It is narrated in Sahih Muslim from Abu Saeed Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ”میری طرف سے نہ لکھو، اور جس شخص نے میری طرف سے قرآن مجيد کے علاوہ كچھ لكھا اسے مٹا دے”.
Reference: (Sahih Muslim: 3004)
Therefore, if Hadith were among the essential matters of religion, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would have commanded its writing and compilation just as he did with the Holy Quran, rather than ordering it to be erased!
In some previous responses, it has already been mentioned that the Prophet ﷺ commanded some companions to write down the blessed Hadiths. So, while we find this Hadith which suggests that Hadiths should not be written, there are many other Hadiths about writing which are absolutely clear, some of which are as follows:
First Point
➊ Abu Hurairah رضي الله تعالى عنه narrates that when Allah تعالى granted the Prophet ﷺ the conquest of Makkah, the Prophet ﷺ stood among the people and after praising and glorifying Allah تعالى, delivered a sermon. Then a man from the people of Yemen named Abu Shah stood up and said, "O Prophet ﷺ, write this for me." The Prophet ﷺ said, "Write for Abu Shah."
Reference: (Sahih Bukhari: 2254, Sahih Muslim: 1355)
➋ Abdullah bin Amr رضي الله عنهما says, "I used to write down every hadith I heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to memorize it, but the people of Quraysh forbade me from writing and said: 'Do you write down everything you hear from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ? He is a human being; he speaks in anger and happiness.' So I stopped writing. Then I mentioned this to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he pointed with his finger towards his mouth and said: ”لکھا کرو، قسم اس ذات کی جس کے ہاتھ میں میری جان ہے اس سے حق بات کے سوا کچھ نہیں نکلتا“."
Reference: (Sunan Abu Dawood: 3646)
➌ Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه was heard saying that among the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, no one narrated more hadith than Abdullah bin Amr رضي الله عنهما except me. However, he used to write them down, and I did not write.
Reference: (Sahih Bukhari: 113)
The mentioned hadith explicitly commands writing and is clear evidence that the noble companions used to write hadith.
Second Point
Various scholars have given different explanations of the mentioned hadith, some of which are as follows:
◄ In this hadith, writing the Quran and hadith together in one sheet (notebook) was prohibited so that the Quran and hadith would not be confused with each other.
◄ The prohibition of writing hadith was for those who could not distinguish between the Quran and hadith, and permission was for those who could differentiate between the two.
◄ The prohibition was for the time when there was suspicion of mixing with the Holy Quran, and when that suspicion was removed, permission to write was given, and indeed a clear command was also given.
Reference: (See: Sharh Muslim by An-Nawawi 18/129, Fath al-Bari by Ibn Hajar 1/208)
Third Point
The blessed letters of the Prophet ﷺ that you sent to the chiefs or had written and sent to some appointed governors among the Companions, in which certain commands were mentioned
Reference: (such as: Kitab al-Sadaqah, the letter of Hazrat Amr bin Hazm)
, are clear evidence of the writing of Hadith.Fourth Point
If the ruling mentioned in the cited Hadith was a complete prohibition on writing Hadith, then how did this Hadith reach us? Therefore, the mentioned Hadith itself is clear evidence of the writing of Hadith.
Fifth Point
The letters of the noble Companions, may Allah be pleased with them all, are clear evidence of the writing of Hadith, among which the foremost is "صحيفہ صادقہ”, which was written by Hazrat Abdullah bin Amr bin Al-As. Similarly, the letter of Hazrat Ali, as found in Sahih Bukhari:
Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, stood on a pulpit made of bricks and delivered a sermon. He was carrying a sword on which a scroll was hanging. He said: By Allah! We have no book other than the Book of Allah to read, except for this scroll. Then he opened it, and it contained a description of the ages of the camels to be given as blood money.
Reference: (Sahih Bukhari: 7300)
Sixth Point
The protection of anything does not depend solely on writing, but one of the means of protection is also memorization. Among the established characteristics of the Arabs, their memory is noteworthy, and that is why most of their reliance was on it.
