This excerpt is taken from the book by Fazilat-ul-Sheikh Abdul Salam Rustami From Denial of Hadith to Denial of Quran.
Second Doubt
Attributing the prohibition of writing hadith and burning them to various Companions of the Prophet (PBUH) regarding this,
❀ First Evidence: Parvez Sahib writes that Imam Dhahabi wrote in Tadhkirat al-Huffaz that Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) had compiled a collection of five hundred hadiths. One night he was very hesitant and disturbed about it, and finally, at dawn, he took it and burned it in the fire. Obviously, what could be a more authentic collection than this, but Siddiq Akbar (may Allah be pleased with him) considered keeping it as contrary to piety, fearing that perhaps some incorrect narration had been included in it.
Reference: Maqam-e-Hadith, p. 91
Answer:
(1) The chain of narration of this incident is not authentic because Ali bin Saleh is unknown in status.
Reference: Taqreeb al-Tahdheeb: 696/1
Muhammad bin Musa is unreliable.
Reference: Lisan al-Mizan: 394/5
And regarding Musa bin Abdullah, Imam Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him, criticized with the words ”فيه نظر“ "this is questionable."
Reference: Lisan al-Mizan: 160/6
(2) Even if this incident is assumed to be authentic, then not writing down hadiths or forbidding writing them does not contradict the authority of hadith because the preservation of hadiths also occurs through memorization, and Abu Bakr Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, also memorized them. This is why hundreds of narrations of Abu Bakr Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, are present in the hadith books.
❀ Second argument: Parvez Sahib claims that Umar Farooq, may Allah be pleased with him, refrained from writing hadiths after performing Istikhara (seeking guidance). He writes: Urwah bin Zubair, may Allah be pleased with him, narrates that Umar Farooq, may Allah be pleased with him, once expressed a desire to have the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ written down, consulted the companions, then for a month prayed and performed Istikhara from Allah. Eventually, he abandoned this intention and said that the earlier nations were destroyed because they wrote down the sayings of their prophets, then followed those instead of Allah’s Book.
Reference: Maqam al-Hadith, p. 92
The answer to this is:
➊ This narration is without a chain of narration; it is Parvez Sahib’s responsibility to establish its chain. Until the chain is established, what kind of argument is this?
Nevertheless, Umar Farooq, may Allah be pleased with him, while ordering writing, said:
”قيدوا العلم بالكتاب“
“Write down knowledge (Quran and hadith) and preserve it.”
Reference: Jami’ Bayan al-‘Ilm: 72/1
If Umar Farooq’s incident is assumed correct, then its explanation is that perhaps initially Umar Farooq, may Allah be pleased with him, was not advised by his companions and did not write hadiths by his own ijtihad, and later he heard hadiths about permitting writing or his companions advised him to write hadiths, so he withdrew his ijtihad and ordered writing hadiths.
➋ The prohibition of writing hadiths does not negate the authority of hadith. The muhaddithin have narrated 539 hadiths from Umar Farooq, may Allah be pleased with him.
❀ Third argument: Parvez wrote: “Just as Farooq Azam, may Allah be pleased with him, was strict in preventing the narration of hadith, similarly he was strict in writing hadith. When hadiths increased during his era, he announced that people should bring their written hadiths to him, then he took all those hadiths and burned them and said, ‘Do you want the “Muthanna Nabawi” like the People of the Book?’ (The Jews collected the narrations of their prophets and called it “Muthanna Nabawi”).”
Answer:
➊ This narration is not authentic, it is disconnected, not continuous. This narration cannot be compared to those narrations transmitted from Umar Farooq (may Allah be pleased with him) regarding the writing of Hadith.
➋ Umar Farooq (may Allah be pleased with him) had a book of Hadith written which was passed down among his descendants.
Reference: Al-Muwatta, p. 109
Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) himself read that book. Imam Dar Qutni (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote that Umar bin Abdul Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) had a copy of that book made and acted upon it.
Reference: Sunan ad-Dar Qutni, p. 210
➌ Furthermore, even if it were proven that Umar Farooq (may Allah be pleased with him) burned it, still burning written Hadith does not prove their lack of authenticity because Umar Farooq (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated hundreds of Hadith, and this is evidence of the authenticity of Hadith.
❀ Fourth evidence: Parvez Sahib wrote: "Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said that Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said in his sermon that I make a covenant with every person who has written Hadith that after leaving here, they should erase it because previous nations were destroyed for this reason that they followed the narrations of their scholars and abandoned the Book of Allah."
Reference: Maqam al-Hadith, p. 92
Answer:
➊ The deniers of Hadith quote this and other similar narrations from the chapter ”كراهية كتابة العلم“ of ”جامع بيان العلم“, and that chapter is not reliable in this regard because it contains many weak and fabricated narrations. Especially in the chain of this narration of Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, Jabir Jaafi, a liar narrator, is present. In contrast, Imam Ibn Abdul Barr, may Allah have mercy on him, himself has mentioned twice as many narrations in favor of the writing of Hadith in the ”باب الرخصة فى كتابة العلم“ of this book, so why do the deniers of Hadith not look at those chapters?
➋ In the chapter on the preservation of Hadith, we wrote that Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, himself wrote a scroll of Hadith during the Prophetic era, which contained numerous issues of blood money, retribution, and zakat and alms. That scroll remained with him until the last moments of his life and after his death, it came into the custody of his son Muhammad bin Hanfiyyah, may Allah be pleased with him.
➌ Moreover, the Muhaddithin have narrated 586 narrations of Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, in their Musnad books.
➍ Furthermore, Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, announced from the pulpit that is there anyone who can buy a sheet of paper for one dirham so that I may have the Hadith written for you. Harith Awwar, may Allah have mercy on him, quickly brought the paper and you wrote the Hadith.
Reference: Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra by Ibn Saad: 168/6
❀ Fifth Evidence: Parvez Sahib wrote that Abu Nadhrah asked Abu Saeed Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, whether the Hadith we hear from your tongue should be written down? He said: Do you want to make them into a Mushaf?
Reference: Maqam al-Hadith, p. 93
Answer:
It is true that Abu Saeed Khudri رضي الله عنه, from whom Imam Muslim رحمه الله نقل a narration about not writing hadith, was an advocate of not writing hadith. However, this does not mean that, in his view, hadith was not authoritative, because Abu Saeed Khudri رضي الله عنه used to always say that just as we memorized the hadiths orally, you should also memorize them in the same way. Accordingly, he also said this at the end:
”خذوا عنا كما أخذنا عن رسول الله“
"Take hadiths from us just as we took them from the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم."
Reference: Al-Mustadrak al-Hakim: 564/3
That is, he encouraged memorizing hadith, and the muhaddithin have narrated 1170 hadiths from him.
❀ Sixth Evidence: Parvez wrote: "In Sunan Abu Dawood, Book of Knowledge, Hadith: 3647, it is mentioned that once Zaid bin Thabit رضي الله عنه, the scribe of revelation, went to Amir Muawiyah رضي الله عنه. The Amir asked him a hadith. When Zaid bin Thabit رضي الله عنه narrated it, he ordered someone to write it down. Zaid bin Thabit رضي الله عنه erased it and said that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم ordered that your hadiths should not be written."
Reference: Maqam al-Hadith, p. 91
It is further written: "Zaid bin Thabit رضي الله عنه narrates that the Caliph Marwan called him and there he saw some people writing hadiths. He said to them, 'It is possible that the narration as you have been told may not be exactly as it is.'"
Reference: Maqam al-Hadith, p. 93
The same answer applies here as given before: Zaid bin Thabit رضي الله عنه was among those companions who preferred not to write hadith but rather preferred oral memorization. This was an incident from the early period; after that, there was a consensus among the companions on the permissibility and recommendation of writing hadith.
Reference: Fath al-Bari: 204/1, under Hadith: 111
Moreover, the muhaddithin have narrated 92 hadiths from Zaid bin Thabit رضي الله عنه with chains in various books, thus proving that he also accepted hadith as authoritative but preferred memorization over writing.
❀ Seventh Evidence: Parvez Sahib also mentioned narrations from Abdullah bin Masood رضي الله عنه, Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما, and Imam Awza'i رحمه الله, who were also advocates of prohibiting the writing of hadith.
Reference: Maqam al-Hadith, pp. 94, 93
The same answer applies here as previously given, and despite this, 848 hadiths have been transmitted from Abdullah bin Masood رضي الله عنه and 2660 from Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما.
