The Prohibition of Recording the Hadith, Causes and Effects

Justifications Of Some Orientalists

Springer, a German Orientalist, says,

“Not only did `Umar al-Faruq aim at educating the Bedouin Arabs, but also he wished to save their courage and strong religious belief so that they would be the rulers of the world. Writing and expansion of knowledge were not compatible with this aim.”[^1]

Springer’s previous text reveals that the author intended to take advantage of `Umar’s decision of the prohibition of recording the Hadith so as to expose that the spread of Islam depended upon an illiterate power, and that neither writing nor was the expansion of knowledge compatible, in `Umar’s conception, with the Bedouin courage and `Umar’s combative spirituality. If truth be told, Orientalists, all the time, used to disperse false and unproven claims and delusions in their essays, such as the aforementioned one.

Another Orientalist, namely, G. Schacht, has claimed the nonexistence of even a single authenticated Hadith about the Islamic jurisprudence since all of the available ones were invented after the demise of the Holy Prophet for pure religious interests![^2]

Moreover, Goldtzeher exceeds the limits when he claims that all the narrations regarding the recordings were invented and that all the compilations of Hadith that belong to the first age of Islam were fabricated.[^3]

However, he has issued many such baseless opinions. Muslim authors, too, have adopted such opinions. Isma’il ibn Ad-ham, in his thesis published in AH 1353, claims that all the authenticated Hadiths do not rely upon firm fundamentals and principles; rather they are doubtful and clearly shown as invented.[^4]

For more details about the unsubstantiated opinions of the Orientalists and their answers, we refer the gentle reader to Dr. Muhammad Mustafa Al-A`dhamiy’s book entitled Dirasatun fi’l-Hadith al-Nubawiy (Studies about the Holy Hadith) and Muhammad Abu-Zahw’s book of al-Hadith wa’l-Muhaddithun (The Hadith and Hadithists), as well as many other books comprising refutations of these sayings and fabrications, where this topic is discussed thoroughly. In this place, we see that to shun such unfounded vanities is the best thing to select.

[^1]: Sayyid Muhammad Rida al-Jalaliy: Tadwin al-Sunnah al-Sharifah 530 as quoted from Imtiyaz Ahmad: Dala'il al-Tawthiq al-Mubakkir Li’l-Sunnah wa’l-Hadith (Significances of the Early Documentation) 230-231.

[^2]: Mustafa al-A`dhamiy: Dirasatun fi’l-Hadith al-Nubawiy wa-Tarikhih and G. Schacht: The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence.

[^3]: In 1890, one of his studies entitled ‘Muhammadanische Studiee’ was published.

[^4]: Mustafa al-A`dhamiy: Dirasatun fi’l-Hadith al-Nubawiy, 27 as quoted from Dr. Mustafa al-Siba`iy: al-Sunnah wa Makanatuha fi’l-Tashriy. Mahmud Abu-Rayyah has recorded that Muhammad Abduh, Dr. Tawfiq Sidqiy, Rashid Rida and many others believe that the Holy Qur’an alone must be followed and the Holy Sunnah must thus be thrown away. (See Mustafa al-A`dhamiy: Dirasatun fi’l-Hadith al-Nubawiy, 26.)