etc.” (4) `Umar Collected And Set Fire To The Sahabah’s...

etc.” (4) `Umar Collected And Set Fire To The Sahabah’s Records Of Hadith The Sahabah did not comply with or carry out Abu-Bakr’s instructions of stopping recording the Hadith in the same way as they had not been influenced by the event that he had set fire to his own book of Hadith; rather the majority of the Sahabah kept many books of Hadith and this matter was not welcomed by `Umar since the existence of such books would prevent the caliph from achieving his will.

`Umar therefore ordered these books to be collected before him. Firstly, the Sahabah thought that `Umar wanted to check these documents and books and then decide the most authentic among them. Nevertheless, they were surprised when he set fire to them all! As a matter of fact, this process of burning such books and documents was for the reason that they comprised materials that would act as official documents against `Umar and as clear evidences on ascribing mistakes to him.

In order to avoid the occurrence of such matters of bad results, `Umar decided to wipe out these documents. As another motive, the records that belong to the first age of Islam and that were written down by one of the Sahabah enjoyed such an effective value that could refute the ruler’s opinion. Accordingly, a Hadith that is found in a written form cannot be opposed or ascribed to forgery.

The reporting of Hadith, on the other hand, can be opposed by another Hadith that is immediately fabricated without exerting huge efforts. For that reason, the ruling authorities allowed the reporting but disallowed the recordation of the Hadith.

Some authors have argued that the permissibility of reporting the Hadith and the impermissibility of recording it was because a sect of the Jews had believed that the religious heritage should be recorded while the opposite sect had believed that it should be memorized.

In addition, in view of the fact that Ka`b al-Ahbar and Wahab ibn Munabbih were intimate counselors of `Umar, it is likely that he was influenced by their opinions as regards the reporting and recordation of the Hadith, since he needed to keep a tight rein on some of the reports from the Holy Prophet. The best treatment of this issue would be to separate between the two.

It has been narrated that `Umar, once, asked Ka`b al-Ahbar about the origin of poetry, and the latter answered, “Some of the descendants of Isma`il (Prophet Ishmael) would have their Gospels (i.e.