Know your Hadith - Part V

Part IV here

Hadith during the time of the Companions and their followers (may Allah be please with them)

This section of the book has amazing stories which were my motivation behind starting this whole series of posts. It took a while to get here, but alhamdulilAllah, I hope the posts so far have been somewhat beneficial.

After the death of the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him), the Companions realized the great responsibility on their shoulders of preserving the primary sources of Shariah: the Quran and Sunnah.

With regards to the Sunnah, a great deal of time and effort were devoted to collecting, learning, and teaching hadith.

Abdullah Ibn Abbas narrates that after the death of the Prophet (peace be upon him)[he was 12-13 years old then], he said to one of the ansar: let us go and ask the companions of the Prophet of Allah [about hadith], for they are many today. The man replied in wonder: [I am] surprised at you O ibn Abbas...do you think people are in need of you, and amongst them are the many companions of Prophet? Nevertheless, Ibn Abbas pursued the knowledge of Hadith from the companions of the Prophet of Allah. He would hear of a man [who knows Hadith] and would go to his door while he is having his afternoon nap, and would stay at the doorstep with the winds throwing sand at him until the man comes out at says: O cousin of the Prophet of Allah, what has brought you here? Why did you not call for me and I would have come to you? Ibn Abbas would reply: it is more befitting that I come to you and ask you about Hadith.

[Al Jami` li Akhlaq ar-Rawi wa Adab as-Sami`, page 24]

This story made me stop and think. We often hear the name of ibn Abbas when it comes to narrating hadith, but I never thought of what he had to go through to learn that hadith. And although there were many older companions living in Medinah at the time, rather than allow himself to take a back seat and rely on their knowledge, that motivated him to learn hadith from them.

The companions, may Allah be pleased with them, did their best to pass on the love of Hadith to the next generation and stress the importance of learning and sharing Hadith, from an early age, and their followers did the same with the next generation.

There are many stories of the unmatched dedication and passion of the teachers of Hadith which allowed this science to spread and flourish, of which one is below:

al-Waleed bin Utbah would teach Hadith at Masjid Al-Jabiyah (in Damascus), and there was a man who would join the class after a quarter or a third of it were over so he would repeat what he said for him. When this happened several times al-Waled asked the man about the reason for his delay and the man answered: I am a man with the responsibility of spending on my family, and I have a small shop in Beit Lihya [a town near Damascus]. If I do not buy its needs early, close the store and coming running, I risk losing my source of income. al-Waleed replied: I do not [want to] see you here again. al-Waleed would teach his class at the masjid, and then take his book and go to Beit Lahiya to re-teach the lesson to the man at his shop.

[Al Jami` li Akhlaq ar-Rawi wa Adab as-Sami`, page 36]

Not anyone would be allowed to become a student of Hadith; it was an honor and privilige reserved to those students who had proven themselves by studying and memorizing all or most of the Quran. There were also manners and etiquettes to be kept when studying Hadith , attending a class, or even asking a question. For example, most scholars would not discuss Hadith without being in a state of purity (wudu`).

The journey in pursuit of Hadith

During the time of the companions and the two generations after them, students and scholars of hadith would travel thousands of miles to hear one hadith from a companion who heard it directly from the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him).

Al Ata` ibn Rabih narrates:

Abu Ayoub al-Ansari set out to ask Uqbah bin Amir about a hadith he had heard from the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him), and Uqbah was the only remaining companion who had heard it with him. When Abu Ayyoub reached the house of Maslamah ibn Mukhlad al-Ansari, who was the ruler of Egypt at the time,...Maslamah came out and hugged him, then said: what has brought you here O Abu Ayoub? He replied: a hadith I heard from the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him), and none of the people who heard it from the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) remain except myself and Uqbah, so send someone to show me his house. So he sent someone to show him Uqbah's house, and told Uqbah. Uqbah came running out, hugged Abu Ayoub and asked: what brought you here O Abu Ayoub? He replied: He replied: a hadith I heard from the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him), and none of the people who heard it from the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) remain except myself and yourself, about covering a believer. Uqbah said: yes, I heard the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) say: "من ستر مؤمنا في الدنيا على خزيه ستره الله يوم القيامة"
(rough translation: Whoever covers a believer in this world from his embarrassment, Allah will cover him on the Day of Judgement)
Abu Ayoub al-Ansari responded: you said the truth, and then he went back to his ride, rode it, and set back to Madinah, [so fast that] an envoy which Maslamah ibn Mukhlad had sent did not catch up with him until al-A'reesh [on the borders of Egypt].

[Ma'rifat Uloom al-Hadith, pg 8]

The journeys in pursuit of Hadith played a central role in the spread and preservation of Hadith, especially until the time when the main collections of hadith were complied, as will be the topic of the next post inshaAllah.