truth and that all of it should be put to paper. To fulfill this order, ‘Abd Allóh ibn ‘Amr ibn al-As compiled a large selection of Ahadith into a book which he appropriately titled al-Sahifat al-Sadiqa.