Dislike of Writing Knowledge

Hazrat Abdullah bin Yasar narrates that I heard Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) delivering a sermon in which he said: Every person who possesses a written book should firmly resolve to return and erase it. This is because the people before were destroyed due to the fact that they sought out the words of their scholars and abandoned the Book of their Lord.

Hazrat Abu Nadrah says that we submitted to Hazrat Abu Saeed Khudri: If you permit, we would like to write down the hadith. He replied: We will not let you write; you should acquire hadith from us just as we acquired hadith from the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

Hazrat Sulaiman bin Aswad Muharibi narrates that Hazrat Ibn Mas'ud considered the writing of knowledge to be disliked.

Hazrat Mughira narrates that Hazrat Umar used to write letters to his governors saying, "Do not keep writing letters to me all the time."

Ibrahim narrates that Hazrat Ubaidah instructed me: Do not always write letters to me.

Hazrat Abu Burdah says that I wrote a very large book from my father. He said: Bring your books to me. I brought them to him, and he washed them away.

Hazrat Hakam bin Atiyyah narrates that Hazrat Ibn Sirin said: The Bani Israel were destroyed because of those books which they inherited from their forefathers.

Imam Sha'bi narrates that Marwan called Hazrat Zaid bin Thabit at a time when people were writing, and he was not aware of it. So the people informed him, upon which he said: Perhaps the narrations that I conveyed to you are not as I conveyed them to you.

Hazrat Aswad bin Hilal narrates that a scroll was brought to Hazrat Abdullah, on which something was written. He asked for water, wiped it clean, and then ordered it to be burned. Then he said: If you know of any person who has a written hadith, be sure to inform me. By God! If I come to know that there is a written hadith in Dehra Hind, I will go there on foot and erase it. The previous nations were destroyed for this very reason: they had set aside the Book of Allah.

Hazrat Abdullah bin Muslim narrates that his father, Hazrat Muslim, said: I consider writing anything to be disliked. The narrator says: I think he said: even writing the remembrance of Allah in it. Imam Abu Bakr says: I asked Hazrat Mu'tamir: even the seal? He said: Yes!

28142 - He said: I think he means what was in it of the remembrance of Allah.

28143 - I said to Mu'tamir: Does it mean the ring? He said: Yes.

Ibn Aun states that Qasim did not write down hadith.

Ayyub narrates that I heard Saeed bin Jubair saying that we were differing over some issues, so I wrote them down in a notebook. Then I brought it to Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both). I asked him about these issues while hiding the writing, because if he had found out about it, it would have caused separation between me and him.

Ibrahim states that Hazrat Ubaidah said: "You should not always keep writing me."

Hazrat Antarah narrates that Hazrat Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) granted me permission to write and did not forbid me.