Muslims were, early on, aware of the significance of the Sunnah and its authority. They, one generation after the other, were keen to preserve the Sunnah because they saw that as a part of the preserving of the last revelations man is ever to receive. Their efforts were unabated, and the remarkable job they did is unparalleled in the experience of any other religion or civilization.
At the time of the Prophet:
One of the main reasons behind this is the fact that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam clearly taught the Companions the importance of his Sunnah, its place in Islam and their role in saving it, teaching and conveying it to others around them and to those who would come after them. In so doing, he sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam followed an effective methodology, which will be briefly outlined below:
1. He emphasised the importance of seeking knowledge and teaching it to others. He said: “Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim (male and female).” [Ibn Maajah] Also, he said: “Whosoever pursues a path to seek knowledge therein, Allah will thereby make easy for him a path to Paradise. No people gather together in one of the houses of Allah (mosques), reciting the Book of Allah and studying it among themselves, without tranquility descending upon them, mercy enveloping them and angels surrounding them, and Allah making mention of them to those (angels) who are with Him.” [Muslim]
2. He always had a centre for teaching. Most of the time, it was the mosque.
3. He was soft in his dealings and always facilitated things and made them easy for others. He was merciful and humble and made himself readily available.
4. He never pushed people into anything. Instead, he gradually taught them and led them to change. He always motivated them to follow his example and be their best.
5. He would not continuously teach or work with them, but he would give them enough breaks to avoid overstressing or boring them.
6. He spoke plainly and clearly and he talked to people at their level of understanding and intellectual ability. Whenever appropriate, he spoke to people in their own dialect for the Arabs had different dialects.
7. He used the method of repetition. He would repeat whatever he wanted to stress for three times to insure that all heard him properly and clearly understood what he was saying.
8. When questioned, he would give more than what is expected as an answer and use the occasion to further clarify things for all, and teach about other things.
9. Whenever the Prophet had to choose between two ways, he chose the easier way, which had facility and mercy if there was nothing forbidden in that, and he kept away from the difficult and harsh ways.
10. He attached special attention to teaching the women and provided them special times for questions. He encouraged them to ask and learn.
11. He used to do his best in everything, and he perfected whatever he did, thus setting an example for others.
The era of the Companions and their Followers
The Companions did their utmost to convey Islam to the generations succeeding them in the best and most accurate way possible. They sincerely loved it, honestly lived according to it and faithfully preserved it and kept any impurity or irregularity out of it.
Their role in the preservation of Islam was one of utmost importance to its continuation, but they were highly prepared for it by the best teacher and trainer, the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Thus the studying of this era, especially with respect to the history and authority of the Sunnah, is necessary to all Students of Knowledge.
For detailed reading there are many books on Hadiths and Sunnah:
Methodology of the Companions in Preserving the Sunnah
Before discussing the Companions’ ways of learning, practising, preserving and conveying of the Sunnah, it is worthwhile to shed some light on the main points one needs to understand about the Companions and their methodology:
1. The Companions were fully aware of the responsibility they shoulder after the death of the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam.
2. The Companions are all trustworthy. They never doubted one another in the matters of this religion and the narration of Hadith.
3. The Companions have developed a methodology for scrutinising Hadiths and narrators, and by doing that have established the rules of ascertaining narrations for those who came after them.
4. The ability of different Companions to understand the Sunnah, memorise it and convey it varied from one Companion to another.
5. The Companions left Makkah and Madinah to many places around the Muslim world, at the time, for the purpose of delivering the message and teaching Islam to those who accepted it thus spreading the Sunnah throughout the land.
It is interesting to note that about 750 Companions narrated Hadiths, seven of whom narrated a high number of Hadiths, and about 20 narrated an average number, the rest narrated a small number.
The seven who narrated a large number of Hadiths are: Abu Hurairah who narrated 5,374 Hadiths, ‘Abdullaah Ibn ‘Umar narrated 2,630, Anas Ibn Maalik narrated 2,286, ‘Aa’ishah narrated 2,210, ‘Abdullaah Ibn ‘Abbaas narrated 1,660, Jaabir Ibn ‘Abdullaah narrated 1,540, and Abu Sa’eed AI-Khudri narrated 1,100 Hadiths. They understood their role and were aware of the significance of their ability in narrating the Hadiths and did their best to deliver them diligently and accurately. Muslims of all times are indebted to them.
Article source: http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/
Most scholars group the main aspects of the methodology of the Companions in preserving the Sunnah into the following seven categories: prudence in narrating the Hadiths, verification and substantiation of the Hadiths before accepting them, critique, discussions and assessment of the narration, travelling for search and confirmation of the Hadiths, memorisation, practice and writing of the Hadiths. Some scholars refer to these aspects as ‘rulings’, ‘methods’ or ‘ways’ instead of methodology.
Prudence in narrating the Hadith:
Because of the fact that the Sunnah is a revelation and a sacred Source for this religion, the Companions were very careful when narrating what the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said or did. This vigilance was illustrated in:
*Avoiding narration unless they had to. ‘Abdur-Rahmaan Ibn Abi Layla said: “I have met with 120 Companions from the Ansaar (supporters of the Prophet), none of whom would narrate a Hadith or answer a question of fatwa unless he absolutely had no choice but to do it. One would have to go and ask another instead of him, so much so you would keep going from one to the other until you get back to the first one you asked.”
They understood that they were conveying the message brought to them by the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam and that people see it as such, thus everyone wanted the other to do that because they may know it better. This, however, should not be construed to mean they avoided spreading the message or teaching Islam to others. This prudence indicates they were fully aware of their role and its significance. They would rather let others, who may be more knowledgeable, do the job, but once they had to do, they did it in the best way possible.
*Limiting or discouraging the narration. This attitude was adopted for the purpose of protecting the Sunnah because it minimises the possibility of mistakes or forgetfulness that may otherwise cause people to doubt the Sunnah or mistrust the narrators. This trend was strongly encouraged by Caliphs Abu Bakr radhiallah ‘anhu and ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab radhiallah ‘anhu and was accepted and practiced by the Companions . This attitude is founded on the famous Hadith narrated by many Companions : “It is sufficient - for one to tumble into lying - to narrate or repeat everything he/she hears.” [Al-Bukhari and others]
*Encouraging narration from knowledgeable Companions. To strike a necessary balance between being cautious and insuring the transmission of the religion and the spreading of its teachings, the Companions who had a great deal of knowledge - like those recommended by the Prophet - never hesitated to narrate, write or teach the Sunnah. There are hundreds of narrations that encourage such practice so long as it is done in the right manner.
* Opting for verbatim narration. Guided with instruction in the Hadith, “May Allah bless the person who hears a statement from me and conveys it as he/she heard it,” the Companions did all that was humanly possible to keep their narration verbatim of what they actually heard from the Prophet. There are many reported incidents, which testify to this fact. Having such natural mastery of the Arabic – that was common among them - and the fact that they saw and heard the Prophet say, do and explain to them his teachings repeatedly, as well as their understanding of the need for verbatim transmission of narrations, all combined to make it easy for them not to cause changes as they narrate any Hadith.
Verification of the Hadith before accepting it
This is an important tool that the Companions established to safeguard the Sunnah against any foreign material interference and accidental or deliberate mistakes. This was a common practice amongst all of the Companions when receiving or narrating the Sunnah.
Imaam Ath-Thahabi mentioned this practice, in one of his great books, addressing the issue of Hadith memorisers. He said that it was one of the ways used by of the four Caliphs to protect the Hadith. For example, Abu Bakr was asked to rule in the case of a grandmother who came asking for her right in inheritance, he said that he knew of no amount due to her neither in the Book of Allah (i.e., Qur’an) nor the Sunnah of the Prophet. But when Al-Mugheerah told that he has witnessed the Prophet give one-sixth of the total amount of the inheritance, he asked him if he had witness to substantiate this claim. And when Muhammad Ibn Maslamah witnessed to the truth of that figure, Abu Bakr accepted it and gave the grandmother exactly that.
In the case of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab Ath-Thahabi mentioned many incidents that testify to the fact that he always ascertained the narration when it was necessary to do so. He narrated that Maalik Ibn Aws heard ‘Umar say to ‘Abdur-Rahmaan Ibn ‘Awf, Talhah Ibn Az-Zubayr and Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqqaas : “I ask by Allah, Who maintains the Heaven and Earth! Did you hear the Prophet say: ‘I am not to be inherited, whatever I leave is to be given in charity’? They said: ‘Yes, Allah is our witness.’” [Ahmad]
After narrating the above incidents among others, Imaam Ath-Thahabi repeatedly asserted that the verifications were not meant to doubt the truthfulness of any of the Companions rather they were necessary to establish a standard of care and respect for what the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said or did. They did that for themselves and to institute a tradition to be followed and honoured by all who come after them.
In summary, it is essential to note the following about this method:
*The purpose was to protect the Sunnah, not to doubt one another. All of the Companions are trustworthy as clearly stated in the Qur’an, and doubting their trustworthiness can certainly damage one’s faith.
*The purpose, also, was to establish a method and set an example to be followed by the rest of the Muslim nation. The truth, however, remains that Companions used to accept narration conveyed by any one of them. Their request of witnesses or that the narrator gives an oath that he is saying the truth was to establish the methodology, so that people would not take narrating a Hadith lightly. This fact may further be supported when considering that:
*Sometimes they required a witness while at others they had the narrator give oath or reminded him of how serious it is to lie against the Prophet. This variation indicates that the purpose was actually to establish awareness of the significance of narrating the Hadith rather than set up a requirement of having more than one narrator as a condition for its authenticity.
*There are a very large number of narrations, which indicate that in many cases the Companions had actually accepted Hadith from one narrator without seeking any substantiation or verification.
Article source: http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/
The narrators of Hadith are the most honourable and respectable Muslims, as they are keepers and preservers of Sunnah. Most of them are the Companions of the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) who witnessed the acts and learnt the sayings of the Prophet. Others are the successors of the companions. Who were blessed by Allah and they are highly respected by all Muslims. They are shinning stars of Islam.
Their hearts were free from worldly desires. Reading their biographies will increase love and devotion towards them and develop more interest to be faithful and obedient in the heart of the Muslim who reads their biography.
Allah Almighty Says (what means): “Verily, We have sent down the Reminder, and surely, We will guard it (from corruption).” [Qur’an; 15:9] The above promise made by Allah is obviously fulfilled in the undisputed purity of the Qur’anic text throughout the fourteen centuries since its revelation.
However, what is often forgotten by many Muslims is that the above divine promise also includes, by necessity, the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) for it is the practical example of the implementation of the Qur’anic guidance, the Wisdom taught to the Prophet along with the Scripture, and neither the Qur’an nor the Sunnah can be understood correctly without recourse to the other.
Allah preserved the Sunnah by enabling the Companions and their followers to memorize, write down and pass on the statements of the Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) and the descriptions of his way, as well as to continue the blessings of practicing the Sunnah. Later, as the purity of the knowledge of the Sunnah became threatened, Allah caused the Muslim nation to produce outstanding individuals of incredible memory-skills and analytical expertise, who journeyed tirelessly to collect hundreds of thousands of narrations and distinguish the true words of precious wisdom of their Messenger from those corrupted by weak memories, from forgeries by unscrupulous liars, and from the statements of the enormous number of scholars, the Companions and those who followed their way, who had taught in various centres of learning and helped to transmit the legacy of Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) - all of this achieved through precise attention to the words narrated and detailed familiarity with the biographies of the thousands of reporters of Hadith. Action being the best way to preserve teachings, the scholars of Islam also revived the practice of the blessed authentic Sunnah.
Unfortunately, however, statements will continue to be attributed to the Prophet although the person quoting them may have no idea what the people of knowledge in the field of Hadith science have ruled regarding those Hadiths, thus ironically being in danger of contravening the Prophet’s widely-narrated stern warnings about attributing incorrect/unsound statements to him.
The methodology of the expert scholars of Hadith in assessing narrations and sorting out the genuine from the mistaken, fabricated etc., forms the subject-matter of a wealth of material left to us by the scholars of Hadith (traditionists).
A Hadith is composed of two parts: the Matn (text) and the Isnaad (chain of reporters). A text may seem to be logical and reasonable but it needs an authentic Isnaad with reliable reporters to be acceptable. ‘Abdullaah Ibn Al-Mubaarak (d. 181 AH), one of the illustrious teachers of Imaam Al-Bukhari said: “The Isnaad is part of the religion, had it not been for the Isnaad, then people would have claimed whatever they wished.”
Among the sciences of Hadith is the study of the chain of reporters (the Isnaad). Many Muslim scholars have specialized in this field. It includes identifying the name of each and every narrator (reporter), his character (his truthfulness, piety, public behavior), his ability and reputation as a memoriser and the types of narrations he is known to report, whether authentic, weak, fabricated, etc. In addition, each narrator should be identified by a rating given by other narrators who knew him. So all of these and many other details must be considered to know the degree to which a Hadith may be used as a basis for Islamic belief or practice (Sharee’ah), or merely as a point of interest (not to be attributed to the sayings, etc. of the Prophet ).
After the Book of Allah (The Qur’an), the books of Hadith collection that were collected by Imaams Bukhari and Muslim are considered by t he Muslim scholars to be the most authentic books of Hadith. However, there are other famous scholars in the field who compiled books of Hadith such as; Abu Daawood (d.275), At-Tirmithi (d. 279), An-Nasaa’i (d. 303) and others.
The Prophet’s Mosque in Madina.