The History

and
Importance
of
Hadith
By:
Ms Noshaba Andleeb

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 Hadith:
• The word Hadith came from the word “Hadas” which literal meanings are “a
story or a Report”.
• The word sunnah means “ a practice, a way or a mode of life”’
• In Islamic Shariya , Hadith means the words of the Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬and
sunnah means the action of the Holy Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. Hadith is generally
translated into English as tradition.
• Both are interchangeable terms and are read under Hadith.
Hadith consist of:
❖ Verbal teachings by the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬about important things which he used to
repeat three times to the companions. Then he listens to them to make sure
they had learnt them correctly.
❖ Teaching through practical demonstration like the method of prayer, method
of ablution.
❖ Teachings by the Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬through letters that he sent to the various
kings and rulers. These contains the instruction of Zakat, taxes, form of
worships
❖ Silent approval by the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬of the action or practice of someone else.
❖ Description of his Personality i.e: character, conduct and physique

Hadith consist of two main parts:

• Chain of narrators (Sanad) and the text (Matn).

Example:

• Muhammad-bin-Al-Muthanna and reported from Abdul Wahab from Ayub

from Abu Qiblaah from Malik that Prophetpbuh said:
➢ “Pray as you have seen me praying”

First part of the Hadith is known as the chain of transmitters or the Sanad. The
second part of the Hadith is known as text or tradition or Matn these are the actual
words or message delivered by the Prophetpbuh.

• Muslim scholars or the writers of the six authentic books has developed the
most vigorous and testing techniques for dealing with the level/authenticity
of recording hadith.

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 • They apply very strict criteria in selecting the tradition for their books. They
did not accept any tradition that reached them unless they were fully
satisfied that it had actually come from Prophetpbuh they check the chains of
narrators as well as text.
➢ The most important science is “Jarahwa Tadeel”, under this science,
principles were made to scrutinize the Ahadith and to find out a
certain Hadith is to be accepted or rejected. These principles are called
the principles of Riwayat or Darayat.

Criteria for the evaluation/authentication of Sanad or Chain of

transmitter or Riwayat:
• The science of the authenticity of the narrators is called Asma-al-Rijal
means the verification of biography of the narrators. In this science,
thousands of the biographical accounts of the narrators of Ahadith have been
recorded.
1. The name, nick name, title, parentage and occupation of the narrator should
be known.
2. The first transmitter must be the companions of the Holy Prophet‫ﷺ‬.
3. If the narrator referred his hadith to a narrator the two should have lived in
the same period and must met each other.
4. The narrator must be honest, trustworthy, pious, and staunch.
5. The narrator must have strong mind, good memory and must not have the
memory of forgetting.
6. There must not be a gap and weakness in chain of the narrator.
7. The narrator must not be a child, slave, government employ and insane.
8. The narrator never committed the major sins and must avoid minor ones.
9. He/she was never against the other reliable people.
10.He/she had never spoken against the family of the Holy Prophet‫ﷺ‬.
11.The higher the qualification of the narrator the higher the authority of the
tradition reported by him.

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Criteria of the evaluation/authentication of Matn or Text or Dirayat:
1. The text should have a pure Arabic style without grammatical mistake.
2. It should not be conflict with the Quran or Hadith that were more reliable.
3. It should not be against historical facts.
4. It should be contrary with the common sense. A hadith that was against
reason or common sense was rejected. e.g.: “Promise of higher reward for a
small virtue or severe punishment for the slightest fault.”
5. A hadith must not level accusation the family of Prophet‫ ﷺ‬or his
companions, it was rejected.
6. A hadith should not contain expressions.
• A hadith reported by a large number of people in different times on a lie
become inconvincible was accepted.

Classification of Hadith:
Hadith- e -Qudsi and Hadith - e - Nabwi

Hadith- e -Qudsi:

➢ Words of Allah spoken by the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬.

➢ Fewer in number less the 1,000.
➢ Topics are regarding mankind- Allah relationship as, Touheed, Fast,
Worship
➢ They are only sayings
➢ Example: Allah says, “Fasting is for Me and I shall certainly
compensate it.”

Hadith – e – Nabwi:

➢ They are over 1000,000

➢ They have wide range of topics.
➢ They can be saying or action.
➢ Example: yahya narrated from malik who narrated from Nafae who
narrated from Abdullah bin Umar that holy Prophet said, “ He who
missed his Asar prayer is as he has lost his family and property.”

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Types of Hadith as per authenticity:

Sahih Hadith / Authentic

As per the rules of authenticity, i.e. with respect to the chain or text . Sahih Ahadith
are absolutely correct, having no weakness in its chain of transmission ( sanad ) and
the text (Matan) .

Example of Sahih Hadith

• Yahya Narrated from Malik, who narrated from Abu Zinad from Al-Araj
from Abu Hurraira that the Messenger of Allah said,
“the food of two is enough for three and the food of three is enough for four”
Sanad is perfect and so is Matn

Hassan Hadith/ The Good/ Approved:

These are like Sahih Ahadith, quite reliable. However, they are lower in status to
them, because of a slight weakness in its chain as compared with a Sahih Hadith
as, some of its narrators may have the weak memory.

Example of Hassan Hadith

• Muhammad bin Ismail narrated from Malik bin Ismail who narrated from
Israel bin Yunus from Yusuf bin AbuBurda from his father who narrated
from Ayesha that she said,
“whenever the Holy Prophet used to leavethe toilet, he would say, „Ghafranak‟”.
• Imam Tirmizi says that this is a hassan hadith because although the sanad is
joined, some of the narrators do not have a perfect memory

Daef Hadith/The Weak Hadith:

These Ahadith have some problem in either the chain of transmission( i.e. A
narrator had a weak memory or could have been a liar or had not met the person he
was narrating from) or in its contents ( that may differ from the basic Islamic
teachings).

Example of Daef Hadith but acceptable

• Narrated Musadad from AbdulWahid bin Ziad from Hujjaj from Zuhri from
Amarta bint AbdurRehman from Ayesha who said that the Prophet said ,

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 “when you have stoned the Jamaratul Aqaba, all conditions of Ihram are removed
except relations with women.”
• This is a daef hadith because Hujjaj has never met Zuhri. However, the
matan is supported by other Sahih Hadith thus it is acceptable.

Example of Daef Hadith but Unacceptable

• Narrated Abdullah from his father who narrated from Yazid bin Haroon
from Hujjaj from Amr bin Shoaib from his father and he from his father that
when the Prophet made Abul Aas
‟As pay a new Mahr and performed a new nikah for him with his daughter Zainab
• This is Daef because
1. Hujjaj is not a student of Amr bin Shoaib
2. Another Sahih hadith is that the Prophet validated the previous Nikah So Sanad
and Matn, both are unacceptable

Maudu/ the Fabricated Hadith:

A false Hadith insert, which is made up. It has no place in the authentic collection
of Hadith. These classes of ahadith have been carefully uncovered by our learned
Islamic scholars in the past. The hadith scientists have carefully compiled books of
these so that at no stage they may be confused with the real things.

Example of Maudu-Fabricated Hadith

• AbdulWahad narrated from Mubarik from Ibne Bakran from Qazi from
Yatiqi from Ibne Dakheel from Muhammad bin Abdous from Abu
Khutheema from Yazid bin Haroon from Qazat bin Soaid from Asim from
Alshath from Shadad bin Aous that the Prophet said,
“Whoever related poetry after Isha prayers, his Salah will not be accepted for that
night”.
1. Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal says that Qazat bin Soaid‟s narrations are full of
mistakes
2. Reciting poetry is not Haram

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 ❖ With regard to their acceptance, the ahadith have again been divided
into two important classes.
➢ Matawatir/ Successive :
It is a hadith reported by a large number of people in the different
times whose agreement on a lie became inconceivable, making it
authentic.
Example: "Muhammad ‫ ﷺ‬said: Whoever intentionally attributes a lie
against me, should prepare his seat in the Fire."
➢ Ahad/ single/ isolated:
These were the ahadith whose chain of narrators were broken or had
tradition that were less widely accepted. They were therefore less
authentic. If there narrators were truthful and honest, they were accepted.
Otherwise, they were rejected.
Ahad has been further categorised into three sub-types:
Mash’hur: meaning “Famous/well known”. Hadith which is related by
more than two individuals from each generation.
Aziz: meaning “Rare yet Strong”. Hadith having only two reporters in its
Isnad (Sequence of Reporters).
Gharib: meaning “Strange/Rare / unfamiliar”. Saying of Holy Prophet ‫ﷺ‬
with only one narrator in its Isnad (Sequence of Reporters).

Compilation and preservation of Hadith

The history of the compilation of Hadith may be broadly divided into four stages:

1. The first stage relates to the period of the Prophet till 10 A.H.
2. The second stage is approximately from 11 A.H. to 100 A.H. This is the period of
Sahaba, the companions of the Prophet.
3. The third stage is from about 101 to nearly 200 A.H. This is the period of the
Tabieen, the disciples of the companions of the Prophet.
4. The fourth stage is roughly from 200 A.H. to 300 A.H. This is the period of Taba
Tabieen, the disciples of the disciples.

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 Compilation and preservation of Hadith during the life of
Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬till 10AH
❖
• The Quran elaborates upon major issues but often deal with subjects briefly,
leaving the details to be explained by the Holy Prophetpbuh. The Quran says:
➢ “And we have sent down unto thee message, that thou mayest explain
clearly to men, what is sent for them.”(Chp 16,verse 44)
• As Quran frequently commands to keep up prayers and to pay Zakat, the
Prophetpbuh gave the rules and regulations for offering prayers and to pay
Zakat.
• Since Islam covers the whole of human activity and many actions or issues
has been explained by the Holy Prophetpbuh either by action or the word.
• Thus the need for ahadis and its transmission from one person to another
become necessary even during the lifetime of the Holy Prophetpbuh.
• This is the common misunderstanding among people that hadith was
collected and written down after 150 to 200 years of Prophet’s death.
• However, there is ample evidence that show that hadith was compiled and
written down since time of the Holy Prophetpbuh.
❖
• During the lifetime of Prophetpbuh the Muslims did not feel the need to right
down the ahadis as the Prophet was alive in their midst.
• Whenever any difficulty arose companions have the opportunity of
correcting themselves by simply asking Prophetpbuh.
• The time of the companions was mostly occupied in the Holy wars and
struggles with the enemies or the propagation of new faith.
• The Quran was in the process of revelation and the Prophetpbuh in the
beginning prevented them from writing down the hadith. As the companions
might not mix up the words of the hadith and Quran.
• Later he allowed them when he became certain that they would be able to
distinguish between the hadith and the Quran.

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 • He even encouraged them to write these down he said:
➢ “May Allah give freshness to a servant who hears my sayings, keep it
in memory and preserve it and communicate it” (Sanan-Abi-Daud)
• He also said:
➢ “Preach what hear me say and let those who see and hear me, take
upon themselves to communicate my words to others and preach to
their children, relatives and friends.”
❖
• The hadith literature was preserved mostly in the memory and hearts of the
companions however some of the traditions were written down and
recorded.
• Abdullah-bin-Umar use to write the traditions during the lifetime of
Prophetpbuh he came to the Prophetpbuh and said:
➢ “O Messenger of Allah I wish to narrate some of your traditions So I
intend to write these with my hand along with my heart”
• Then the Prophetpbuh said:
➢ “if they are my hadith have them written along with my heart.”
• During his last pilgrimage the Prophetpbuh said after the sermon:
➢ “He who is present shall carry this message to the one who is
absent.”
• Thus the companions started preserving the hadith those who memorize the
ahadith were mainly Abu Huraira, Abdullah-bin-Umar, Ayesha and Anas-
bin- Malik.
• A party of students called Ashab-e-Sufa lived in the mosque and learns the
teachings from the Holy Prophetpbuh and records them.
❖
• It is related from Abu Huraira that: once of the companion told the Holy
Prophetpbuh of his inability to remember; what he heard from him. His reply
was that:
➢ “He should seek help of his right hand (i.e. right it down).”

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 Methods of preservation of Hadith
Methods adopted by the companions to learn and preserve the knowledge, they
received from the Holy Prophetpbuh is follows:
1. Memorization
2. Writing
3. Practice
Memorization:
• In the early Muslim society the prime objective of every Muslim was to
learn Islam directly from the Holy Prophetpbuh.
• Arabs had excellent memories and they were known to learn by heart
countless versus of their poets and their tribal histories.
• Similarly, the companion always tried to observe the action of the Holy
Prophetpbuh remember his sayings and follow them in their everyday lives.
• The Holy Prophetpbuh had a unique method of teaching to make memorizing
and understanding easy. He would repeat importance thrice.
• He would then listen to as his followers repeated what he had told them to be
share that they had understood.
Writing:
• Many companions use to write down ahadith during the Life of the Holy
Prophetpbuh.
• On several occasions he himself dictated to them instructions that carried
public importance.
• All the letters of the Holy Prophetpbuh to the kings, rulers and chieftains.
Orders and instructions to the Muslim official and governors are recorded
such as matter of Zakat, taxation, form of worship e.t.c.
• Some major transmitters of the ahadith are Abu Huraira, Abdullah-bin-
Umar, Hazrat Ayesha, Anas-bin-Malik, and Abdullah-bin-Abbas.
Practice:
• Learn my practice is the most effective way to acquire any kind of
knowledge.
• If we go through the Hadith literature we find that a many ahadis pertain to
our practical life.

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 • The companions learnt by observing the way of the Holy Prophetpbuh and
then applying, what they saw what they saw, to their own practices.
• After the death of the Holy Prophetpbuh, the companions took up his mission
and spread the knowledge of Islam all over the land.
• Thus the Ummah of Muhammad(S) has responded to his advice that he said:
➢ “Learn from me even if it be one sentence.”

Compilation and preservation of Hadith after the life of

Prophetpbuh
The second stage is approximately from 11 A.H. to 100 A.H. This is the period of
Sahaba, the companions of the Prophet.

After the death of the Prophet, interest in Hadith literature increased greatly on two
accounts. Firstly, the Companions who knew the Hadith at first hand were
gradually passing away. Their number continued to diminish day by day.
Therefore, people became more keen to preserve the precious Hadith literature that
had been stored in their memories. Secondly, the number of converts was growing
and they showed great eagerness to learn as much about the traditions as possible.

This was the age of the rightly guided Caliphs. In this age the Companions had
settled in almost all the countries conquered by the Muslims. People flocked to
them to hear traditions from them. Thus a number of centres for the learning of
traditions came into existence with these Companions as the focus. When a
disciple had learned all the traditions he could from one Companion, he would go
to the next Companion and so on, collecting as many traditions as possible. The
zeal of these disciples was so great that they undertook long journeys to collect
traditions from different Companions.

In this period, there were not many regular compilations. This was rather the
period of collecting traditions. The work of compilation took place on a large scale
during the age of Tabiun, the disciples of the disciples.

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The Age of Tabieen from 101 to nearly 200 A.H.
This is the age of the followers of the companions of the Prophet. They devoted
their entire lives to collecting traditions from different centres of learning, with the
result that a large number of traditions were preserved. Now it became possible to
collect several memoirs in larger volumes.

Mohd. ibn Shihab Al Zuhri, the first regular compiler, was one of the most
distinguished traditionists. Ibn Shihab Zuhri and Abu Bakr Al-Hazm were asked
by Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, the Umayyad caliph, to prepare a collection of all
available traditions. Umar bin Abul Aziz wrote to Abu Bakr Al Hazm: “Whatever
sayings of the Prophet can be found, write them down, for I fear the loss of
knowledge and disappearance of learned men, and do not accept anything but the
Hadith of the Holy Prophet, and people should make knowledge public.”

The compilations made in this period do not exist today independently, having
been incorporated into the larger collections of the later period. These collections
were not exhaustive works on Hadith. Their nature was that of individual
collections.

After the individual compilations of this period, comes the Al Muwatta of Imam
Malik (716-795), the first regular work which contained a well-arranged collection
of traditions. The number of the traditions collected by him is put at 1700. This
came to be accepted as a standard work.

In this period the traditions respectively of the Prophet and his companions, and
the decisions / edicts of the Tabieen were collected together in the same volume.
However, it was mentioned with each narration whether it was that of the Prophet,
his companions or of the followers.

The Third Age of Taba Tabieen (Followers of the Successors)

This age of the followers of the companions’ successors from 200 to 300 A.H., is
the golden age in Hadith literature.

1. In this age the Prophet’s traditions were separated from the reports of the
companions and their successors.
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2. The authentic traditions were very carefully and painstakingly sifted from the
“weak” traditions and then these were compiled in book-form.
3. Elaborate rules were framed; canons were devised to distinguish the true from
the false traditions in accordance with clear principles.
The main attention of scholars who engaged themselves in the critical scrutiny of
Hadith was given to the recorded chains of witnesses (isnad); whether the dates of
birth and death and places of residence of witnesses in different generations were
such as to have made it possible for them to meet, and whether they were
trustworthy. This activity, to be properly carried out, involved some feeling for the
authenticity of the text itself; an experienced traditionist would develop a sense of
discrimination.

All traditions therefore fall into three general categories: (sahih) sound, having a
reliable and uninterrupted isnad and a (matn) text that does not contradict orthodox
belief; (hasan) good those with an incomplete isnad or with transmitters of
questionable authority. (daif) weak those whose matn or transmitters are subject to
serious criticism.

By the use of these criteria the Hadith scholars were able to classify the traditions
according to their degrees of reliability.

This is the period in which six authentic collections of traditions were compiled.
These works are considered standard works on Hadith, and are known as the six
correct books (sihah-e-sittah). The authors’ names and book titles are as follows:

1. Muhammad b. Ismail al Bukhari, (194 A.H.-256 A.H.): Sahih. This work is next
to the Quran in authenticity.
2. Muslim bin Qushairi (204 A.H.-261 A.H.): Sahih. This is the next most
important work on Hadith.
3. Ibn Majah (202 A.H.-275 A.H.): Sunan
4. Abu Isa al Tirmizi (209 A.H.-279 A.H.): Jame
5. Abu Abdur Rahman an Nasai (214 A.H.-303 A.H.): Sunan
6. Abu Da‘ud (202 A.H.-275 A.H.): Sunan

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Saha Sitta/ Six authentic books of Ahadith
After the Holy Quran, Hadith is considered as the most reliable source of guidance.
There are mainly six authentic books of hadith which are followed by all the
Muslims. These are called Sihahe Sitta as well which means Six right books. On
their authentication, there is Ijma of all the Muslims. Names and a brief
introduction of these six books are given below:

Sahih Al-Bukhari (194-256 A.H):

• It was compiled by Imam Muhammad Bin Ismail Al-Bukhari.

• It is considered to be the most authentic book of Hadis after the Holy Quran.
• In the compilation of this book of Sahih Al-Bukhari, Imam Bukhari
displayed a great critical ability and scrupulous accuracy.
• The total number of Ahadis in this book is 9082 (which was selected from
600000 Ahadis).
• However many of them were repeated with different Isnad.
• Without repetition the number goes down to 2602 Ahadis.
• His criteria for acceptance into the collection were amongst the most
stringent of all the scholars of Ahadith.
Sahih Muslim (204-264 A.H):

• It was compiled by Imam Muslim bin Hajjah and this is considered second
only to the Sahih al-Bukhari.
• These two collections Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim are collectively
called Al-Sahihain, the two most authentic collections.
• Any tradition accepted by both Bukhari and Muslim has been termed as
Agreed Upon.
• Imam Muslim, he traveled widely to gather his collection of Ahadith (plural
of Hadith), including to Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula, Syria and Egypt.
• Out of 300,000 Hadith which he evaluated, approximately 4,000 were
extracted for inclusion into his collection based on stringent acceptance
criteria.
Sunan Abu Daud (202-275 A.H):

• Abu Da’ud was another important compiler of hadith. Before writing his
Sunan he examined five lakhs of traditions and selected from them only
4800 to be put in his book.

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 • The whole task took him 20 years to complete.
• He kept up the scrupulous exactitude of his predecessors in reproducing the
traditions, which he had collected.
• But he differed from them in the standard of his choice.
• He included in his Sunan not only the ‘genuine’ traditions (as al-Bukhari and
Muslim had done), but also such traditions as had been pronounced by some
traditionists to be weak and doubtful.
Sunan Tirmizi (209-279 A.H):

• It was compiled by Abu Isa al-Tirmizi.

• He was the first man to determine the names, surnames, and title of the
narrators of traditions and tide to fix the degree of their reliability by
inventing peculiar means of each tradition.
• His work is divided into 50 chapters (Kutub) and contains
3956 Ahadis.Abu Isa al Tirmizi was a student of Abu Da’ud and his
collection follows and improves upon the techniques of classifying the
hadith as proposed by his master.
• Jame of Tirmizi contains all the traditions – legal, dogmatic and historical –
that had been accepted by the Muslim jurists of one school or another, as
the basis of Islamic law.
Sunan Ibne Majah (209-273 A.H):

• Ibn Majah travelled widely to collect traditions from the well-known

Traditionists of his time.
• He compiled several works of Hadith of which the most important is the
Sunan.
• In this work, Ibn Majah collected together 4000 traditions in 32 books
divided into 1500 chapters. The number of weak (dhaif) traditions it
contains is not very large, just about 30.
• But it does contain some traditions, which are considered by the authorities
on the subject to be forged (maudu’).
Sunan Nasai (214-303 A.H):

• Al Nasai’ collected hadith in his work Sunan.

• He entirely ignored the point of view of his senior contemporary, al-Tirmizi
on the question of the application of traditions to various problems that
might have been made by different schools of the Muslim jurisprudence.
• His main object was to establish the text of traditions and the differences
between their various versions, which he quotes extensively.
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 • In many places, he gives headings to the differences between the various
narrators.
• This book contains 5662 Ahadis and is divided well into chapters. Imam
Nasai is the best evaluator of the narrators of his time.

Musnad and Musnaf compilations

Musnad Collection/Compilation:

• Soon after the demise of Holy Prophet (PBUH), huge volumes of Hadith
literature were in circulation and a need was felt to compile the Ahadith in
book form.
• Two methodologies were adopted. First, one was to trace back the Ahadith
to any companion of the Prophet (PBUH). The Ahadith were compiled
under the names of their transmitters and narrators. This form of compilation
was known as Musnad.
• These compilations ensured a thorough and contemplate study of the
narrator as well. However, these Ahadith were compiled indiscriminately,
regardless of the content of Ahadith.
• It made this compilation of little use when a detailed study of a particular
topic as required. The newly compiled book was mainly divided like this:
Musnad of Ayesha (R.A), Musnad of Abu Hurraira (R.A), Musnad of Abu
Bakr (R.A) etc.
• A famous and exhaustive compilation of this category was the Musnad-e-
Ahmed of Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal. He collected about 30 thousand
Ahadith from an actual stock of 75 thousand Ahadith.
• In such collection, traditions revolved around the primary source, no matter
whether they are authentic or not or whether they cast light upon one topic
or various issues. In Musnad, female companions are listed mostly after the
men.
• As the Musnad form of compilation did not discriminate between the content
of Ahadith, little study could be done of a particular topic. Therefore, other
form of compilation also became popular. This was the Musnaf form of
compilation.

Musnaf Collection/Compilation:

• In Musnaf, the Ahadith were arranged content wise and placed under the
topic. They discussed e.g. Zakat, marriage, fasting, financial dealings etc.

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 This form of compilation was a reliable source and was significant in having
a detailed study on any specific topic.
• Some examples of this type of compilation are Al-Muwatta by Imam Malik
bin Anas. It contains 1720 Ahadith. Another example is that of Musnaf of
Imam Bukhari which consisted of 7397 Ahadith under 3450 chapters.
• Further example is that of Imam Abdul Razzaq al-Sanani which consists of
11063 Ahadith. The Sahah-al-Sitta, Sahih of Bukhari and Muslim, Sunan of
Ibn-e-Maja, Abu Daud, Al Nasai and Jam’i of Tirmizi are also Musnaf.

Q: Why was it important to compile Ahadith?

It was important to compile Ahadith so that the commandments and teachings of

the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) were not lost.

Similarly, the Ahadith also serve the purpose of explaining the teachings of the
Holy Quran (Tafsir) and therefore, it would have been difficult to understand
Quran without the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

The compilation ensured that categories (types) of Ahadith were made. As a result,
the wrongdoers were prevented from attributing falsehood to the Holy Prophet
(peace be upon him).

The compilation preserved the teachings of the messenger of Allah for the future
generations and when massive Hadith literature was in circulation (after the
demise of Hazrat Muhammad ‫)صلى هللا عليه وسلم‬, it became mandatory to compile
Ahadith.

Reasons for the collection and compilation of Hadith

• During Makkan Life , the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬forbade the writing down of the
Sunnah for fear that it would be mixed with the Quran.When that fear was
removed, he permitted the writing of the Sunnah. So, at the end, writing of
the Sunnah was made permissible before he died.
• The emergence of the act of hadith forgery made it necessary to
devise scientific method of collection and compilation of hadith.
• Hadith collection was necessitated by the fact that people who were
masters of hadith as well as the Qur’an were dying either by way of
natural causes like old age, sickness or in wars.

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• The collection was also important because of some people who had
started interpreting Islamic teachings especially from the Holy
Qur’an in their own ways.
• Many people who accepted Islam wanted to acquire the knowledge
of the Qur’an and also hadith.
• After the death of the Prophet(s.a.w) the companions travelled far
and wide for Islamic propagation, in this activity, Qur’an could no t
only be used but also hadith which necessitated its collection and
compilation.
• Hadith collection was also necessitated by the fact that Muslims
conquered a large area of the world where they had established
Islamic leadership. This consequently called for the wide study of
hadith.
• The Qur’an revelation attracted many people. After the Prophet’s
death Qur’anic injunctions could only be interpreted by the use of
the Prophet’s words thus the need for his words preservation.
• It was important to compile the Hadiths of the Prophet (pbuh) and this need
became all the more urgent after the end of the caliphates of the Rightly
Guided Caliphs in 661 because 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).
• 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:
• 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.
• Prophet command to preserve his teachings.

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Reasons for the Delay in the Writing of the Sunnah
The writing of the Sunnah was delayed for two reasons.

• Firstly, the ‘standardization’ of the Quran had to take place,

• Secondly, there was no real need to have the Sunnah in written form in the
years immediately after the death of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬.

The Necessity that the Standardization of the Quran Should Precede the
Writing Down of the Sunnah
A. To keep a clear and distinct line of demarcation between what was Quran
and what was Sunnah.

1. While the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was alive, the Quran was not yet complete, in its full
and final form. Allah, Most High, was adding to it and subtracting from it,
meaning that verses that were Quran for a time, were no longer Quran, and
the order of component parts was not fixed into set âyât and ṣuwar.So the
gathering and standardization of the Quran could not begin until after the
Prophet’s death, when it needed to be gathered and standardized first to
prevent Ḥadîth from being mixed with Quran.
2. The Quran is the Word of Allah so it is proper that it should be given first
priority. Quran and Ḥadîth are both revelation, both are noble and both
require meticulousness in recording. Yet the Word of God is nobler, and
therefore, it was given attention first and Ḥadîth was given second priority.
3. The Quran required a higher standard of verification than the Sunnah so the
need to standardize it was more urgent.
4. It was practical to standardize the Quran first before an official attempt to
record the Sunnah because the Sunnah was going to require a greater
amount of work on behalf of the ummah since it was a larger and more
complicated body of literature. Whereas the compilation of the Quran
required only a few years, the compilation of the Sunnah required about two
hundred and fifty years.

B. There was no need for the writing of the Sunnah in the 1st century Hijri.

1. The Arabs of the time had very strong memories because books were
unavailable and writing uncommon, and also due to their lifestyle and eating
habits. That is, the harshness of the climate prevented them from having an
abundance of food, which then led to more alert and keen minds.
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2. The Arabs, in general, were weak in writing and so if there had been a
major attempt to write the Sunnah, there would have been many mistakes.
So the compilation of Ḥadîth needed to wait until Muslims, whether Arabs
or non-Arabs, became proficient in writing Arabic. In regards to the Quran,
there was a small number of skilled writers who were sufficient for the
recording of the Quran; but as mentioned above, the area of Ḥadîth required
exponentially more writing.
3. The Quran needed time to settle in the minds of people before the work on
Ḥadîth was begun so that it would not mix with the Quran in their
minds.During that period of time, the Arabs needed to retain their strength
of memory so that they could preserve the Sunnah in the form of oral
traditions, until the proper time for compilation commenced.Had they been
pushed to write the Ḥadîth too soon, they could have lost their powers of
memory and retention.
4. At the end of the First Century Hijri. there was still a short gap in time
between the narrators and the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬, so the fear of possibly losing the
Sunnah had not become plausible.
5. The dialect of the Arabs of the first century still had not changed from the
time of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬, so there was no fear of misunderstanding or linguistic
errors.
6. The nature of the way aḥâdîth were preserved made it easy to transmit them
as oral tradition for the first few centuries. That is, only one person was
required to transmit a ḥadîth.So between the thousands of companions and
the hundreds and thousands of tâbiʿîn and the millions of narrators who
came after that, the fifty thousand or so ḥadîth that make up the body of
Ḥadîth literature could easily be preserved for a few generations.
7. A ḥadîth did not need to be transmitted with the same level of adherence to
the verbatim text because its text is not an inimitable miracle and the
verbatim word of Allah. So there was no harm in keeping Ḥadîth orally
transmitted for a couple of generations.

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