According to the principle of Riwāyat, it is not necessary for a narration to be written. Moreover, a vast portion of Islāmic narrations was in fact (at least in the early stages of Islām) passed over from generation to generation by word of mouth alone. On the other hand, it is also a fact that in the early stages of Islām, it was the practice of narrators to immediately commit to writing the Aḥādīth they would hear, or narrations that would reach them. When they would relay these narrations to others, it would be done from these written reminiscences. As a result, these narrations acquired greater strength and authenticity. People of this nature could be found among the companions of the Holy Prophetsa and in ensuing generations as well. As a matter of fact, as knowledge developed through positive progression and the art of composition spread, the number of such people multiplied. In later generations, as narrations took on a written form and present-day books of Ḥadīth began to come into existence, approximately in the second century of Hijrah1, the written preservation of narrations had transformed into a common practice. In the communication of narrations from one to another, narrators began to greatly rely upon their written memoirs. However, the mere existence of a written account is not sufficient warrant to accept a narration as authentic, unless a reliable verbal attestation also supplements it. It is for this reason that the court of justice in every civilised country requires supplementary verbal testimony to authenticate written documentation. Therefore, generally, Muḥaddithīn have not exhibited a distinction between verbal and written narrations in their collections. However, undeniably, an ample portion of the collections of Aḥādīth present today include narrations which have travelled through generations, from narrator to narrator, verbally as well as by written records. In support of this claim, for the purpose of brevity, only a few examples have been presented ahead. If it is proven that there was a group of people among the companions of the Holy Prophetsa, who would preserve his Aḥādīth by way of writing and then relate narrations from this written collection, then it will serve as conclusive evidence that this practice (when the art of composition had advanced and every type of facilitation was available for the writing of these narrations) continued as in preceding ages. The first and foremost Ḥadīth we wish to mention in this regard is one in which the Holy Prophetsa himself instructed that one who cannot remember his sayings should commit them to writing, thus safeguarding them. Hence, it is mentioned in Tirmidhī:
عَنْ اَبِیْ ھُرَیْرَةَ قَالَ كَانَ رَجُلٌ مِنَ الاَنْصَارِ یَجْلِسُ اِلَی النَّبِیِّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَیَسْمَعُ مِنَ النَّبِیِّ الْحَدِیْثَ وَلَا یَحْفَظُهٗ فَشَكَا ذَالِكَ اِلَی النَّبِیِّ فَقَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ اِسْتَعِنْ بِیَمِیْنِكَ وَاَوْمَأَ بِیَدِہٖ لِلْخَطِّ
Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurairahra narrates that once an Anṣārī came to the Holy Prophetsa and said, “O Holy Prophetsa, I hear your statements, but I am unable to remember them.” The Holy Prophetsa responded, “With the assistance of your right hand write down whatever I say.”2
From this Ḥadīth, we find that in various circumstances the Prophetsa would himself exhort the companions who faced difficulty in the retention of his Aḥādīth to write them down. In the presence of this instruction, even if clear mention that companions used to write the Aḥādīth of the Holy Prophetsa is not found in history, the presumption that various companions most definitely did record these Aḥādīth would still remain. It is impossible to assume that from a company of such devotees, not a single individual chose to benefit from this guidance. Nonetheless, the companion who was directly addressed by the Holy Prophetsa in the above mentioned Ḥadīth surely followed this facilitative order. However, this is not mere conjecture. It is unequivocally mentioned in Ḥadīth that various companions would commit the Aḥādīth of the Holy Prophetsa to writing. There is a narration that Ḥaḍrat ‘Abdullāh bin ‘Amr bin Al-‘Āsra would record all that he heard from the blessed tongue of the Holy Prophetsa. Numerous individuals attempted to dissuade him with the belief that the Holy Prophetsa is at times happy, and displeased at other times, and to document it in such detail, is incorrect. At this, ‘Abdullāh bin ‘Amrra ceased to write. However, when this news reached the Holy Prophetsa, he stated:
اُكْتُبْ فَوَالَّذِیْ نَفْسِیْ بِیَدِہٖ مَا یَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ اِلَّا الْحَقُّ
“You should write, because by God, nothing leaves my tongue except that it is the truth and is correct.”3
After the issuance of this order, Ḥaḍrat ‘Abdullāh bin ‘Amrra once again, began to commit the instances of the Holy Prophetsa to writing. Therefore, it is mentioned in Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī,
عَنْ اَبِیْ ھُرَیْرَةَ یَقُوْلُ مَا مِنْ اَصْحَابِ النَّبِیِّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَسَلَّمَ اَحَدٌ اَكْثَرَ حَدِیْثًا عَنْهُ مِنِّیْ اِلَّا مَا كَانَ عَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو فَاِنَّهٗ كَانَ یَكْتُبُ وَلَا اَكْتُبُ
Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurairahra narrates that there is none among the companions of the Prophetsa who hath narrated more Aḥādīth than I except ‘Abdullāh bin ‘Amr who was in the routine that he would write a Ḥadīth after listening to it, and I never did the same.4
There is another Ḥadīth that states:
عَنْ اَبِیْ جَحِیْفَةَ قَالَ قُلْتُ لِعَلِیٍّ رَضِی اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ ھَلْ عِنْدَكُمْ كِتَابٌ قَالَ لَا اِلَّا كِتَابُ اللّٰهِ اَوْ فَھْمٌ اُعْطِیَهٗ رَجُلٌ مُسْلِمٌ اَوْ مَا فِیْ ھٰذِہِ الصَّحِیْفَةِ قُلْتُ مَا فِیْ ھٰذِہِ الصَّحِیْفَةِ قَالَ الْعَقْلُ وَفِكَاكُ الْاَسِیْرِ وَلَا یُقْتَلُ مُسْلِمٌ بِكَافِرٍ
Abū Jaḥīfah said, Once I asked Ḥaḍrat ‘Alira, do you possess anything written? Upon which Ḥaḍrat ‘Alira replied, “No, except Allāh’s Book I have nothing. Of course, I do possess the God-given power of understanding, bestowed upon a Muslim by which he can derive a verdict through means of assessment and thought. However, I do indeed possess this written scripture.” I asked, What is written in this scripture? He responded, “It contains Aḥādīth pertinent to such and such religious precepts.”5
From this Ḥadīth, it becomes apparent that it was also the custom of Ḥaḍrat ‘Alīra to write down distinctive instances of the Holy Prophetsa and thus safeguard his words on paper. Furthermore, it is mentioned in another Ḥadīth:
عَنْ اِبِیْ ھُرَیْرَةَ قَالَ خَطَبَ النَّبِیُّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَامَ فَتْحِ مَكَّةَ فَقَالَ ۔۔۔۔۔ فَجَاءَ رَجُلٌ مِنْ اَھْلِ الْیَمَنِ فَقَالَ اُكْتُبْ لِیْ فَقَالَ اكْتُبُوْا لِاَبِیْ فُلَانٍ
Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurairahra narrates that at the occasion of the Fall of Makkah, the Prophet of Allāhsa made an address in which he stated ‘such and such’. A man from Yemen came forward and said, “O Messenger of Allāh! Please write this address for me.” The Prophet ordered that this address be given to him in writing.6
It is evident from these examples that the custom of writing the Aḥādīth of the Holy Prophetsa had commenced in the time of the companions and some of the companions of the Holy Prophetsa practically adhered to this system. Indeed, as generations passed, the custom of preserving the Aḥādīth of the Holy Prophetsa by writing became an increasingly common practice. As mentioned previously, it is not possible to mention examples from latter generations in this brief note. Nonetheless, at this point, merely to express the breadth of the method by which narrations were written in latter generations, a single example will suffice. Yaḥyā bin Mu‘īn is a renowned narrator of the past from whom many venerable Muḥaddithīn such as Imām Bukhārīra, Imām Muslimra, Abū Dāwūd As-Sajistānīra and many others, have taken narrations. It is narrated that he possessed 600,000 Aḥādīth preserved in writing and he would relate these narrations from his written collection. Therefore, it is recorded in Wafiyyātul-A‘ayān:
سُئِلَ یَحْییٰ كَمْ كَتَبْتَ مِنَ الْحَدِیْثِ فَقَالَ كَتَبْتُ بِیَدِیْ ھٰذِہٖ سِتَّ مِائَةِ اَلْفِ حَدِیْثٍ
It was inquired of Yaḥyā bin Mu‘īn of the number of Aḥādīth he possessed in written form. He answered that, “I have written 600,000 Aḥādīth by my own hand”7
One should bear in mind that Yaḥyā bin Mu‘īn was not of the Jāmi‘īn-e-Ḥadīth8 who left behind a collection of Aḥādīth like Imām Bukhārīra or Imām Muslimra. Instead his writing of Aḥādīth was in the capacity of a narrator alone. One can assume the same with regards to other narrators of Ḥadīth as well.
Therefore, there is no doubt that in the time of the companions of the Holy Prophetsa, Aḥādīth and narrations began to find their way into written composition. The breadth of this system expanded to the extent that the existing collections of Aḥādīth comprise a significant portion of such Aḥādīth as were related not only verbally but also through writing until they reached the Jāmi‘īn-e-Ḥadīth. Our intent is not to imply that a majority of the companions habitually documented Aḥādīth in writing, or that, narrators as a whole necessarily committed Aḥādīth to writing. A claim of this nature would most certainly contradict reality. Rather, the intention is to denote that the phenomenon of writing narrations had begun in the time of the Holy Prophetsa and then in future generations, expanded even further. Despite this, a significant portion of Aḥādīth has been based on verbal narrations. Moreover, collections existent today comprise narrations of both types.
At this point it is essential to mention that some Aḥādīth contain an instruction of the Holy Prophetsa, that no words attributed to him except those of the Holy Qur’ān, should be committed to writing.9 On the basis of this instruction, many individuals have inferred that the companions of the Holy Prophetsa did not commit Aḥādīth to writing. A rebuttal to this is that firstly, no inference can be accepted as true in opposition to a proven fact or occurrence. When the fact of the matter is that various companions did in actuality write the Aḥādīth of the Holy Prophetsa, no inductive argumentation can possibly hold weight against it. In actuality, these Aḥādīth are in relation to a special time period and unique circumstances. Moreover, this instruction is only meant for those people who were assigned the task of writing the divine revelations of the Holy Prophetsa. The purpose of this order was to ensure that no other material intermix with Qur’ānic revelation. There was no restriction upon the common people or in general circumstances. 10 وَاللّٰهُ اَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
1 Migration of the Holy Prophetsa to Madīnah (Publishers)
2 Sunanut-Tirmidhī, Abwābul-‘Ilm, Bābu Mā Jā’a fir-Rukhṣati fīhi, Ḥadīth No. 2666
3 Sunanu Abī Dāwūd, Kitābul-‘Ilm, Bābu Kitābatil-‘Ilm, Ḥadīth No. 3646
4 Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, Kitābul-‘Ilm, Bābu Kitābatil-‘Ilm, Ḥadīth No. 113
5 Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, Kitābul-‘Ilm, Bābu Kitābatil-‘Ilm, Ḥadīth No. 111
6 Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, Kitābul-‘Ilm, Bābu Kitābatil-‘Ilm, Ḥadīth No. 112
7 Wafiyyātul-A‘ayān, By Abū ‘Abbās Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm Al-Ma‘rūf ibni Khalkān, Volume 5, p. 114, under “Abū Zakariyyā Yaḥyā bin Mu‘īn”, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1998)
8 The Collectors of Ḥadīth (Publishers)
9 * Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitābuz-Zuhdi War-Raqā’iq, Bābut-Tathabbuti Fil-Ḥadīth wa Ḥukmi Kitābatil-‘Ilm, Ḥadīth No. 7510
* Sunanut-Tirmidhī, Kitābul-‘Ilm, Bābu Mā Jā’a fī Kirāhiyyati Kitābatil-‘Ilm, Ḥadīth No. 2665
10 And Allāh knows the truth best (Publishers)