Light On the Muhammadan Sunnah Or Defence of the Hadith
Tadwin Al-hadith: 468
In the beginning stage of putting hadith to writing, the Sahabah wrote it down in the form they received it. Every one of them embarked on collecting as many as he could of the traditions according to what the narrators reported with their chains of transmitters (asanid). Thereafter they kept on investing the conditions and position of these narrators so as to recognize that whose narration was to be accepted and the one whose reporting to be rejected.
It is to be known that though they have exerted much effort in this regard, but they could not attain to the sought end, nor reached the certainty of which the self feels confident and the heart rests assured that what they had written was the same as uttered by the Prophet, without any doubt or suspicion. How is it feasible for them to find way into intentions so as to recognize the ins and outs as they be in truth?
Because of this, all their (Sunnis) books were devoid of any hadith considered mutawatir among the traditions reported from the Messenger of Allah, but they contained those regarded Sahih by the narrators and some which were fabricated totally with no origin. This fact can be applied to all of their books even those which they (Ahl al-Sunnah) used to call al-Sihah, like Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, as they were not immune against campaign of criticism launched by Imams of hadith, men of usul and theologians against hadith books.
From the previous chapter, we understand that the Companions,
during the reign of Abu Bakr, collected and compiled the Qur'an in one book, out of whatever was written during the lifetime of the Prophet (S) and from the breasts of men, exerting in this task much accurate effort. Whereas this practice was not followed in the case of hadith, as the Messenger’s traditions were neither written nor collected during the days of the Prophet as was the case with the Qur'an, because the Prophet forbade from putting them to writing, and they were preserved only in the breasts of men. For this reason, the way they followed for propagating them was the riwayah, either with the very words they heard from the Prophet — if they remained in their memories, which was so rare in some short traditions — or through expressions indicating their meanings in case of their being forgotten. This practice was common and prevalent among them, finding no harm in it since what is intended of the hadith as held by them being mainly the meaning, with no rule entailed — most often — out of syntax. This was contrary to the case of the Qur'an as its words having miraculous entry, in a way that no room being there for substituting any word with another, though being identical in meaning, for fear of being forgotten with passage of time. Hence it was extremely necessary to record and preserve it through the means of writing, not to be satisfied with committing it to memory, and its inimatability is undoubtedly established upon the composition of its words and terms.
Al-Imam al-Khitabi in his book I'jaz al-Qur’an writes: The speech rests upon three factors: a purporting word, and a standing meaning, and a connector organizing them both.
Al-Shaykh Abu Bakr ibn `Iqal al-Siqilli in his Fawa’id reported that Ibn Bushkuwal said:
"The Companions should collect and compile the traditions (sunan) of the Messenger of Allah (may God's peace and benediction be upon him and
his Progeny) in one mushaf as they did with the Qur'an, since the sunan were spread abroad and the preserved ones became indiscernible from those foisted ones. Hence those charged with preserving them were but to commit them to memory, the practice was not followed in the case of the Qur'an. Besides, the words used in the traditions were not guarded against addition and omission as the Book of Allah was safeguarded by Him through rhetorical syntax the like of which no man could be able to produce. Thus they were unanimous regarding what they collected of the Qur'an, while differing in regard of the words of the traditions and the reporting of the texts of the metrical composition, the reason for which it was impermissible for them to write down that which was a subject of difference among them. 469
Narrating the hadith remained to be under the mercy of memory, without being written down or recorded throughout the reign of the Sahabah and the main part of the era of the Tabi`un up to the time of tadwin which they believed to be at the end of the era of the Tabi'un.
In al-Muwatta’ Malik, on the authority of Muhammad ibn al-hasan, said: Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz wrote to Abu Bakr ibn Hazm: Look for every hadith uttered by the Messenger of Allah or his sunan and write them for me, as I fear obliteration of knowledge and passing away of the ulama’. He
recommended him to write down whatever was collected and kept with Umrah bint Abd al-Rahman al-Ansariyyah — who was the disciple of A'ishah — and al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr.
In regard of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, he was approaching the end of the first century. 473 When he passed away, Ibn Hazm abandoned writing of hadith, particularly when he was deposed by Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik who took power after Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz in the year 101 H. And so did all those who were charged with writing during the reign of Abu Bakr, the fact leading to the sluggishness in process of tadwin, till the time when Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik assumed power in 105 H. Thereat this work was followed up seriously with Ibn Shahab al-Zuhri, 474 or rather it is said that the emirs compelled him to write down the hadith, as they loathed the writing of knowledge, as will be manifested later on. But in a short time this loathing changed to satisfaction, and Ibn Shahab turned to be a favourite of Hisham, performing pilgrimage (hajj) with him, becoming the tutor of his sons, till he died one year before Hisham, who died in 125 H. With his death the sovereignty of the Umayyads became unsteady and disturbed. Then tadwin became publicly known and circulated among the first class (of narrators) that succeeded al-Zuhri, the act that was encouraged by the Abbasids.
Ibn Shahab al-Zuhri was regarded the first one writing down the hadith, the reason for which the Umayyads have taken from him.
In Tadhkirat al-huffaz it is reported that: Khalid ibn Mi'dan al-Hamsi lived contemporaneously with seventy Companions, and he used to write hadith, having several compilations to which no reference is made in hadith books. He died in `104H.
After stating that whatever the Prophet left of traditions and sayings were neither written nor classified in the reference books during the era of his
Companions and eminent Followers, since they forbade from this practice, as recorded in Sahih Muslim, Ibn Hajar says in his introduction to Fath al-Bari: "The writing of traditions and classification of reports (akhbar) took place in the last days of the era of Tabi'un, when the ulama’; spread abroad through the metropolises and innovation multiplied by the Kharijites and Rafidites... etc."
Al-Bukhari and al-Tirmidhi reported from Abu Hurayrah that he said: "None among the Prophet's Companions was more prolific in narrating the hadith than me except Abd Allah ibn 'Amr, as he used to write (the hadith) while I didn't." 475 The muhaddithun were never counting whatever recorded in a sahifah of any narrator or scholar to be a correct narration but only when he relating to have heard it from its original utterer, calling it al-wajadah.
Al-Allamah al-Shaykh Mustafa Abd al-Raziq is reported to have said: "Tadwin of sunan was seriously necessitated because of circulation of narrating of hadith and mistrust on account of some narrators, and emergence of falsification in respect of the hadith reported from the Messenger of Allah (may God's peace and benediction be upon him and his Progeny) for political or creedal reasons. The first tadwin of the sunan, in true meaning, appeared in the period between the years 120 H. and 150 H. 476
468 Tadwin is restricting (taqyid) what is scattered and established, and compiling it in a diwan, i.e. a book in which the suhuf are recorded so as to preserve their union and safeguard them against loss, which being broader than restriction in its limited meaning. Tasnif (classification - compilation) is more accurate than tadwin, as it means assorting what was written down into specified chapters, and separated sections. See Taj al-'Arus, and al-Zamakhshari.
Al-Hazimi, Sharh Shurat al-A'immah al-khamsah, pp. 48, 49.
The last era of Tabi'un was in the year 150 H. And the separating boundary between the earliest and latest being the end of the year 300 H.
Irshad al-sari, exposition by al-Qastallani, vol. I, p. 7; Sharh al-Zarqani ala al-Muwatta', vol. I, p. 10.
Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad al-Ansari, whose grandfather kept company to the Prophet, was a faqih Follower, officiated by Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz as a governor and judge of al-Madinah. Malik says: No one (among judges) in al-Madinah had that knowledge in adjudication as was owned by Abu Bakr ibn Hazm. He died in 120 H.
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz assumed caliphate in 99 H. and died in 101 H. He was widely-known of justice. See Rasa'il al-Jahiz, compiled by al-Sandubi, p. 91, and Tamhid li Ta'rikh al-falsafah al-Islamiyyah, of al-Allamah Mustafa Abd al-Raziq.
He is Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Shahab al-Zuhri, one of imams of hadith. He died in 124 H.
Al-Baghdadi states that what was written down by Abd Allah ibn 'Amr in his sahifah which he named al-Sadiqah, and was so concerned, being no more than supplications and prayers. Refer to Shaykh al-mudirah to be acquainted with what this sahifah contained.
Tamhid li ta'rikh al-falsafah al-Islamiyyah, pp. 195, 198.