lifetime of the Holy Prophet as affording guidance in religious matters.
The popular idea in the West that the need for Sunnah was felt, and the force of law given to Ḥadīth, after the death of the Holy Prophet,3 is falsified by the above facts. Nor was the preservation of what the Holy Prophet did or said an after-thought on the part of the Muslims, for the Companions while translating into practice most of his sayings, endeavoured also to preserve them in memory as well as on paper. The need of the Sunnah, its force as law, and its preservation are all traceable to the lifetime of the Holy Prophet. A special importance was, from the first, attached to his sayings and deeds which were looked upon as a source of guidance by his followers. They were conscious of the fact that these things must be preserved for future generations; hence they not only kept them in their memory but even resorted to pen and ink for their preservation. Abū Hurairah tells us that when one of the Anṣār complained to the Holy Prophet of his inability to remember what he heard from him, the Holy Prophet’s reply was that he should seek the help of his right hand (referring to the use of pen).4 Another well-known report is from ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Amr: “I used to write everything that I heard from the Holy Prophet, intending to commit it to memory. (On some people taking objection to this) I spoke about it to the Holy Prophet who said: “Write down, for I only speak the truth”.5 Yet again there is another report from Abū Hurairah: “None of the Companions preserved more ḥadīth than myself, but ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Amr is an exception, for he used to write and I did not”.6 Anas ibn Mālik states that Abū Bakr wrote down for him the laws regarding alms.7 ‘Alī had also a saying of the Holy Prophet with him in writing.8 In the year of the conquest of Makkah, the Holy Prophet delivered a sermon on the occasion of a man being killed by way of retaliation for some old grievance. When the sermon was over, one from among the people of Yaman came forward and requested him to have it written down for him, and the Holy Prophet gave orders to that effect.9 These reports show that while generally Ḥadīth was committed to memory, it was occasionally, when there
3 Thus Muir writes in his introduction to the Life of Mahomet: “The Arabs, a simple and unsophisticated race, found in the Coran ample provisions for the regulation of their affairs — religious, social and political. But this aspect of Islam soon underwent a mighty change. Scarcely was the Prophet buried when his followers issued forth from their barren Peninsula resolved to impose the faith of Islam upon all the nations of the earth … Crowded cities, like Cufa, Cairo, and Damascus, required elaborate laws for the guidance of their courts of justice; widening political relations demanded a system of international equity … All called loudly for the enlargement of the scanty and naked dogmas of the Revelation … The difficulty was resolved by adopting the Custom (Sunnat) of Mahomet; that is, his sayings and his practice, as supplementary of the Coran … Ḥadīth was thus invested with the force of law, and with something of the authority of inspiration” (p. xxix). And even a recent writer, Guillaume, writes in the Traditions of Islam: “While the Prophet was alive he was the sole guide in all matters whether spiritual or secular. Ḥadīth, or tradition in the technical sense, may be said to have begun at his death” (p.13).
4 Tr. 39:12. Note that this saying exists in many forms.
5 AD. 24:3. This saying is well-known and exists in thirty various forms with slight difference.
6 Bukhārī. 3:39.
7 Ibid., 24:39.
8 Bukhārī, 3:39.
9 Ibid.