Alsiraj Official Website
Sayings (Hadiths) of Prophet Muhammad
Collection of Hadith: first stage
The first steps for the preservation of hadith were thus taken in the lifetime of the Holy Prophet,3 but all his followers were not equally interested in the matter, nor had all equal chances of being so.
Everyone had to work for his living, while on most of them the defence of the Muslim community against overwhelming odds had placed an additional burden. There was, however, a party of students called the Ashab al-Suffa who lived in the mosque itself, and who were specially equipped for the teaching of religion to the tribes outside Madina. Some of these would go to the market and do a little work to earn livelihood; others would not care to do even that. Of this little band, the most famous was Abü Huraira, who would remain in the Prophet’s company at all costs, and store up in his memory everything which the Holy Prophet said or did. His efforts were, from the first, directed towards the preservation of Hadith.
He himself is reported to have said once: “You say, Abü Huraira is profuse in narrating hadith from the holy Prophet; and you say, How is it that the Muhajirin (Refugees) and the Ansar (Helpers) do not narrate hadith from the Prophet like Abü Huraira? The truth is that our brethren from among the Refugees were occupied in transacting business in the market and I used to remain with the Holy Prophet having filled my belly, so I was present when they were absent and I remembered what they forgot; and our brethren from among the Helpers were occupied with work on their lands, and I was a poor man from among the poor inmates of the Suffa, so I retained what they forgot" (Bu. 34:1).
Another Companion, Talha, son of ‘Ubaid-Allah, is reported to have said of Abu Huraira: “There is no doubt that he heard from the Holy Prophet what we did not hear. The reason was that he was a poor man who possessed nothing and was, therefore, a guest of the Prophet “ (Mk..—FB. I, p. 191).
Here is another report from Muhammad ibn ‘Amara: “He sat in a company of the older Companions of the Holy Prophet in which there were over ten men. Abu Huraira began to relate a certain saying of the Holy Prophet, which some of them did not know, so they questioned him over and over again until they were satisfied. Again, he related to them a saying in the same manner and he did this over and over again, and I was convinced that Abu Huraira had the best memory" (Bq.—FB. I, p. 191).
According to another report, people used to say in the lifetime of the Holy Prophet that Abu Huraira narrated many sayings of the Holy Prophet. So Abü Huraira enquired of one of them as to which süras the Holy Prophet had recited in his night prayers the day before. The man being unable to answer the question, Abü Huraira himself named the suras (Bu. 21:18), which shows not only that he had a wonderful memory, but also that he tried his utmost to remember everything.
‘A’isha, the Prophet’s. wife, was also one of those who sought to preserve the Sunna of the Prophet. She too had a marvelous memory, and was, in addition, gifted with a clear understanding, by virtue of which she refused to accept anything which she did not understand.
There is a report about her, according to which “she never heard anything she did not recognize but she questioned about it again and again" (Bu. 3: 35). In other words, she accepted nothing, even from the lips of the Holy Prophet himself, until she was fully satisfied as to its meaning.
‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Umar and ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Abbas are two other Companions who were specially engaged in the work of preserving and transmitting the knowledge of the Qur’an and the Hadith as also was ‘Abdel-Allah ibn ‘Amr who used to write down the sayings of the Holy Prophet.
And in addition to these, every Companion of the Holy Prophet did his utmost to preserve such of his words and deeds as came to his knowledge. ‘Umar, who resided about three miles from Madina, had made arrangements with a neighbour of his that they should be in the company of the Holy Prophet on alternate days, so that each might report to the other what happened in his absence (Bu. 3 : 27).
And, most important of all, the Holy Prophet had repeatedly laid an obligation on every one of his followers to transmit his words to others: “Let him who is present deliver to him who is absent" (Bu. 3 : 37), is the concluding sentence of many of his most important utterances; all of which affords a clear proof that the work of the preservation and transmission of the Sunna had begun in the lifetime of the Holy Prophet. This was the first stage in the collection of Hadith.
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