This excerpt is taken from the book by Fazilat-ul-Sheikh Abdul Salam Rustami From Denial of Hadith to Denial of Quran.
Doubts of the Deniers of Hadith and Their Answers
In the previous chapters, some of their doubts have also been answered, but in this chapter, detailed answers are being given so that those unfamiliar with the Quran and Sunnah may avoid their confusions and distortions. The doubts of the deniers of Hadith are as follows:
First Doubt: Narrations Regarding the Prohibition of Writing Hadith
The deniers of Hadith have greatly emphasized this objection and have committed intellectual dishonesty by not mentioning those hadiths in which the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, permitted the writing of hadiths in order to prove their stance. We have already explained the preservation of hadith through the writing of hadith. The deniers of hadith rely on the following hadith regarding the prohibition of writing hadith, which is narrated from Abu Saeed Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said:
”لا تكتبوا عني، ومن كتب عني غير القرآن فليمحه، وحدثوا عني، ولا حرج، ومن كذب على متعمدا فليتبوأ مقعده من النار“
"Do not write anything from me except the Qur'an. Whoever has written anything from me other than the Qur'an, let him erase it. But narrate hadiths from me; there is no harm in that. (Listen) Whoever deliberately lies upon me, let him prepare his place in Hell."
Reference: Sahih Muslim, Al-Zuhd, Chapter on Verification in Hadith, Hadith: 3004
In another narration, this hadith is as follows: Abu Saeed Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, states that we used to sit and write down what we heard from the Prophet, peace be upon him. One day the Prophet, peace be upon him, came to us and said:
”لما هذا تكتبون؟“ فقلنا : ما نسمع منك، فقال: ”أكتاب مع كتاب الله؟ أمحضوا كتاب الله وأخلصوه“
"What are you writing?" We said: We write what we hear from you. He said: "Is there any book other than the Book of Allah? Write only the pure Book of Allah."
Abu Saeed Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, states: We gathered what we had written in a field and then burned it.
Reference: Musnad Ahmad: 12/3 Hadith: 11108, and Majma' al-Zawa'id al-'Ilm, Chapter on Writing Knowledge, Hadith: 672
Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, states: We were writing hadiths when the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, came to us and said:
”اما هذا الذى تكتبون؟“ قلنا: أحاديث نسمعها منك قال: ”كتاب غير كتاب الله، أتدرون ما ضل أمم قبلكم إلا بما اكتبوا من الكتب مع كتاب الله“
"What are you writing?" We said: These are the hadiths we hear from you. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "Is there any book other than the Book of Allah? Do you know that people before you were led astray only because they wrote other books along with the Book of Allah?"
Reference: Taqyeed al-'Ilm by Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi: 34,33/1
The deniers of hadith try to prove based on these very narrations that the Prophet, peace be upon him, forbade writing hadiths and said: Do not preserve hadiths lest people begin to consider hadiths as authoritative evidence.
Answers
➊ If the prohibition of writing Hadith is established from the mentioned Ahadith, then there are also Ahadith that prove the permission of writing Hadith. Thus, a difference of opinion arose regarding the permission and prohibition of writing Hadith. Therefore, it is now the responsibility of the scholars to try to resolve this contradiction, and the scholars have done so, as mentioned here. The deniers of Hadith only look at the first type (prohibition) of Ahadith and do not even mention the second type (permission). This is outright scholarly betrayal.
➋ When the deniers of Hadith do not consider Ahadith as proof, then why do they use Ahadith to prove the prohibition of writing Hadith?
➌ Imam Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him, has classified the Hadith narrated from Abu Saeed Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, as Mauquf (stopped at the companion).
Reference: Tareekh al-Hadith wa al-Muhadditheen, p. 212
Whereas the Ahadith permitting writing are Marfoo’ (attributed to the Prophet). Then why do they use Mauquf narrations instead of Marfoo’ Hadith to argue?
➍ Even assuming both types of Ahadith have equal status, then according to the deniers of Hadith, how is the conclusion drawn that the Prophet, peace be upon him, forbade writing Hadith so that the Ahadith would not remain preserved and authoritative, but rather other wisdoms behind the prohibition of writing are intended, which will be explained later.
➎ At the end of the Hadith narrated from Abu Saeed Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him,
”حدثوا عني ولا حرج“
“Convey Hadith from me; there is no harm in that.”
Reference: Sahih Muslim, Al-Zuhd, Chapter on Verification in Hadith, Hadith: 3004
From this statement of the Prophet, peace be upon him, it is established that transmitting and conveying his Ahadith is the duty of the Ummah. If the purpose of prohibiting writing Hadith was as the deniers of Hadith claim, then there would be contradiction and inconsistency between the first and last parts of this Hadith, whereas contradiction in speech is a sign of madness, and the speech of the Prophet, peace be upon him, is free from this.
➏ When there is contradiction in narrations, the noble Muhaddithin try to reconcile and apply them so that no text remains neglected. The Muhaddithin have presented three types of explanations here. The first explanation is narrated by Imam Khattabi, may Allah have mercy on him:
”إنه إنما نهى أن يكتب الحديث مع القرآن فى صحيفة واحدة لئلا يختلط به ويشبه على القاري فأما أن يكون نفس الكتاب محظورا وتقييد العلم بالخط منهيا عنه فلا“
“The Prophet, peace be upon him, forbade writing Hadith and Quran on the same page so that the reader would not be confused or mistaken. As for the prohibition of writing Hadith or recording knowledge, there is no such thing.”
Reference: Ma’alim al-Sunan by Khattabi, Knowledge, Chapter on Writing Knowledge, under Hadith: 1450
That is, the Prophet, peace be upon him, did not absolutely forbid writing Hadith but forbade writing Quran and Hadith together in one place so that they would not be mixed up. The evidence for this explanation is that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:
”أمحضوا كتاب الله وأخلصوه“
“Keep the Book of Allah pure and free from mixture.”
Reference: Musnad Ahmad: 12/3, Majma’ al-Zawa’id: 151/1, Hadith: 672
From this Hadith, it is established that the reason for the prohibition of writing Hadith was explained by the Prophet himself. In refutation of this explanation, Parvez Sahib wrote:
If the purpose of the Prophet, peace be upon him, was that Quran and Hadith should not be mixed, then he could have said to write them separately; therefore, the explanation of the Muhaddithin is not correct.
Reference: Maqam al-Hadith, p. 89
Parvez Sahib’s statement is completely based on ignorance. The Muhaddithin have explained the true meaning of the Prophet’s command because the command “أمحضوا كتاب الله وأخلصوه” (Keep the Book of Allah pure and free from mixture) is clear evidence of this.
The second explanation: The Ahadith prohibiting writing are abrogated because the Prophet, peace be upon him, in the famous Hadith of the paper (Hadith al-Qirtas), in the state of illness before death, said: Bring me something so that I may write for you something, but due to the disagreement of the Companions, it was not written, but whatever he wanted to write, he conveyed by his blessed tongue.
Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Knowledge, Chapter on Writing Knowledge, Hadith: 114
The third explanation: This explanation is close to the second, that is, the Prophet, peace be upon him, initially forbade writing Hadith, but some Companions thought that the reason for the prohibition was that sometimes the Prophet was in a state of anger or rage, and such Hadith might not be included in his good example. But the Prophet, peace be upon him, removed this doubt by saying to Abdullah bin Amr bin Al-As, may Allah be pleased with them both:
”اكتب فوالذي نفسي بيده! ما يخرج منه إلا حق“
“Write, by the One in Whose hand is my soul! Nothing but the truth comes from this mouth.”
Reference: Sunan Abi Dawood, Knowledge, Chapter on Writing Knowledge, Hadith: 3646
The Emergence of Islam's Acknowledgment Regarding the Documentation of Hadith
Parvez Sahib has written: "From the traditions, it is evident that besides the Holy Quran, some miscellaneous things were recorded according to the sayings of the Prophet ﷺ, such as: those written agreements, orders, and decrees which the Prophet ﷺ sent to tribes or his agents. But what has been known so far in this regard is only that at the time of the Prophet’s ﷺ death, the following written records were present:
➊ A register containing the names of fifteen hundred companions (Bukhari, Al-Jihad, Chapter on Writing the Imam of the People)
➋ Honorable letters which the Prophet ﷺ wrote to kings and princes: (various authentic books) Some hadiths which Abdullah bin Amr bin As رضي الله عنهما or Anas رضي الله عنه had personally recorded. (Musnad Ahmad)
Reference: Maqam al-Hadith, p. 10
Hafiz Aslam writes: "The Muhaddithin have also used some narrations as evidence for transmission, for example: in the narration of Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه it is mentioned that whatever I heard from the Prophet ﷺ, I used to write it down. Also, Abdullah bin Amr bin As رضي الله عنهما has a statement regarding this that he used to write. Similarly, there is a narration that a man from Yemen named Abu Shah requested to have the Prophet’s ﷺ sermon written down, and the Prophet ﷺ had it written. But these things will be counted among the exceptions."
Reference: Maqam al-Hadith, p. 91
See, the teacher has only established three things and this number is incorrect. It is not proven from Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه that "I used to listen and write," this is an addition by Hafiz Aslam, therefore only two things have been established. Whereas the student (Parvez) has included the register of fifteen hundred companions, written agreements and decrees, as well as Abdullah bin Amr رضي الله عنهما, Ali رضي الله عنه, and Anas رضي الله عنه among the hadiths of the Prophet ﷺ. Here, a disagreement has also arisen between the teacher and the student. This is their stubbornness and the bad effect of denying hadith.
