Hadith confirmation

[Anwar K]

Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu

Imam sahib,

I need your guidance on the following hadith.

Here is the text that has been recorded in the Sunan of Abu-Dawood under Hadith No. 1635 (3640):

Al-Muttalib ibn Abdullah ibn Hantab said:
"Zayd ibn Thabit Radi Allahu anhu entered upon Hazrat Mu'awiyah Radi Allahu anhu and asked him about a tradition. He ordered a man to write it. Zayd said: The Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) ordered us not to write any of his traditions. So he erased it."

Is this hadith sahih ? And who ordered the Prophets (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) narrations be recorded ?


I will wait patiently for your answer.

Anwar K

[Imam]

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem,

Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

Thank you very much for the quotation of the Hadith from Sunan Abu Da'ud Sharif.

First of all we must make it clear, that does this hadith reprimand the fact that hadith should never have been written, or does it mean that the ahaadith-e-Mubaarikah, should not have been written at that time?

One of the answers to this problematic question will be found in the preceding hadith, which states:

'fa awma'a bi isba'ihi ila fi hi fa qala uktub, fa walladhi nafsi bi yadihi ma yakhruju minhu illa haqqunn'

'The Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam made a signal with His Ennobled Fingers towards His Ennobled Mouth, and said, :

"Do write, by the One in whose hands My Soul lies, nothing is spoken from this mouth, except that which is the Truth (haqq)."

From this hadith, we can clearly see that the Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam, had ordered the Companion Hadrat 'Abdullah Bin 'Amar Bin 'As, to write, because no matter what the Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam
said or did, it was nevertheless always true, and it was described as being 'haqq'.

The later hadith is a Hadith that had been said:

'amaranaa allaa naktuba min shay'ann minn hadithi hi fa mahaa hu'

'That nothing should be written from His hadith, it was then erased'.

This part of the latter hadith simply means that:

1) At that time the recording of ahaadith was not taking place.

2) That because so many Companions (as'haab) Radi Allahu anhum Ajma'in, were recording at the time, the Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam did not want this hadith to be recorded, as it may not be in the process of recording.

3) It could be recorded at a later date.

Out of the above suggestions, it seems that the first suggestion is the most suitable, because not even the whole Qur'an had descended when the Quraysh were still non-Muslim, as the Muslims would never have declined the recording of a Hadith.

As a consequence, the recording of the Qur'an was a gradual process, in which time was allocated, and certain people were chosen for it's recording.

Similarly, a time was chosen and people were allocated for the recording of ahaadith, also, which did not qualify every Companion of the Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam, to make such recordings, but only those who had been qualified by Him.

I hope that you understand, that where a duty of a Companion is placed to do one thing does not necessarily make him obligated to perform anothers duty.

May Allah help us all to understand His religion (din), in the best possible way, and may He make us all compliant of it.

Wallahu A'lamu Biththawaab.

M. Waseem Ashrafi.