Author: Mohajer Azizi
Analysis and Criticism of Modernism in the Light of Islam (Part 26)
Doubts of Modernists in Denying the Authenticity of the Sunnah
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Fifth Doubt
The deniers of hadith and modernists attribute distrust to the intermediaries and narrators who transmitted the hadith, and say that since the compilation of the hadith took place in the third century AH, we cannot trust whether the hadiths have remained in their original form or not?
Answer
This doubt and their theory is completely baseless and false, because the preservation of hadith and Sunnah from the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) until now has not only been done by writing, but there have also been other reliable methods for its preservation, which we will mention below:
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Memorizing of narration: The first and best method for preserving hadith was to memorize narrations and transmit them to others. If it is said that there is no trust in memorization and memory, then our modern life and transactions are completely useless, because memorizing and retelling it to others is an important part of social and transactional life, on the other hand, memorizing hadith was considered a completely reliable method at that time; because Allah Almighty had given the Arabs an extremely strong memory.
As Allamah Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (may Allah protect him) reminds us of the strength of the Arabs’ memory and says: “Allah Almighty had given the Arabs an excellent and strong memory. They not only memorized their lineage; but also the lineage of their horses. Some women had memorized thousands of verses of poetry. Sometimes they only heard a word once, but it remained in their memory for many years. Many examples of the strong memory of this people have been narrated in history.” [1]
Hafiz Ibn Hajjar (may Allah bless him) has narrated in his book Al-Asabah: “One day, Abdul Malik bin Marwan came to test the memory of Hazrat Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him). He asked him to narrate some hadiths. He immediately started narrating many hadiths and the scribe wrote them down. Then Hazrat Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) left the place. A year later, Abdul Malik bin Marwan again asked Hazrat Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) to retell all the hadiths of the previous year in the same order. The scribe also took up his writings to reconcile the hadiths. He finished all the hadiths in order and without any introduction, delay or the slightest change!” [2]
It is narrated from Abdul Rahman bin Ishaq from Zahri that he said: “I never asked for a hadith to be narrated to me again – that is, I never asked for a hadith to be repeated -; Because I memorized it the first time. And I did not doubt about any hadith except one. Then I asked my companion, and it was as I had memorized it.” He also said: “I never put anything in my heart (memorized) except that I never forgot it.” [3]
Imam Bukhari (may Allah bless him) also had a strong memory and an amazing speed in memorizing. Those who knew him have narrated things about him that even the intelligent and the memory-conscious would be surprised to hear, let alone others. As Abu Bakr Kalzawani said: “I have not seen anyone like Muhammad ibn Ismail; he would pick up a book of knowledge and glance at it only once, then he would memorize most of its hadiths and chapters to memory in one sitting.” [4]
It is clear from what has been mentioned, that Allah Almighty had given the narrators of hadith an extraordinary memory for memorizing hadiths. So it turns out that such memories are no less important than writing for preserving hadith.
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Acting according to narration: The second method of preserving hadiths that was chosen by the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was “acting”. The companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) acted on the sayings and actions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and in this way preserved them.
It is known that many of the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would say after performing some actions: «هکذا رأیت رسول الله صلیاللهعلیهوسلم یفعل» Translation: “This is what I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) doing.”
This method is also completely reliable. Because a word that a person acts on becomes “like an engraving on a stone.” [5]
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Writing the narration: preserving hadiths by writing was one of the basic tools for preserving hadith; historically, writing hadiths has been done in four stages:
A: Recording hadiths in scattered manner;
B: Recording them in special and personal pages;
A: Collecting hadiths in the form of writing without tabulating;
D: Collecting hadiths in the form of books and tabulating.
It should be said that writing the first two types was quite common during the era of the Prophet; however, the modernists and deniers of hadith do not accept the writing of hadith during the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him), and they argue for this claim from this hadith and the narration of Muslim that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: «لاتکتبوا عنی و من کتب عنی غیرالقرآن فلیمحه.» Translation: “Do not write on my authority, and whoever writes on my authority other than the Qur’an, let him erase it.” [6]
They say: Here, when the Prophet (peace be upon him) has forbidden writing other than the Quran, this indicates that hadiths were not written during the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him). If hadith and Sunnah were proof, the Prophet (peace be upon him) would have ordered his companions to write with special care.
It should be said that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade writing Hadiths for a specific reason and wisdom, which was the failure to distinguish Hadiths from the verses of the Quran. Allamah Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (may Allah protect him) explains the reason and wisdom of this matter and says: “The fact is that the prohibition of writing Hadiths was in the early days of Islam. Because until that time, no manuscript of the Quran had been compiled, and the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were not familiar enough with the style and manner of the Quran to distinguish one from another. In such circumstances, if the command to write Hadiths was given, there was a possibility that Hadiths would be mixed with the Quran. Considering this danger, the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade writing Hadiths. However, when the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) became fully familiar with the style of the Quran, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also gave permission to write Hadiths”. [7]
This matter has also been quoted in many places in hadith books.
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It is narrated in Mustadrak al-Hakim on the authority of Hazrat Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him’) said:
«قیدوا العلم. قلت: و ما تقییده؟ قال: کتابته.» Translation: “Restrict knowledge.” I said: “And how do you restrict it?” He said: “Write it down.” [8]
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Hazrat Abdullah bin Amr bin As (may Allah be pleased with them) narrated:
«كنتُ أكتبُ كلَّ شيءٍ أسمعُه من رسولِ الله صلَّىاللهعليهوسلم أُريدُ حفْظَه، فنهتْني قريشٌ، وقالوا: أتكْتبُ كلَّ شيءٍ تَسمَعُه من رسول الله صلَّىاللهعليهوسلم، ورسولُ الله صلَّىاللهعليهوسلم بَشَرٌ يتكلَّمُ في الغضَبِ والرِّضا؟ فأمسَكتُ عن الكتاب، فذكرتُ ذلك لرسول الله صلَّىاللهعليهوسلم، فأومأ بإصبَعِه إلى فيه، فقال: «اكتُبْ، فوالذي نفسي بيدِه، ما يَخرُجُ منه إلا حقٌّ.» Translation: “I used to write down everything I heard from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) with the intention of memorizing it, but the Quraysh prevented me from doing so and said: Do you write down everything you hear from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), while the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is a human being and speaks in anger and pleasure? So I stopped writing and narrated it to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). They pointed to their mouths with their fingers and said: “Write; I swear that my life is in his hands, nothing but the truth comes out of it.” [9]
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On the authority of Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) he said:
«كان رجل من الأنصار يجلس إلى النبي صلَّىاللهعليهوسلم فيسمع من النبي الحديث فيعجبه ولا يحفظه، فشكا ذلك إلى النبي صلَّىاللهعليهوسلم فقال: يا رسول الله، إني أسمع منك الحديث فيعجبني ولا أحفظه. فقال رسول الله صلَّىاللهعليهوسلم: «استعن بيمينك» وأومأ بيده للخط.» Translation: “There was a man from the Ansar who used to sit with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). He used to hear Hadith from him, which he liked but did not memorize. He mentioned this matter to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah, I hear Hadith from you and I like it, but I do not memorize it. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Take help from your right hand and gestured with his hand to write.” [10]
It is known from the above narrations that although the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade writing Hadiths at the beginning of Islam for some reason, he later permitted writing them. Therefore, the suspicion of the modernists who say that Hadiths were not written during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and therefore they are not preserved is completely unfounded and false. On the other hand, other methods of preserving hadith, such as memorizing and acting according to them, are also based on credibility, and all hadith scholars are in agreement on this.
Continues…
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References:
- Muhammad Taqi Usmani, The Authenticity of Hadith, p. 24.
- Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani, Al-Asaba fi Tamiz Al-Sahaba, vol. 7, 353.
- Book of the Signs of the Salaf, vol. 6, p. 6.
- Imam Al-Bukhari and his book Al-Jami’ Al-Sahih, p. 33.
- Muhammad Taqi Usmani, The Authenticity of Hadith, p. 27.
- Sahih Muslim, vol. 2, p. 411
- Muhammad Taqi Usmani, The Authenticity of Hadith, p. 28.
- Mustadrak Hakim, vol. 1, p. 106.
- Sunan Abu Dawud, vol. 2, pp. 513-514.
- Jami’ Tirmidhi, vol. 2, pp. 106-107.
