If anyone inquires about what the Prophet (S) said in regard to any matter...

If anyone inquires about what the Prophet (S) said in regard to any matter, tell him that the Book of God is sufficient for all purposes .”[^2] Abu Bakr is also reported to have burnt a book containing a collection of the sayings of the Prophet (S) declaring that the traditions are irrelevant, redundant, and unnecessary as Muslims had the Qur’an for their guidance.[^3] Umar, during his Caliphate stringently enforced the edict by adding that if traditions were narrated, people would abandon the Qur’an.[^4] So fierce was Umar in enforcing the prohibition that for narrating Hadith, he sent to prison ibn Mas’ud, Abu ad-Darda, and Abu Mas’ud al-Ansari who were all noted companions of the Prophet (S).[^5] Umar proclaimed that anybody found narrating any tradition should be beheaded forthwith.

A shallow reason touted for the stringent prohibition was that different people narrated different traditions which was likely to cause confusion. However, no explanation is given as to why the method followed by the three caliphs in collecting the Qur’an was not adopted for collecting the Hadith.

Quraidha ibn Ka’b says that Umar accompanied the army proceeding towards Iraq for some distance and said, “ The chief reason for my accompanying you is that since you are going to foreign lands where they recite the Qur’an in a buzzing voice like bees, I want to tell you not to mention the Prophet’s Hadith to them, lest their recital of the Qur’an might be interrupted. Stop at the Qur’an; abstain from relating the Hadith of the Prophet (S).

I am with you in this matter .” Due to this injunction, when people inquired about the sayings of the Prophet (S), Quraidha used to say that Umar had prohibited everyone from relating any tradition.[^6] All the three caliphs, Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman prohibited the narration, recording, and reference to any tradition*.* Anybody contravening these orders was subjected to heavy penalties and severe punishment such as whipping, imprisonment, and even banishment.

Thus, all the sayings of the Prophet (S) in any manner relating or referring to Imam Ali (a.s.), were effectively stifled and consigned only to the memory of a few close companions of the Prophet (S) or in rare books secretly written and well hidden. Despite this, Imam Ali’s exegesis, sermons, sayings, letters, and directions issued to his governors, forming the back-bone of the earliest Islamic literature, were zealously preserved by his Shia and are available even today.