“Sunnah”与“hadīth”的含义相同。Sunnah一词的意思是：从安拉的使者ﷺ那里流传下来的他的言语、行为和默许。凡是有关圣门弟子的记载，也被视为Sunnah的一部分，因为他们曾与先知ﷺ共同生活，聆听他的言语，亲眼目睹他的行为，并叙述他们所见所闻。hadīth之所以被视为伊斯兰教法的依据，是因为安拉说：

The word Sunnah and hadīth have the same meaning. The meaning of the word Sunnah is what has been reported from the Messenger of Allah  of his saying, action and consent. Whatever has been reported about the Sahabah  is also considered part of the Sunnah because they used to live with the Prophet , listen to his  saying, witness his  actions and narrate what they saw and heard. The hadīth is considered a Sharī’ah text because Allah  said:

他说：

And He  said:

古兰经中有许多经文是以"mujmal"（含糊、概括）的形式降示的，而圣训则提供了其中的细节。例如，有关拜功的经文是概括性的，而先知ﷺ的言行则阐明了拜功的时间和方式。同样，古兰经中的许多教法条款也是以概括的形式降示的，使者ﷺ则用来加以解释。他ﷺ说：

Many ayat of the Qur’ān have come as mujmal (ambivalent) for which the hadīth has provided the details. For example, the ayat related to prayer came as mujmal (ambivalent), but it is the actions of the Prophet  that clarifies the time and manner of prayer. In this way, many of the ahkām in the Qur’ān were revealed as mujmal (ambivalent) and the Messenger  used to explain them. He  said:

圣门弟子听闻了先知的言论，也亲眼见到了他的行为和状况。当他们在理解某节经文时遇到困难，或者对其释义或从中推出的律例产生分歧时，便会参照先知ﷺ的圣训来加以澄清。起初，穆斯林依靠记忆和准确的传述，而不借助书面记录，他们像记诵安拉的经典一样记诵这些知识。随着时间推移，伊斯兰教传播开来，疆域不断扩大，圣门弟子散居各地，其中大多数人相继去世，传述的准确性也随之下降，因此就有必要将圣训记录下来，以书面形式加以保存。

The Sahabah  were the ones who heard the sayings of the Prophet  and they saw his  actions and condition. When they came across a problem in understanding an ayah or they disagreed about its tafsīr or a ruling from it, they would refer to the prophetic ahadīth for clarification. In the beginning, the Muslims used to rely on memory and accurate transmission without looking at what they have written, by memorising this knowledge like their memorisation of the Book of Allah . With time Islam spread and the lands grew, and the Sahabah  spread across the regions and most of them died and the accuracy in transmission diminished, it therefore became necessary to document the hadīth and preserve them in writing.

圣训的汇编时代可以追溯到圣门弟子的时期。他们中有一些人会书写圣训，并依据自己所写的内容进行传述。据传，艾卜·胡莱赖（Abu Hurairah）曾说：

The era of compiling the hadīth goes back to the period of the Sahabah. There were a number of persons amongst them who used to write and narrate from what they had written. It has been narrated about Abu Hurairah  that he said:

然而，书写圣训的圣门弟子人数很少。大多数圣门弟子都是将圣训牢记于心，因为在伊斯兰教初期，他们曾被禁止书写圣训。穆斯林在其《沙希哈》中转述，艾卜·赛义德·胡德里传述：安拉的使者ﷺ曾说：

However, those Sahabah who did write down the ahadīth were few in number. Most of the Sahabah used to memorise thee ahadith by heart since they were forbidden from writing the hadīth in the beginning of Islam. Muslim reported in his Sahih on the authority of Abu Sa'eed al-Khudri  that he said that the Messenger of Allah  said:

因此，圣门弟子们不将圣训记录下来，而满足于依靠记忆和专心聆听。圣门弟子们非常认真地学习圣训。据确定的记载，许多圣门弟子拒绝接受大量的传闻。伊本·沙哈卜传述，据盖比萨（Qabisa）转述，她的祖母曾来见艾布·伯克尔，询问自己在遗产继承中的权利。他说：我在《古兰经》中没有找到关于你的任何规定，我也不知道先知ﷺ曾为你规定过什么，于是他询问众人。穆吉拉站起来说：

This is the reason why the Sahabah  desisted from writing down ahadīth, and they were content just to rely on memorisation and paying attention. The Sahabah paid careful attention to learning the hadīth. It has been established that many Sahabah  refrained from accepting numerous reports. Ibn Shihab narrated from Qabisa that her grandmother came to Abu Bakr , asking about her rights in inheritance. He said: I did not find anything mentioned in the Qur’ān for you and I do not know that the Messenger of Allah  mentioned anything for you, then he asked the people. al-Mughira stood up and said:

他说：你有没有能够证实此事的人？于是穆罕默德·本·麦斯莱迈作证了同样的事，艾卜·伯克尔便据此为她执行了这一裁决。

He  said: Do you have anyone who can corroborate this? So Muhammad ibn Maslama  bore witness to the same thing so Abu Bakr  implemented this ruling for her.

据Al-Jariri转述，他从Abu Nadra处听闻，Abu Nadra又从Abu Sa'eed处转述：Abu Musa在门外向Umar致了三次撒拉姆，却未获准入内，于是便返回了。Umar派人去找他，问道：你为何回去了？他说：我听到真主的使者ﷺ说：

Al-Jariri narrated from Abu Nadra who narrated from Abu Sa'eed that Abu Musa greeted Umar with the Salam three times from behind the door but he was not given permission to enter. So he returned. Umar  sent someone for him and asked him why did you return back? He  said: I heard the Messenger of Allah  say:

“Umar replied: “You must bring me an evidence about this matter otherwise I will punish you.” Abu Musa came to us while we were sitting down and his face was sweaty. We said: “What is the matter with you?” So he informed us and asked: “Did anyone of you hear this Hadith?” We replied: “Yes, all of us have heard this (Hadith).” So we sent a man from amongst us till he came to Umar and told him. Ali said: “If I heard a Hadith from the Prophet of Allah ﷺ which Allah benefited me with it, and if anyone talked to me about it, I would ask for an oath from him, and if he gave it to me then I would trust him.” From this we see the care of the Sahabah in the narration of hadīth and the extreme care they excercised in accepting reports. It has even been narrated that Umar did not give much attention to the narration of Fatimah ibn Qays (which states) that there is no maintenance (nafaqa) or lodging for the woman who has been irrevocably divorced with three pronouncements. He said: We shall not abandon the Book of our Lord or the Sunnah of our Prophet ﷺ for the speech of a woman for we do not know if she has memorised it or forgotten it. This does not mean (that Umar left her hadīth because) she is a woman, rather what it means is that we will not leave the Book and Sunnah for the speech of someone for whom it is not known whether she has memorised it or forgotten it. The illah (reason) is whether she memorised it or not, and not because she was a woman.

‘Umar replied: “You must bring me an evidence about this matter otherwise I will punish you.” Abu Musa came to us while we were sitting down and his face was sweaty. We said: “What is the matter with you?” So he informed us and asked: “Did anyone of you hear this Hadith?” We replied: “Yes, all of us have heard this (Hadith).” So we sent a man from amongst us till he came to Umar and told him. Ali  said: “If I heard a Hadith from the Prophet of Allah  which Allah  benefited me with it, and if anyone talked to me about it, I would ask for an oath from him, and if he gave it to me then I would trust him.” From this we see the care of the Sahabah  in the narration of hadīth and the extreme care they excercised in accepting reports. It has even been narrated that Umar  did not give much attention to the narration of Fatimah ibn Qays (which states) that there is no maintenance (nafaqa) or lodging for the woman who has been irrevocably divorced with three pronouncements. He  said: We shall not abandon the Book of our Lord or the Sunnah of our Prophet  for the speech of a woman for we do not know if she has memorised it or forgotten it. This does not mean (that Umar left her hadīth because) she is a woman, rather what it means is that we will not leave the Book and Sunnah for the speech of someone for whom it is not known whether she has memorised it or forgotten it. The illah (reason) is whether she memorised it or not, and not because she was a woman.

当乌斯曼被杀之后，内乱（fitna）随之而起，穆斯林之间开始产生分歧，并因此形成了不同的派别。每个派别的注意力都集中在寻找证据和传述能够支持自身主张的圣训上。其中一些人在需要一段圣训来支持某种说法或为某事提供证据时，便自己伪造圣训。在这段混乱的时期，此类伪造之事大量涌现。内乱平息之后，穆斯林开始审查圣训，他们发现那些伪造的圣训已经广泛流传。于是他们竭力将伪造的圣训与可靠的（Sahih）圣训区分开来。