evidence of that truth was available.
This was not the only factor that gave an impetus to a dissemination of the knowledge of Ḥadīth. The influx into Islām of large numbers of people who had never seen the Holy Prophet himself, but who could behold for themselves the astounding transformation brought about by him, and to whom, therefore, his memory was sacred, in the highest degree, formed in itself an important factor in the general eagerness to discover everything which the great man had said or done. It was natural that each new convert should be anxious to know all there was to know about the great Teacher who had infused a new life into a dead world. Everyone who had seen him would thus become a source of knowledge for the later converts and since the incidents were fresh in the memories of the Companions they would be conveyed with fair accuracy to the new generation.
It must be remembered that the wonderful success which Islām achieved within so short a time, and the rapidity with which the reputation of its Holy Prophet advanced, were the very reasons which led to the preservation of the actual facts concerning him. The personality of the Holy Prophet and his religion assumed an unparalleled importance in Arabia within twenty years of the day on which he began the work of a reformer, and within ten years of his death Islām spread to many countries beyond the borders of Arabia. Everything relating to the Holy Prophet, therefore, became a matter of discussion among Arabs and non-Arabs, friends and foes. Had he remained in oblivion for a century or so, and then risen to fame, probably much of what he had said or done would have been lost to the world, and the exaggerations of a later generation, and not facts, would have been handed down to posterity. But with him the case was quite different. From the humblest position he had risen to the highest eminence to which man can rise, and that in less than a quarter of a century, and, therefore, there was not an incident of his life but had become public property before it could be forgotten.
There was another factor of the utmost importance which gave impetus to the knowledge of Ḥadīth at this stage. To the Companions of the Holy Prophet, the religion which he had brought was so