Sunan ad-Darimi

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do not write anything from me except the Noble Qur'an, and whoever has written anything from me other than the Qur'an should erase it."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) that the noble companions (may Allah be pleased with them) sought permission from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to write down hadith, but he did not grant them permission for this.

Imam Sha’bi (may Allah have mercy on him) used to say: O Shabāk! Has any hadith been repeated for you? I do not wish that any hadith be repeated for me either.

Abdur Rahman bin Mahdi says: I heard Imam Malik bin Anas, may Allah have mercy on him, say that Ibn Shihab Zuhri narrated a hadith and left. I met him on the way and held his reins, then I said: O Abu Bakr! Please narrate to me again the same hadith which you have already narrated. He said: Do you want to hear it again? I said: Did you not listen to it again? He said: No. I said: And did you not write it down either? He said: No.

Imam Awza'i, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Qatadah disliked writing down hadith, and when he found out that it had been written, he disliked it and would erase it with his own hand.

Abu al-Mughira (Hajjaj bin Abdul Quddus) reported that Imam Awza'i, may Allah have mercy on him, considered it disliked (i.e., the writing of hadith).

It is narrated from Mansur that Imam Ibrahim al-Nakha'i considered the writing of knowledge to be disliked.

Imam Muhammad bin Sirin, may Allah have mercy on him, said: If I were to compile a book, I would compile a book of the letters of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.

It is narrated from Abdullah bin Awn that I saw Hammad writing in the presence of Imam Ibrahim Nakhai (may Allah have mercy on him), so Imam Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Did I not forbid you from writing? Hammad replied that I have only written outlines (i.e., indications).

It is narrated from Ibrahim that Ubaidah said to me: Do not write any book on my behalf. (That is, do not write anything that would become a book and remain.)

Hisham bin Hassan said: I wrote down only the hadith of Al-A’maq from Imam Muhammad bin Sirin, may Allah have mercy on him, then when I had memorized it, I erased it.

Marwan bin Muhammad said: I heard: Saeed bin Abdul Aziz used to say: I have never written any hadith.

Ibrahim (bin Yazid) said: I have never written any hadith.

Ibrahim said: I asked Ubaidah (ibn ‘Amr al-Salmani) for a piece of leather so that I could write on it, but he said: O Ibrahim! Do not keep any book with me (i.e., do not keep any written thing).

Ibrahim narrated these aforementioned words from Ubaidah.

Ibrahim disliked writing hadith in notebooks, and he used to say: This will become like the Mushaf.

Yahya said: I saw in my book that Ziyad al-Katib wrote: It is narrated from Abu Ma'shar, "Write as you wish."

It is narrated from Nu'man bin Qais that Ubaidah bin Amr, before his death, had his books brought to him and erased them, and also said: I fear that some people may find them and not place them in their proper context.

Mujahid (may Allah have mercy on him) disliked writing matters of knowledge in notebooks.

Imam Awza'i, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This knowledge remained strong as long as it was acquired orally from people, but when it began to be written in books, then unqualified people started to take it up or enter into it.

Yunus bin Ubaid said: Imam Hasan al-Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, used to write and have others write, while Imam Muhammad bin Sirin, may Allah have mercy on him, neither wrote nor had others write.

Ibrahim Taimi said: It was reported to Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that some people had a book upon which they prided themselves. Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) erased it and then said: The People of the Book before you were destroyed because they turned to the books of their scholars and abandoned the Book of their Lord.

Imam Muhammad bin Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) said to Ubaidah (bin Amr al-Salmani): May I write down what I hear from you? He replied: No. I said: If I find it written, may I read it? He replied: No.

Abu Nadrah said: I asked Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him), "Will you not write for us? We cannot memorize." He replied: "No, we will never write for you, nor will we let this written material become like the Qur'an. Yes, memorize the ahadith from us just as we used to memorize from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)."

It is narrated from Imam Awza'i, may Allah have mercy on him: I heard Abu Kathir say, he said: Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, used to say: Abu Hurairah neither writes nor has anything written.

It is narrated from Abu Burdah that he used to write down the hadith of his father. Abu Musa saw him doing this and erased it.

Quraysh bin Anas narrated that Ibn ‘Awn said to me: By Allah, I have never written any hadith. And Ibn ‘Awn said: Ibn Sirin, may Allah have mercy on him, also said: No, by Allah, I have never written any hadith.

Abdullah bin Awn said: Muhammad bin Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) said to me: It is narrated from our master Zaid bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) that Marwan bin Al-Hakam, who was the governor of Madinah, wanted me to write something for him, but I did not do so. The narrator said: The Amir (respected one) had a curtain placed between himself and the rest of the women of the household (the people of the house), then the governor’s (Marwan’s) companions came to him at that place and began to converse. Then Marwan turned to his companions and said: I think we have betrayed them. Then he turned to me (Zaid bin Thabit), and I said: What kind of betrayal? He said: I think we have betrayed you. I said: What is the matter? He said: We had ordered a man to sit behind that curtain and to write down whatever fatwa these people give and whatever you say.

Mansur (bin al-Mu'tamir) said: I said to Ibrahim that Salim (ibn Abi al-Ja'd) is more proficient than you in hadith. Ibrahim said: Because Salim used to write (the hadiths) down.

Amr bin Qais said: Upon the death of Sayyiduna Muawiyah (may Allah be pleased with him), I went with my father to offer condolences and congratulations for the caliphate to Yazid bin Muawiyah at Hawwarin. We saw that in his mosque, a man was saying: Beware! Among the signs of the Hour is that the wicked will be raised up and the good will be brought down. Listen! Among the signs of the Hour is that speech will be widespread and action will be preserved. Listen! Among the signs of the Hour is that the "Mathnaat" (secondary book) will be read and no one will change it. It was asked: What is this "Mathnaat"? He replied: Requesting to write a book other than the Qur'an. Therefore, hold fast to the Qur'an; through it you have been guided, through it you will be rewarded, and about it you will be questioned. I did not recognize who this man was. Then I narrated this hadith in Homs, and a man from the group said to me: Do you not know him? I said: No. He said: This was Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him).

Murrah Hamdani said that Abu Qurrah Kindi brought a book from Syria and handed it over to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him). He read the book, called for a plate and water, and washed it thoroughly, and said: The people before you were destroyed because they followed other books and abandoned their original book. It is narrated from Husayn: Murrah said: If it had been something from the Book and the Sunnah, Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) would not have erased it; it was a writing from the books of the People of the Book.

Yahya bin Ja'dah said: A written shoulder bone was brought to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). He (peace be upon him) said: "It is sufficient misguidance for a people that they show indifference to what their Prophet has brought, and turn to another Prophet instead of their own Prophet, or turn to another book instead of their own book." And in support of this, Allah the Exalted revealed this verse: «﴿أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِهِمْ أَنَّا أَنْزَلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ يُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَرَحْمَةً وَذِكْرَى لِقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ﴾» [عنكبوت: 51/29] "Is it not sufficient for them that We have sent down to you the Book which is recited to them? Indeed, in it is mercy and a reminder for a people who believe."

Ash'ath (ibn Abi al-Sha'tha) narrated from his father, who was among the students of Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), that I saw with a man a scroll in which something was written: «سبحان الله والحمد لله ولا إله إلا الله والله أكبر». I said: Write it for me as well, but he acted stingily, then he promised me that he would give me that scroll. Then I came to Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) and saw that same scroll was before him. He said: In this writing there is innovation, trial, and misguidance. It was things like this that destroyed those before you; they wrote it, their tongues relished it, and it settled in their hearts. So I urge every man that if he knows the place of any such book, he should inform me, and I make him swear. Shu'bah said: And he made them swear. The narrator said: I think he swore and said that if that book was in any place in India, which would be far from Kufa, I would reach there even if I had to go on foot.

Sayyiduna Abu Musa Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Children of Israel wrote a book, they followed it and abandoned the Torah.

Affan (bin Abdullah bin Mirdas al-Muharibi) narrated from his father (Abdullah) that I heard Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) saying: Indeed, some people listen to my words and then go and write them down, and I do not make it permissible for anyone to write anything except the Book of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.

Ibn Shubrumah said: I heard Imam Sha’bi, may Allah have mercy on him, say: I have never written black over white, and I have never requested any person to repeat a hadith to me.