The Sunnah refers to the actions, statements and way of life of the Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him. It is an essential aspect of the entire system of Islam. God Himself in the Quran has ordered Muslims to take the Prophet as their role model and to listen and obey his words. The Sunnah is the ultimate normative practical expression of Islam. It is also the definitive explanation of the Quran itself. Without it there can be no true understanding of how to implement Islam.[1]
The Prophet’s Sunnah was preserved in what is known as the hadeeth literature. The question of the preservation of the Sunnah and the hadeeth is actually an issue concerning the preservation and purity of the religion of Islam itself. This issue becomes even more important given the fact that, unfortunately, many have a false conception of how the hadeeth were preserved and, therefore, they do not possess full confidence in the authenticity of the hadeeth of the Prophet.
Some of the Means by Which God Preserved the Sunnah
God, through humans, used many means by which He preserved the Sunnah. Some of these aspects are unique to the Muslim nation. Most importantly, these means of preservation were followed from the earliest times, without any interval available for the original material and sayings to be lost.
Some of the factors and means that contributed to the preserving of the Sunnah include the following:
The Companions’ Understanding of Their Heavy Responsibilities
It is clear in the Quran that the earlier peoples had distorted, tampered and generally failed to minutely preserve the message that they received.[2] The Companions of the Prophet understood that the Prophet Muhammad was the final messenger sent for humankind and that the task of preserving his teachings would fall upon their shoulders. It was up to them to make sure that what happened to the previous prophets’ teachings would not happen to the Prophet Muhammad’s message. Additionally, the Prophet himself impressed upon them the fact that they had the responsibility of taking from the Prophet and conveying to others. For example, the Prophet told them, in front of the throngs of the people at the time of pilgrimage:
“Let the one who is present inform the one who is absent. Perhaps the one who is present may convey it to one who can grasp it more than he can.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim)
This instruction from the Prophet can be seen in a number of his statements, some of which have been narrated from numerous Companions. For example, the Prophet said:
“May God make radiant the man who has heard what I said and has preserved it in his memory until he conveys it to another. Perhaps the one he conveyed it to has a better understanding than him.”[3]
The Prophet also warned them in a very stern fashion about conveying anything from him which may not be correct. Using the Arabic word kadhab, which in the dialect of the Prophet did not mean “to lie” but meant to convey something which is not correct, the Prophet stated:
“Convey from me, even if it is just a verse. And narrate [stories] from the Tribes of Israel and there is no harm. And whoever falsely attributes something to my authority shall take his own seat in the Hell-fire.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
It seems that the Prophet stated that warning on a number of occasions, as those words have been recorded from the Prophet by over fifty Companions.[4]
Thus, the Companions realized that they had to be very careful in their narratives. They understood the warning stated above concerning one who falsely attributes something to the Prophet as applying to one who does so intentionally as well as unintentionally. In a report recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari, the Companion al-Zubair was asked why he did not narrate as many hadeeth as some of the others did. He replied, “As for me, I never parted from him [that is, the Prophet]. However, I heard him say, ‘Whoever falsely attributes something to me shall take his own seat in the Hell-fire.’” Commenting on this statement, ibn Hajar[5] noted that al-Zubair was obviously not speaking about himself forging something in the Prophet’s name. Instead, he feared that if he narrated a lot, he would make mistakes. And those mistakes would put him under the warning mentioned in that hadeeth.[6]
Anas ibn Maalik also said, “If I did not fear that I may make a mistake, I would narrate to you some of the things I heard from the Messenger of God. However, I heard him say, ‘Whoever falsely attributes something to my authority shall take his own seat in the Hell-fire.’”[7] This, once again, implies that Anas, a Companion, understood that the threat stated in that hadeeth also applies to the one who makes unintentional mistakes while narrating hadeeth.
In reality, some of the Companions, like Abu Hurairah, continued to study and memorize the hadeeth they learned from the Prophet. Therefore, they did not have as much to fear with respect to making mistakes. On the other hand, those who were not dedicated to such study had more to fear because their memories may fail them when they narrated from the Messenger of God.
Before discussing this topic, it should be noted that, in order for something to be preserved, it is not a necessary condition that it be recorded or written down. That is, simply because something was not written down, it does not mean that it was not accurately and correctly preserved. Furthermore, the writing of something down itself is not sufficient for the preservation of something. It is possible that something is recorded incorrectly. Both of these points were duly noted by the scholars of hadeeth. They did not require hadeeth to be written down for them to be accepted although they did recognize the importance of such a physical recording and many times, depending on the personality involved, preferred the written record over the verbal record. These scholars also realized that the mere recording of something is not sufficient. It must also be ascertained that it was recorded properly. Hence, scholars of hadeeth would accept or prefer written reports of scholars over memorized reports only if it was known that those scholars were proficient and correct in their writing.
It has been one of the favorite practices of many of the Orientalists to constantly state the “fact” that hadeeth were not recorded at first but were, instead, passed on only orally for the first two centuries after the Hijrah (Arabic calendar). Therefore, hadeeth are not much more than folklore and legend that was passed on orally and in a haphazard fashion for many years. Unfortunately, this is a misconception that has become quite widespread amongst many who have sufficed with a mere shallow research of the subject. In reality, this false claim and incorrect view has, by the grace of God, been refuted by numerous Muslim scholars in various doctoral dissertations in the Muslim world as well as at Western Universities, such as the dissertations of Muhammad Mustafa Azami (1967), published as Studies in Early Hadeeth, and Imitiyaz Ahmad’s The Significance of Sunna and Hadeeth and their Early Documentation from Edinburgh in 1974.
The recording of the hadeeth of the Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, began during the time of the Prophet himself. Al-Baghdaadi records a number of hadeeth that show that the Prophet explicitly allowed the recording of his hadeeth. Here are some examples:
1. Al-Daarimi and Abu Dawood in their Sunans (books) recorded that Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As stated that they used to record everything they heard from the Prophet. They were warned against doing so as, it was argued, the Prophet was a human being who may be angry at times and pleased at others. Abdullah stopped writing his hadeeth until they could ask the Prophet about this issue. The Messenger of God told him:
“Write [my hadeeth], by the One in whose hand is my soul, nothing comes out [the Prophet’s mouth] except the truth.”[1]
That is, whether he was angry or pleased what he spoke was always the truth.
2. Al-Bukhari, in his Sahih (book), recorded that Abu Hurairah said, “One can find none of the Companions of the Messenger of God relating more hadeeth than I, except Abdullah ibn Amr because he used to record the hadeeth while I did not do so.”[2]
3. Al-Bukhari recorded that a person from Yemen came to the Prophet on the day of the Conquest of Mecca and asked him if he could get the Prophet’s speech recorded, and the Prophet approved and told someone:
“Write it for the father of so and so.”
4. Anas narrated the statement, “Secure knowledge by writing it.” This hadeeth has been related by a number of authorities but mostly with weak chains. There is a dispute concerning whether or not it is actually a statement of the Prophet or of some Companion. However, according to al-Albani, the hadeeth, as recorded by al-Haakim and others, is authentic.[3]
There is no question, therefore, that the recording of hadeeth began during the lifetime of the Messenger of God himself. This practice of writing hadeeth continued after the death of the Messenger of God. Al-Azami, in his work Studies in Early Hadeeth Literature, has listed and discussed some fifty Companions of the Prophet who had recorded hadeeth.[4] Note the following:
Abdullah B. Abbas (3 B.H.-68 A.H.)… He was so eager for knowledge that he would ask as many as 30 Companions about a single incident… It seems he wrote what he heard and sometimes even employed his slaves for this purpose… The following derived hadeeth from him in written form: Ali b. Abdullah ibn Abbas, Amr b. Dinar, Al-Hakam b. Miqsam, Ibn Abu Mulaikah, Ikrimah… Kuraib, Mujahid, Najdah… Said b. Jubair.[5]
Abdullah B. Umar B. al-Khattab (10 B.H.-74 A.H.). He transmitted a large number of ahadeeth, and was so strict in relating them that he did not allow the order of a word to be changed even though it would not have altered the meaning… He had books. One Kitab[book] which belonged to Umar, and was in his possession, was read to him by Nafi several times… The following derived hadeeth from him in written form: Jamil b. Zaid al-Tai… Nafi client of ibn Umar, Said b. Jubair, Abd al-Aziz b. Marwan, Abd al-Malik b. Marwan, Ubaidullah b. Umar, Umar b. Ubaidullah …[6]
Al-Azami also compiled a list, discussing each personality individually, of forty-nine people of “the first century successors” who recorded hadeeth.[7] Al-Azami goes on to list eighty-seven of “the scholars covering the late first and early second centuries” who recorded hadeeth.[8] Then he lists “from the early second century scholars” 251 people who collected and recorded hadeeth.[9] Thus al-Azami has produced a list of 437 scholars who had recorded hadeeth and all of them lived and died before the year 250 A. H. Many of them are from before the time of Umar ibn Abdul Azeez, who has been wrongly credited with having been the first person to ask for the collection of hadeeth. The story of Umar ibn Abdul Azeez has actually been misunderstood and it does not mean that no one collected hadeeth before him.[10]
To quote al-Azami, “Recent research has proved that almost all of the hadeeth of the Prophet was [sic] written down in the life of the companions, which stretched to the end of the first century.”[11] This last statement is partially based on al-Azami’s own research in which he has mentioned many Companions and Followers who possessed written hadeeth. Elsewhere, he himself writes,
I have established in my doctoral thesis Studies in Early Hadeeth Literature that even in the first century of the Hijra many hundreds of booklets of hadeeth were in circulation. If we add another hundred years, it would be difficult to enumerate the quantity of booklets and books which were in circulation. Even by the most conservative estimate they were many thousands.
Another important tool used in the preservation of hadeeth was the Isnad system that was developed uniquely by the Muslim nation. The Isnad system is where one states his sources of information, in turn tracing that narrative all the way back to the Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon himmay God bless him.
The importance of the Isnad has been eloquently stated by Abdullah ibn al-Mubaarak who said, “The Isnad is part of the religion. If it were not for the Isnad anyone would say whatever he wishes to say.”[1] Indeed, theIsnad has been essential in separating the authentic from the weak hadeeth and in identifying the fabricated hadeeth. Even today, no one can dare narrate a hadeeth without possibly being asked to provide the source of that hadeeth. Ibn al-Mubaarak continued and said, “If you ask the person where he got the hadeeth from he will [be forced to] become silent.” The Isnad acted and acts as a type of guarantee or safeguard for the authenticity of the hadeeth. The early scholars of hadeeth would not even consider a hadeeth if it had no known Isnad to it.
Concerning the importance of the Isnad, Sufyaan al-Thauri (d. 161) said, “The Isnad is the sword of the believer. Without his sword with him with what will he fight?” By the use of the Isnad, the Muslim scholars were able to eradicate (or “fight”) the innovations that some people tried to bring into Islam. Muhammad ibn Seereen (d. 110), Anas ibn Seereen, Al-Dhahaak and Uqba ibn Naafi have all been reported to have said, “This knowledge [of hadeeth] is the religion, therefore, look to see from whom you are taking your religion.”[2] Since the Sunnah forms an essential part of Islam, accepting hadeeth from a certain person is similar to taking one’s religion from him. Hence, one must be careful only to take his religion from people who are trustworthy and who can trace what they have said back to the Prophet and this can only be done through the use of the Isnad.
This system was even more of a safeguard than today’s system of publication and copyrighting. Hamidullah wrote:
“Modern scholars quote, in learned works, the sources of important statements of facts. But even in the most carefully documented works, there are two drawbacks:
(a) In case of published works, there is little or no possibility of verifying whether there are any misprints or other inaccuracies¾ this would not happen if one were to depend on a work only after hearing [it] from the author himself, or obtaining a copy certified by the author, or¾ in case of old works¾ by those who have had the opportunity of hearing it from the author, or his authorized transmitter.
(b) One is contented now-a-days with one’s immediate source, without much caring to trace the preceding sources of that source, and mounting in seriatim up to the eye-witness of the event. In Hadeeth works the case has been different…”[3]
In conclusion, one may state that the Isnad is an essential component of every hadeeth as without it there is no way for anyone to verify the authenticity of the narration. Abdullah ibn al-Mubaarak certainly spoke the truth when he said that without the Isnad anyone is free to say whatever he wishes to say and claim that it is part of the religion of Islam.[4] The importance of the Isnad is, in fact, very obvious and very few have ever questioned its importance. More important, therefore, is a discussion of when the Isnad began to be used for if it were not until a long time after the death of the Prophet, it would, in fact, be useless.
In his Ph.D. dissertation, Umar Fullaatah has discussed the history of the Isnad in great detail. Due to space limitations, it is not possible to present his discussion in detail. However, he has made the following important conclusions:
Concerning when the Isnad was first used with respect to the transmitting of hadeeth, he states that, by default, the Companions used to use Isnads but since there was usually no intermediary between them and the Messenger of God it was not obvious that they were relating through the Isnad. The Companions would either narrate the hadeeth in a manner that made it clear that they heard it directly from the Prophet, or in a manner that made it clear that they may not have heard that particular hadeeth directly from the Prophet. Fullaatah states that the vast majority of the hadeeth of the Companions were those hadeeth that they had heard directly from the Messenger of God. Therefore, the Isnad was first used during the time of the Companions although, it may be said, that it was hardly noticeable.
Concerning when the narrators were forced by the listeners to mention their Isnads, Fullaatah states that Abu Bakr, the first caliph who died only two years after the Prophet, was the first to make the narrator prove the authenticity of his narration as he sometimes would not accept a hadeeth unless the person presented a witness for his hadeeth. Umar also followed the same pattern. By doing so they made it clear if the person heard the hadeeth directly from the Messenger of God or through some intermediary source. Their goal was to confirm the correctness of the narration although they were, at the same time, inadvertently making the narrator state the Isnad for his hadeeth. Therefore, it was during their time (right after the death of the Prophet) that narrators were first being forced to state their Isnads. Ali, the fourth caliph and the caliph during the fitnah (affliction), would sometimes take an oath from the person in which the person would swear that he heard the hadeeth directly from the Prophet. Obviously, then, after the fitnah, the same process of requiring the narrator to state his sources continued.[1]
Concerning when the narrator himself began to insist on mentioning the Isnad of each hadeeth, Fullaatah states that the need for the Isnad really became apparent after weak narrators and immoral people began to relate hadeeth. During that time, the narrator himself made sure that he would mention the Isnad of the hadeeth he narrated. Al-Amash used to narrate hadeeth and then say, “Here is the head of the matter,” and then he would mention the Isnad. Al-Waleed ibn Muslim of al-Shaam stated, “One day al-Zuhri said, ‘What is wrong [with you people] that I see you narrating hadeeth without the critical or important part?’ After that day our companions [that is, the people of al-Sham (Northern Arabia)] made sure to mention the Isnad.”[2] The scholars would blame their students for listening to hadeeth from teachers who would mention the hadeeth without the Isnad.[3] In fact they would reject any hadeeth which did not have an Isnad with it. Bahz ibn Asad said, “Do not accept a hadeeth from someone who does not say, ‘He narrated to us..,” that is, without an Isnad. The Muslims even began to insist on the use of the Isnad for people of disciplines other than hadeeth, for example, history, tafseer (explanation of the Quran), poetry and so on.
Therefore, after discussing the question in detail, Fullaatah could soundly conclude the following:
1. The Isnad was first used during the time of the Companions.
2. Abu Bakr was the first to force narrators to mention the source for their hadeeth.
3. The narrator himself insisted on mentioning the Isnad of each hadeeth on the heels of (1) and (2) above.[4]
In conclusion, there was never any time that hadeeth narrations were completely void of mentioning the Isnad. During the time of the Companions the use of the Isnad was not so obvious as there was (usually) no intermediate narrator between the person mentioning the hadeeth and the Prophet. (The period of the Companions “officially” ended in 110 A. H. with the death of the last Companion.) Abu Bakr and Umar were scrupulous in checking the authenticity of hadeeth. Later scholars like al-Shabi and al-Zuhri appeared and they made the Muslims realize the importance of mentioning the Isnad with the hadeeth. This was especially manifest after major confrontations (such as the death of Uthmaan) which made the people realize that the hadeeth narrations were their religion and, therefore, they should look carefully at whom they were taking their religion from. After the early years, the Isnad and its proper use became standardized and its knowledge became an independent branch of hadeeth. This continued until the major collections of hadeeth were compiled in the third century.[5]
In reality, God blessed the nation of Muhammad with a unique way of preserving its original teachings: the Isnad. Muhammad ibn Haatim ibn al-Mudhaffar wrote:
“Verily God has honored and distinguished this nation and raised it above others by the use of the Isnad. None of the earlier or present nations have unbroken Isnads. They have [ancient] pages in their possession but their books have been mixed with their historical reports and they are not able to distinguish between what was originally revealed as the Torah or the Gospel and what has been added later of reports that have been taken from untrustworthy [or, most likely, unknown] narrators
