Compilation of the Sunnah

The Companions and Preserving the Sunnah

• Writing the Hadith of the Prophet During their lives

• Acting Upon the Hadith – Best Way to Preserve

• Memorizing the Hadith

• Traveling for the Sake of One Hadith

• Verification of Information

Memorizing and Reviewing• May Allah brighten the life of a servant who hears a

statement from me, memorizes them, then acts upon it and conveys it to others. (Tirmidhi)

• Anas narrated, “We used to sit with the Prophet and we were perhaps 60 men, and he used to narrate hadith to us. When he would get up for any purpose, we would review with each other and when we would depart the hadith were firmed planted in our hearts.”

• Omar and Abu Musa al Ashari used to review hadith until the early morning.

• Abu Huraira – “I used to split my night into three parts: one third sleeping, one third in prayer, and one third I review the hadith of the Prophet.” (al Darimi)

Traveling to Hear Hadith

• Companions came from far away to hear the Prophet in Medina.

• After the death of the Prophet, the companions traveled across the Islamic state to hear hadith from one another.

Reasons for Traveling:

1. To hear a hadith that one had not heard before.

2. To verify and confirm the words of a hadith that was previously heard.

Examples of Traveling for Hadith

• Jabir bin Abdillah traveled for one month to hear a hadith from Abdullah bin Unays in Syria. No other living companion had memorized it except Abdullah.

• Abu Ayub al Ansari traveled to Egypt to hear a hadith from ‘Uqbah bin ‘Amir. They were the only two companions to know the particular hadith.

Verification of Information قوما تصيبوا أن فتبينوا بنبإ فاسق جاءكم إن آمنوا الذين أيها يا

نادمين فعلتم ما على فتصبحوا بجهالة

• Ali used to make the companions swear that they heard the hadith before accepting a narration from them.

• Umar and the story of Abu Musa (al-Bukhari)

• Abu Bakr and the inheritance of the grandmother (1/6)• Al Mughira bin Shu’ba and Muhamad bin Maslama

• Marwan bin Hakam, Governor of Medina, testing Abu Huraira

• “He did not add anything new or leave anything out.”

After the Death of the Prophet

• The Companions spread throughout the land.

– Medina: Abu Huraira, Aisha– Kufa: Abdullah bin Masud– Damascus: Abu Dardaa– Basra: ‘Imran bin Husain

• The Companions would travel and relocate in order to teach the Quran and Sunnah.

– Abu Huraira used to narrate hadith on Fridays. – Jabir bin Abdullah used to narrate in Medina.

Centers of Learning• Medina

– Abdullah bin Omar – 63 years– Asmaa bint Abi Bakr – 63 years– al Baraa bin ‘Azib – 63 years– Jabir bin Abdillah – 68 years– Al Saib bin Yazid – 84 years

• Syria– Abdullah bin Busr al Maazini– 86 years– Miqdaam bin Ma’di Yakrib – 77 years– Abu Umama al Bahili – 86 years

• Kufa– Abdullah bin Abi Awfa – 77 years– ‘Amr bin Huraith – 75 years

The Tabi’een• Traveled to seek knowledge

• Wrote the Sunnah

• Memorized the Sunnah

• Compiled the Sunnah

• Verification of the Sunnah

Why Did They Travel?

1. To Find the Companions who were spread out all over the state.

2. To Verify a Hadith

3. Verify the reality of fabricated narrations

4. Seek high isnad.

Travels of the Tabi’een

• Saeed bin Musayib – “I used to travel days and nights to find one hadith.”

• Abu ‘Aliyah – “We would hear a hadith in Basra but we wouldn’t be satisfied until we rode to Medina and heard it from the Companions.”

• Busr bin Abdillah al Hadrami – “I would travel from one land to another just to hear one hadith.”

Writing Hadith From the Companions

• Abu Huraira

• Basheer bin Naheek

• Saeed al Maqbari

• Marwan bin Hakam

• Hamam bin Munabih

• Mohamad bin Sireen

• Jabir bin Abdillah• Hasan al Basri• Ata bin Abi Rabah• Qatada• Mujahid• Sulaiman bin Qays al Yashkury• Abdullah bin Aqeel

• Ibn Abbas

• Saeed al Jubayr

• Ibn Abi Malika

• Najda Al Haroori

• Anas bin Malik

• Anas bin Sireen

• Thumama

Efforts made to Write the Sunnah

• “I used to write what I heard from ibn Abbas on paper until I filled the pages, and then I would write on my shoes, and then on my hands.” (Saeed bin Jubayr)

• Me and al Zuhri used to seek knowledge and we wrote the sunnah of the Prophet. Then he said, “Let’s write the statements of the companions.” It’s not the sunnah, so I won’t write it.” So he wrote it and I didn’t…He succeeded and I wasted an opportunity. (Salih bin Kaysan)

Verifying the Sunnah

• “Before the fitna, we didn’t ask for the isnad. However, after the fitna, it was said, “Name your men.” (Muhamad bin Sireen)

• Imam Malik – Wouldn’t narrate from anyone unless he personally could vouch for their character

Sunnah Compilation Project

• Umar bin Abdul Aziz – Official ordered all governors to gather

the knowledgeable scholars and write down all the hadith

– Ibn Shihab al Zuhri was in charge of the Project• “We compiled the sunnah volume

after volume and he (Omar) sent to every land with a governor a volume.”

• “He was the first to compile the sunnah” - ibn Abdul Barr

Compilations in the 2nd Century

• Al Layth bin Sa’d – 175 Hijri• Malik bin Anas – 179 Hijri • Abdullah bin Mubarak – 181 Hijri

(Khurasan)• Shu’ba bin Hajjaj – 160 (Basra)• Abdullah bin Wahb – 197 (Egypt)• Sufyan bin Uyayna – 198 (Makka)• Mohamad bin Idris al Shafi’ – 204 • Abdul Razzaq bin Hamam – 211

(Yemen)

The 3rd Century – The Big Shots

• Importance of the 3rd Century– Deep analysis of Grading the Hadith– Categorization of Hadith

• Musnad• Sunan• Jami’• Differences in Hadith – Abrogation,

explanation, etc.– History and Biography of Narrators – Criticism and Verification of Narrators– Developments in Analysis of Mutoon– Knowledge of ‘Illal

The Major Books

1. Saheeh al Bukhari2. Saheeh Muslim3. Sunan Abi Dawud4. Jami’ al Tirmidhi5. Sunan an Nasai6. Sunan ibn Majah

7. Muwatta Malik8. Musnad Ahmad

Saheeh al Bukhari • Lived from 194 – 256 Hijri

• al Jami’ al Saheeh al Mukhtasar min Omoor Rasulillah wa sunanihi wa ayyamih

• “I memorized 100,000 Saheeh Hadith, and 200,000 that are not Saheeh.”

• Meeting with Ishaq bin Rahawayh

• Full of Secrets for the Scholars• Book of his Fiqh Opinions• 7000+ including repetitive hadith, 4000

w/o

Saheeh Muslim • Lived from 204 – 261 Hijri

• I compiled this book from 300,000 hadith I heard

• Student of Imam al Bukhari

• Desire to Have a Book free from Da’eef Hadith

• 4000 hadith without repetition

• Organized by Chapters of Fiqh

Sunan Abi Dawud• Lived from 252 – 275 Hijri

• Summary of hadith related to Fiqh

• Not limited to Saheeh.

• Didn’t gather every hadeeth on the subject

• Narrated one hadith in multiple ways

• Commented on flaws (‘Illal) in hadith

Jami’ al Tirmidhi• Lived from 209 – 279 Hijri

• Student of Imam al Bukhari

• Not limited to fiqh.

• Legal rulings derived by scholars and madhahib

• Commented on flaws (‘Illal) in hadith

• Has his own terminology

Sunan al Nasai• Lived from 215 – 303 Hijri

• Very few narrators who were criticized

Sunan ibn Majah• Lived from 209 - 272 Hijri

• Many narrators who were criticized (compared to the other major books)

• ~ 4300 Hadith

• ~ 1339 unique to his book– 428 Saheeh– 199 Hasan– 612 Daeef– 99 Mardood

Muwatta Malik

• Lived from 93 – 179 Hijri• 1720 Hadith Total• Organized by chapters of fiqh• Includes all types of narrations (not only

Prophetic)• Mostly Saheeh, some Daeef• “I don’t know of any book after the Quran

that is more sound than the Muwatta of Malik”

• Includes the opinions of Imam Malik• Includes what the scholars of Medina used

to do.• He showed the book to 70 scholars from

Medina

Musnad Ahmad• He lived from 164 - 241

• Organized by the names of the Sahaba

• Close to 30,000 hadith

• Begins with narrations of the 10 promised paradise.

• Then the Companions of Badr, Hudaybia, etc.

• Appx 700 Sahaba and 100 Sahabiat