By: Dr. Mohammed Hamidullah
Official documents
- There is a part of the Hadith in which its very nature required that it should be written down, namely, the official documents of the Prophet.
- From a passage of the Ta’rikh of at-Tabari, it appears that when the Muslims of Mecca, persecuted by their compatriots, went to Abyssinia for refuge, the Prophet gave them a letter of recommendation addressed to the Negus. There are some other documents likewise written by him before the Hijrah, but when he left his native town to settle in Madinah and found invested in himself the state authority, the number and subject matter of his letters increased from day to day.
- Shortly after his arrival in Madinah, he succeeded in establishing there a city-state which was composed both of the Muslim and non-Muslim inhabitants. He then endowed that state with a written constitution, wherein he mentioned, in a precise manner, the rights and duties of the head of the state and its subjects. He also laid down provisions regarding the functioning of this organisation. This document has come down to us. The Prophet also delineated, in writing, the frontiers of this city-state. About the same time, he ordered a written census of the entire Muslim population, and al-Bukhari says the returns showed 1,500 individual registries.
- Moreover, there were treaties of alliance and of peace settled with many Arab tribes. Sometimes two copies of the treaty were prepared and each party kept one. Letters-patent were awarded which extended protection to submitting chieftains and confirmed their previous proprietary rights on land and water resources, etc. With the extension of the Islamic state, naturally there was a certain amount of correspondence with provincial governors for communicating new laws and other administrative dispositions, for revising certain judicial or administrative decisions emanating from private initiative of officials, for replying to questions set by these officials to the central government, and regarding taxes, etc.
- There were also missionary letters sent to different sovereigns which invited them to embrace Islam. Some dispatches were to tribal chieftains in Arabia, emperors of Byzantium and Iran, the Negus of Abyssinia among others.
- For every military expedition volunteers were raised and written lists were maintained. Captured booty was listed in detail to enable an equitable distribution among the members of the expeditionary force.
- Also the liberation, as well as purchase and sale of slaves, seems to have been recorded by written documents. At least three such documents emanating from the Prophet himself have come down to us.
- An interesting incident may be mentioned here. On the day of the capture of Mecca in the year 8 H., the Prophet had made an important pronouncement which included certain legal provisions. At the demand of a Yemenite, the Prophet ordered that a written copy of his pronouncement should be prepared and handed over to the person Abu-Shah.
- We may also mention a case of the translation of the Qur’an. The Prophet had prescribed that every Muslim should celebrate his worship in Arabic. Certain Persians embraced Islam and they did not want to put off prayer till the time they should have committed to memorise the Arabic texts or chapters of the Qur’an. With the approval of the Prophet, Salman al-Farsi, a Muslim of Persian origin knowing Arabic, translated into Persian the first chapter of the Qur’an for the immediate above-mentioned requirements of the Persian converts. They employed it till they learned the Arabic text by heart. (Cf. Mabsut of Sarakhsi, 1,37; Nihayah Hashiyat al-Hidayah by Taj ash-Shari’ah ch. salaat.)
- Works incorporating these kinds of documents at the time of the Prophet cover several hundreds of pages.
- It may be observed that the Prophet was particularly interested in public instruction, and he used to say: “God has sent me as a teacher (mu’allim).” On his arrival in Madinah, his first act was the construction of a mosque, where a part was reserved for school purposes. This was the famous Suffah which served as dormitory during the night and as lecture hall during the day for all those who wanted to profit by this facility. In the year 2 H., when the pagan army of Meccans was routed at Badr and a number of prisoners captured, the Prophet ordered that all those prisoners who knew how to read and write could pay their ransom by giving instruction to ten Muslim boys each (cf. Ibn Hanbal and Ibn Sa’d). The Qur’an (11/282) also ordained that commercial credit transactions could only be executed by written documents that were attested by two witnesses. These and other arrangements contributed to the rapid increase of literacy among Muslims. It is not surprising that the companions of the Prophet grew ever more interested in the preservation by writing of the pronouncements of their supreme guide. Like every new and sincere convert, their devotion and enthusiasm were great. A typical example is the following: ‘Umar reports that on his arrival at Madinah, he became contractual brother of a local Muslim (at the time of the famous Fraternisation ordered by the Prophet rehabilitating the Meccan refugees) and both of them worked alternatively in a farm of date palms. When ‘Umar worked, his companion visited the Prophet and reported to ‘Umar in the evening all that he had seen or heard in the presence of the Prophet, and when his turn came, ‘Umar did the same. Thus both of them kept abreast of what was happening around the Prophet, e.g., the promulgation of new laws, learning the questions of politics and defence, and so on. As to the written compilation of the Hadith, during the lifetime of the Prophet, the following incidents will speak for themselves:
Compilation of the time of the Prophet - At-Tirmidhi reports: One day an Ansarite (Madinan Muslim) complained to the Prophet that he had a weak memory and that he forgot quickly the Prophet’s instructive discourses. The Prophet replied: Take the aid of thy right hand (i.e., write it down).
- A large number of sources (at-Tirmidhi, Abu-Dawud, etc.) narrate that ‘Abdallah ibn ‘Amar ibn al-‘As, a young Meccan, had the habit of writing all that the Prophet used to say. One day his comrades rebuked him, saying that the Prophet was a human being, he could sometimes be happy and satisfied, at other times annoyed or angry, and that it was not desirable that one should note indiscriminately all that he uttered. ‘Abdallah went to the Prophet and asked him if one could note all that he said. He replied, “Yes.” To be accurate, ‘Abdallah persisted: “Even when thou art happy and satisfied, even when thou art angry?” The Prophet said: “Of course, by God! Nothing that comes out of this mouth is ever a lie.” ‘Abdallah gave his compilation the name of Sahifa Sadiqah (the book of truth). For several generations it was taught and transmitted as an independent work; it was later incorporated into the larger collections of the Hadith compiled by Ibn Hanbal and others. Ad-Darimi and Ibn ‘Abd al-Hakam reported: Once this same Abdallah had his pupils around him and somebody asked: Which of the two cities will be captured by Muslims first, Rome or Constantinople? Abdallah caused an old box to be brought to him, took a book out of it, and after having turned its pages for awhile, read as follows: “One day when we were sitting around the Prophet to write down what he was saying, someone asked him: Which of the two cities will be captured first, Rome or Constantinople? He replied: The city of the descendants of Heraclius.” This narration definitely proves that the companions of the Prophet were interested even during his lifetime in writing down his very words.
- More important is the case of Anas. Anas was one of the rare Madinans who could read and write when he was only ten years old, was presented, by his devoted parents, to the Prophet as his personal attendant. He did not quit the company of the Prophet till he died. Remaining night and day in his house, Anas had the opportunity of seeing the Prophet and hearing from him that which was not practicable for others. It is Anas who reports the saying of the Prophet: “Capture science by means of writing.” In later times, one of the pupils of Anas reports: “If we insisted (another version states ‘if we were numerous’) Anas would unroll sheets of documents and say: These are the sayings of the Prophet of which I have noted and also read out to him to correct any mistakes.” This important statement speaks not only about the compilation during the lifetime of the Prophet, but also of its collation and verification by the Prophet. The case is cited by numerous classical authorities, such as ar-Ramhurmuzi (d. about 360 H.), al-Hakim (d. 405), al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463), and these great traditionists cite earlier sources.
Compilations of the time of the companions of the Prophet - It was natural that the interest in the biography of the Prophet should have increased after his death. His companions left, for the benefit of their children and relatives, accounts of what they knew of the Prophet. The new converts had a thirst for the sources of their religion. Death was diminishing daily the number of those who knew first hand the Hadith and this was an added incentive to those who survived to pay closer attention to the preservation of their memoirs. A large number of works were thus compiled on the sayings and doings of the Prophet, based on the narration of his companions, after the death of the master. Of course that refers to first-hand knowledge.
- When the Prophet nominated Amr ibn Hazm as governor of Yemen, he gave him written instructions regarding the administrative duties he was to perform.Amr preserved this document, and also procured copies of twenty-one other documents which emanated from the Prophet which were addressed to the tribes of Juhainah, Judham, Taiy, Thaqif, etc. He compiled them as a collection of official documents. This work has come down to us.
- In the Sahih of Muslim, we read that Jabir ibn Abdallah compiled an opuscule [small work] on the pilgrimage of Mecca in which he gave an account of the last pilgrimage of the Prophet which also included his celebrated farewell address which was pronounced on the occasion. Several sources mention also a Sahifah of Jabir, which his pupils used to learn by heart. Probably it dealt with the general sayings and doings of the Prophet.
- Two other companions of the Prophet, Samurah ibn Jundab and Sa’d ibn Ubadah, are also reported to have compiled their memoirs for the benefit of their children. Ibn Hajar mentions them and adds that the work of Samurah was big and voluminous. Ibn ‘Abbas, who was very young at the death of the Prophet, learnt many things from his elder comrades, and compiled with this material numerous works. The chroniclers state that when he died, he left a camel-load of writings. Ibn Mas’ud, one of the greatest jurists among the companions, had also compiled a book on Hadith, and later his son ‘Abd ah-Rahman used to show that to his friends (cf. al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, ch. Ibn Mas’ud). ***