ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Prohibition of Recording the Hadith, Causes and Effects General Summary Two major issues can be inferred from the abovementioned discussions: First Issue The warning against writing down the Hadith was not legal; and all the narrations that are ascribed to the Holy Prophet in this respect have been totally forgeries.

Actually, the decision of the prohibition of recording the Hadith was originated from a political situation adopted by `Umar ibn al-Khattab and the rulers who came to power after him (of course, except Imam `Ali ibn Abi-Talib). It was natural that false Hadiths had been fabricated for the sake of justifying `Umar’s attitudes towards the reporting and recordation of the Hadith.

If there had been authenticated narrations revealing that the Holy Prophet had warned against and prohibited from writing down his heritage and Hadiths and the Muslims had known about such Prophetic decisions, Abu-Bakr would not have written down five hundred Hadiths that he had received from people that he trusted; and he would not have sent a message comprising the sayings of the Holy Prophet about the rulings of the almsgiving and other topics to `Amr ibn al-`Ās and Anas ibn Malik; and `Umar ibn al-Khattab would not have summoned the Sahabah so as to discuss with them and seek their advices concerning the question of writing down the Hadith and they then advised him to carry out; and he would not have ordered the people to bring him all the papers and books in which they had recorded the Hadith...

etc. All these facts indicate and prove the legality of writing down the Hadith. Later on, I will present a detailed thesis about the jurisprudential trend of the Sahabah who kept the Holy Sunnah in written form, the Ansar, and the Sahabah who participated in the battles led by Imam `Ali ibn Abi-Talib. Such a thesis will expose how these Sahabah had disagreed to the trend of the ruling authorities who prohibited recording the Sunnah.

In addition, these Sahabah and Ansar supported the trend of the thorough compliance with the sacred texts. After the second caliph, namely `Umar ibn al-Khattab, had been acquainted with the existence of records comprising the traditions of the Holy Prophet with the Sahabah, he ordered them to bring these records to him. While they had believed that the caliph just wanted to investigate these records and choose the most authentic among them, a surprise was waiting for them!