Tirmidhi

1:
Abu Hurairah bin Abdur Rahman bin Sakhr radi Allahu anhu did not feel the need to write because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had supplicated for goodness and blessing in his knowledge, due to which his chest itself became a register of memorization and retention. Imam Dhahabi rahimahullah, while writing about the life of Abu Hurairah radi Allahu anhu in "Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala" (Volume 2, pages 594 and 595), has stated: (The extraordinary memorization of Abu Hurairah radi Allahu anhu was among the miracles of Prophethood...) Abu Hurairah radi Allahu anhu’s memory... the great capacity to memorize a vast collection of hadith and the Qur’an... was an extraordinary miracle among the miracles of Prophethood.

Then, taking this phrase as a heading, Imam Dhahabi rahimahullah has transmitted the ahadith recorded in Abu Nu‘aym’s (al-Hilyah), and, passing judgment on them, has written: (Its narrators are trustworthy). Among these ahadith is one in which the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam asked Abu Hurairah: "Abu Hurairah! Do you not ask me for anything from the spoils of war, from which your companions keep asking me?" I replied: (I ask you to teach me from what Allah has taught you) — I only ask you, O Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, to teach me as much as possible from the knowledge of the Qur’an and Sunnah that Allah has taught you.

So, in response to my request, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam took off the upper garment with white and black stripes that I was wearing and spread it between us. He spread this garment so well that it was as if I could clearly see even an ant walking on it. Then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam began narrating ahadith to me, until when I had acquired the entire blessed hadith from him, he said: (Gather it and draw it to yourself) — "Collect this garment and pull it towards yourself" (i.e., wrap it over yourself). So I did so, and after that, in terms of memory, I became such that whatever the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam narrated to me from his blessed hadith, not a single letter would be lost from me.

(The words of Abu Hurairah: (fa-asbahtu laa asqutu harfan haddathani) — see: al-Hilyah: 1/381 — ahadith of exactly this meaning are also found in Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of Sales and Book of Agriculture, hadith 2350, and Sahih Muslim, Book of the Virtues of the Companions, Chapter: Among the Virtues of Abu Hurairah radi Allahu anhu al-Dawsi, hadith 2492.)

Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah has established in (Majmu‘at al-Watha’iq al-Siyasiyyah li-l-‘Ahd al-Nabawi wa-l-Khilafah al-Rashidah) that the manuscript of ahadith written by the hand of Hammad bin Munabbih rahimahullah still exists today in a well-known library of the world, and that this manuscript has also been published from Hyderabad Deccan.