Those who disliked writing down knowledge

Abdullah bin Yasar said: I heard Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) say while delivering a sermon: "I solemnly charge everyone who has a written book to go back and erase it, for the earlier people perished because they sought out the sayings of their scholars and abandoned the Book of their Lord."

Abu Nadrah said: We said to Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him): "If you permit, we would write down hadith." He said: "We will not dictate to you. Take hadith from us as we took hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)."

Sulayman bin al-Aswad al-Muharibi said: Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) used to consider the writing of knowledge disliked.

Mughirah said: Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) used to write to his governors: "Never preserve any writing from me."

Ibrahim said that Abidah said to me: "Never preserve any writing from me."

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

Al-Hakam bin Atiyyah said that Ibn Sirin said: "The Children of Israel went astray only because of books they inherited from their forefathers."

Imam al-Sha'bi said: Marwan summoned Sayyiduna Zayd bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) while people were writing, and he did not know. Then the people informed him, and he said: "Perhaps the hadiths I narrated to you are not as I narrated them to you."

Al-Aswad bin Hilal said: A scroll containing hadith was brought to Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him). He called for water, erased it, then washed it, then ordered that it be burned, and it was burned. Then he said: "I remind by Allah any man who knows of it being with anyone to inform me of it. By Allah, if I knew that it was at Dayr Hind, I would reach it. Because of this the People of the Book before you perished, until they cast the Book of Allah behind their backs as though they did not know."

Abdullah bin Muslim said that his father Muslim said: "I consider every kind of writing disliked."

He said: I think he meant whatever contains the remembrance of Allah.

Abu Bakr (Ibn Abi Shaybah) said: I said to Mu'tamir: "Does he mean the seal?" He said: "Yes."

Ibn Awn said: Al-Qasim did not write down hadith.

Ayyub said: I heard Sa'id bin Jubayr say: "We were differing over certain matters, so I wrote them down in a notebook. Then I brought it to Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) and asked him about those matters, concealing the writing, for if he had come to know of it, it would have been the cause of a parting between me and him."

Ibrahim said that Abidah said: "Never preserve any writing from me."

Antarah said: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) permitted me to write, though he hardly ever did so.