History of Hadith and its Importance for

Muslims all over the World

The actions, sayings, and utterances of the Prophet Muhammad SAWW (PBUH) and his family are
hadith along with the actions. It inevitably follows the Holy Quran. They form the fundamentals of
Islam. Even in the Quran, Muslims are ordered to obey Prophet Muhammad’s SAWW. It is even said that
obeying him is equivalent to obeying Allah. Many verses can be used as an instance of the hadith and
Quran. Whatever prophet uttered was surely seen to be his command. But the problems started arising
when the context of both was mismatched at a point due to some mistakes in the process of collection of
hadith.
In this article, we shall discuss the history of hadith and its importance for Muslims all over the world.

History of Hadith

The transmission of hadith after the death of the Prophet was not certain like Quran. The Quran was
compiled and collected personally by the Prophet himself. He took every possible step to preserve it in the
best possible manner. He did not preserve the hadith the way he preserved the Quran because he
considered himself a normal human and not superior to anyone just because of being the Prophet.
Everything he received was a revelation. He carefully communicated it to the people without any
mistakes. When he did not receive revelation, he waited for it with patience and worshipped Allah
Almighty in the meantime.

Hadith Examples

Some of the common examples of hadith are here. On occasions, the Prophet concluded a prayer after
three rakahs instead of four, or he went through three instead of two that were required. Such lapses are
human. They might be due to dispensation. God has acclaimed the prophet as a “good example” for
mankind.

The fast is called ‘Wisal’ The duration of the fast instead of ending at the sunset of the same day is
extended and may last for two days or even more. The prophet emphatically told his followers to desist
from it. He advised them not to fast for twenty-four hours and suggested a breakfast before dawn.
Another example of hadith is here. He consulted people on mundane affairs that were not based on the
revelation. There is another instance about three dates. When he came to Madinah, the Prophet happened
to see that the pollens of the male flowers of the tree were being mixed with those of female flowers for
fertilization. He said that this method was wrong. He advised people t refrain from it. When they acted
upon this order the production of the dates declined. Some people came to the prophet and told him that
the yield of dates has been reduced due to a lack of pollination. The prophet replied

“You know these worldly matters better than I do.”

This statement of the prophet has status equal to that of the Quran which shows the real significance of
the hadith.

Importance of Hadith

The hadith is as much important as Quran. The only difference is that we do not have the same
impeccable proof of accuracy in the case of hadith as indeed we have for the Holy Quran which has been
preserved intact exactly in the same form as it existed fourteen hundred years ago in the days of the
Prophet (Peace be Upon Him).
Many sculptures similar to Quran are found in other religions and communities. The Jews have Torah.
Other nations also claim to possess revealed sculptures. But while we have examples of revealed books
corresponding to the Quran, we do not see an example corresponding to hadith. Something similar exists
in Buddhism but it does not enjoy the importance that we attach to the hadith.
The basic scripture of Buddhism is like the sayings of a saint collected by his disciples. But the hadith
have been collected and narrated by different persons.
This characteristic is conspicuous by its absence in other religions. The hadith is then, a branch of
knowledge whose equivalent is not to be found in their religions. Under this situation, we cannot make a
comparative study. What we can do is consult the history of traditions of the Prophet.

Who Wrote Hadith

There are many traditions in which the Prophet himself forbade writing down hadith. But there are many
traditions also in which it is clearly said that the prophet said to write down the hadith. How do we
reconcile the two statements/ Tis difficulty no longer exists?
Several companions have stated that it should not be written down but they do not attribute their statement
to the Prophet. We do not need to discuss the views of these companions but we have to take account of
those who suggest that the Prophet told them not to write down his traditions. These three companions are
important
i. Abu Hurayrah
ii. Zayd ibn Thabit
iii. Abu Saad al-Khudri
Experts of hadith have rejected the statements of Zayd and Abu
Hurayrah that are attributed to them. They say that the
intermediary narrators were not reliable because they have made
a mistake due to which their statements are not acceptable.
The statements of Abu Saad are only important from the point of view of the principles of hadith because,
in the Sahih Muslim which is an authentic collection, we find that the prophet himself said to erase the
collections which were written.
Professor Mustafa al-A'zmi who is an expert on hadith and has contributed an interesting piece of research
on the subject says that
“Imam Bukhari has rejected the tradition narrated in the Sahih of Muslims on the ground that it
was based on a misconception. This was the personal opinion of Abu Saad al-Khudri which for
some reason has been attributed by an intermediate narrator to the Prophet.”
No proof is available to confirm that the prophet has forbidden to write down the hadith. But if we assume
the prophet gave an order that might be related to some specific context, it is easy to clarify the confusion.
Still, the question arises that why the eminent companions of the prophet like Umar, Ali, and Abu-Bakr
did not write down any of the hadith of the Prophet. After the death of the prophet, Abu-Bakr devoted the
rest of his life of two and a half years to the compilation of the volume of hadith. It contained five
hundred traditions. The day he handed over the volume to his daughter, he stayed in the house of Aishah
and spent a sleepless night. Even Aishah thought that he had fallen ill. She did not dare to ask him even
the next morning. Ten Abu-Bakr asked his daughter to bring the book he had given to her. Then he
washed it away with the water.

It is clear that the process of collection of hadith had started during the life-time of the Prophet and
that additions too continued to be made. After the death of the prophet the number of companions
who considered it necessary to record their memoirs on this score increased. After his departure,
however, they felt the legacy, unless preserved, would be lost to posteriority. We come across the
mention of many a collection of this kind in the books on Hadith eg, Samurah ibn Jundub, Abd
Allah ibn Masud, Sad ibn Ubadah and many other companions. Ibn Hajr says

“It contains great knowledge.”

Of another collection, he says it was voluminous.