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Sayings (Hadiths) of Prophet Muhammad
Collection of Hadith : second stage
With the Holy Prophet’s death, the collection of hadith entered on a second stage. Every case that came up for decision had now to be referred either to the Holy Qur’an or to some judgment or saying of the Holy Prophet, which judgments or sayings, therefore, obtained a wide reputation.
There are numerous cases on record in which a right was claimed on the basis of a judgment or saying of the Holy Prophet, and evidence was demanded as to the authenticity of that saying.4 Thus there was a double process at work; not only was the trustworthiness of the particular hadith established beyond all doubt, but the hadith also obtained a wide circulation, and from being the knowledge of one man only passed to that of many.
The particular judgment might not be on all fours with the circumstances of the case to which it was applied, and an analogy might then be sought from one-or more sayings. Thus the multiple needs of a rapidly growing and widely spreading community whose necessities had increased tenfold on account of its onward march to civilization, brought into prominence a large number of hadith, knowledge of which had been limited to one or a few only, with the seal of confirmation on their truth, because at that time direct evidence of that truth was available.
Yet this was not the only factor that gave an impetus to a dissemination of the knowledge of hadith. The influx into Islam of large numbers of people who had never seen the Holy Prophet himself, but who could behold for themselves the astounding transformation brought about by him, and to whom, therefore, his memory was, in the highest degree, sacred, formed in itself an important factor in the general eagerness to discover everything which the great man had said or done.
It was natural that each new convert should be anxious to know all there was to know about the Great Prophet who had given quite a new life to a dead world. Everyone who had seen him would thus be a centre to whom hundreds of enquirers would resort, and since the incidents were fresh in their memories, they would be conveyed with fair accuracy to the new generation. It must not be forgotten that the wonderful success which Islam achieved within so short a time, and the rapidity with which the reputation of the Holy Prophet advanced, were the very reasons which led to the preservation of the true facts concerning him.
Not only had he and his religion assumed an unparalleled importance in Arabia, within twenty years of the day on which he began the work of a reformer, but within ten years of his death they had already become the most important of world factors, and everything relating to him was a matter of discussion among Arabs and non-Arabs, friends and foes.
Had he remained in oblivion for a century or so, and then risen to fame, probably much of what he had said or done would have been lost to the world, and the exaggerations of a later generation would have been handed down to posterity instead of facts. But with him the case was quite different. From the humblest position he had risen to the highest eminence to which man can rise, and that in less than a quarter of a century, and, therefore, not an incident of his life but had become public property before it could be forgotten. Such were the needs of the new times upon which Islam had entered after the death of the Holy Prophet.
There was another factor of the utmost importance which gave impetus to the knowledge of hadith at this stage. To the Companions of the Holy Prophet, the religion which he had brought was a priceless jewel; a thing which they valued above all else the world contained. For its sake they had given up their business, their kinsfolk, nay, their very homes; to defend it they had laid down their lives. To carry this Divine blessing, this greatest gift of God, to other people, had become the supreme object of their lives; hence a dissemination of its knowledge was their first and foremost concern.
In addition to this, the Great Master had laid on those who were present, on those who saw him and listened to his words, the duty of carrying what they saw and heard, to those who were absent, to those who came after him.
Li-yuballigh al-shahid al-gha’iba was the phrase which on account of the frequency of its repetition rang continually in their ears: Let him who is present carry this to him who is absent. And they were faithful to the great charge which was laid on them. They went eastward and westward and northward, and in whichever direction they went, and to whichever country they went, they carried with them the Qur’an and the Sunna.
Everyone of them who had but the knowledge of one incident relating to the Prophet’s life deemed it his duty to deliver it to another. And individuals like Abu Huraira ‘A’isha, ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Abbas, ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Umar, ‘Abd-Al1ah ibn ‘Amr, Anas ibn Malik and many others who had made the preservation of Sunna the first object of their lives, had become, as it were, centres, to whom people resorted from different quarters of the kingdom of Islam to gain knowledge of the Prophet and of his religion.
Their places of residence became in fact so many colleges for the dissemination of the knowledge of hadith. Abu Huraira alone had eight hundred disciples. ‘A’isha’s house, too, was resorted to by hundreds of ardent pupils. The reputation of ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Ahbas was equally great, and, notwithstanding his youth, he had a foremost place among the counselors of ‘Umar, on account of his knowledge of the Qur’an and the Sunna.
The zeal of the new generation for the acquisition of religious knowledge was so great that students were wont to travel from one place to another to complete their knowledge of the Sunna, and some would journey long distances to obtain first-hand information about one hadith only (5). Thus arrangements existed both for the collection of the knowledge of hadith in different centres of learning, and for the spread of it. far and wide, through the disciples ,who gained their knowledge at such centres.
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