COMPILATION OF HADITH
 Introduction (definition+approval+importance
The companions of Holy Prophet were found collecting Hadith of the Holy Prophet (sayings,
actions and silent approvals)
They were really careful in compiling them as they were aware that Hadith is the second
source of Islamic law. The Holy Quran says in this regard “O, you who believe obey Allah and
obey The Messenger”. The Holy Quran also emphasized on the importance of Hadith in the
following words “He Muhammad does not speak anything by his own will…”
The companions preserved Hadith in different ways
1. Memorization
2. Implementation
3. By writing them down
Initially Holy Prophet (PBUH) did not allow compilation of Hadith as he feared that Muslims
might mix the verses of Hadith with Quran. However later on when He (PBUH) became
confident he allowed them to compile the Hadith as the companions were able to distinguish
between the two.
Some of the companions wrote down the Hadith e.g Hazrat Abdullah bin Amr. Someone told
him not to write down each and everything stated by the Holy Prophet (PBUH) as he (PBUH)
came to know of this he said “By God! Who owns my like nothing comes out of my mouth
except the truth therefore you should write it down without hesitation”. Thus this shows that
Hadith were meant to be written down.
“Those who are present convey my message to those who are absent.” Thus this shows that
Hadith were to be compiled for future generations.pp
 Stage 1:
The prominent companions who compiled the Hadith of Holy Prophet are as following:
 Hazrat Ayesha:
 Wife of Holy Prophet (PBUH)
 Daughter of Hazrat Abu Bakr
 She narrated 2210 Hadith
 She was a great critique of badly narrated Hadith
 Hazrat Abu Hurairah:
 He converted to Islam late during the lifetime of Holy Prophet during Madina
 He used to spend long hours in the company of Holy Prophet (PBUH)
 He narrated 5300 Hadith
 Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar:
 Son of Hazrat Isa
 He narrated more than 2000 Hadith
 The prominent compilations of this era are as following
o Saheefa-e-Sadiqa (compilation by Hazrat Abdullah bin Amr)
o Saheefa-e-Ali (diary of Hazrat Ali)
o Saheefa-e-Amr(compilation regarding pillars of Islam)
 Stage 2:
During the time of the rightly guided caliphs the muslims empire had spread far and
wide and so the companions settled in different parts of the muslim empire. These
companions established their own religious centres so that the muslims of that area
could be educated regarding Quran and Hadith. It was during this time that Hazrat
Bashir made a compilation of Ahadith. Hazrat Urwah and Hazrat Nafay compiled the
hadith narrated by Hazrat Ayesha. Hazrat Oban compiled Hadith narrated by Hazrat
Anas. The student of Hazrat Abbas also compiled Hadith narrated by Hazrat Anas. The
students of Hazrat Abbas also compiled Hadith narrated by Hazrat Abbas. The sucessors
of the companions not only travelled long distances to collect the Hadith but also write
them down.
The Hadith were compiled in two ways musnad and musanaf collections. Musnad
collections are compiled according to the name of the first narrator of Hadith e.g
Musnad collections are compiled according to the name of the first narrator Hazrat
Ayesha etc. The most important Musnad collections of the time was compiled by Imam
Ahmed bin Humble who was the founder of Hanbuli school of thought and compiled
30,000 Hadith.
Musanad collections are the ones that are compiled according to the theme
e.g musanad by Abdul Razaq and Manatha by Abdul Mawatha who was the founder of
Malaika school of thought and compiled 2000 legal texts. During the timeof Ummayah
Caliph,Hazrat Umar 2 a lot of research was done on Hadith. He also established a
committee of scholars to do research on Hadith for example Imam Sahab, Imam
Makbool and Imam Muhammad bin Muslim. The prominent compilations of the era
were Jam’a by Sufyan Hauri and kitab ul Aasar by Imam Abu Hanifa who was the
founder of Hanali School of thought
Then came the climax of Hadith. When the Imam Bukhari started compiling Hadith 200
years after the death of Holy Prophet. They soon realized that there were so many
Hadith in circulation that it became difficult to distinguish between the right and wrong.
In order to solve this problem and to check the authencity of hadith they made rules of
Isnad (chain of narrators) and rules of Matn(the actual text of the hadith). According to
the rules of Isnad they made sure that every individual in the chain was honest and
upright. They also made sure that the chain was complete and unbroken.
Each Hadith was checked with the rules of Isnad and Matn e.g Imam Bukhari collected
600,000 Hadith and after application of rules of Isnad and Matn he only mentioned
7,397 Hadith means that his collection consists of almost 3,000 Hadith and after
application of rules of Isnad and Matn he mentioned around 12,000 Hadith in his
collection. The compilers of Hadith were very careful as they knew that it was the
second source of Islamic law and they would be answerable for it on the day of
judgement.
The books of Imam Bukhari and his contemperories are called Sihah-al-sitta or the six
authentics
1. Sahih by Imam Bukhari
2. Sahih by Imam Muslim
3. Sunan by Abu Daud
4. Sunan by Ibn Majah
5. Sunan by Nasaj
6. Jam’a Timzi by Imam Timidhi
All these books are musanaf collections as the Hadith in them have been arranged in their
chapters according totheir theme e.g a separate chapter of Hadith of prayer and a separate
chapter for Hadith of Fasting irrespective of their narrator. Most of the books of Hadith were
later compiled with the help of six authentics.