To Write or not to Write?
That is the Sunni Dilemma!
According to Sunni writings, Muhammad expressly prohibited anyone from writing down his hadiths. The reason why he supposedly did this was to ensure that his words would not get mixed in or confused with the Quran:
We must make a clear distinction between the Qur’an and the Sunnah. As for the Qur’an, the Prophet ordered his Companions to immediately write down the verses that were being revealed to him. On the other hand, he deemed it sufficient for his Companions to preserve his Sunnah in their memories, not because his sayings were from him and had nothing to do with his Prophethood; to the contrary, he spoke not from his own desires, but from divine revelation that was being inspired to him. The reason why he ordered his Companions to write down the Qur’an is because it was revealed to him in an exact wording through Jibreel. As for his sayings, the meanings they indicated were inspired from Allah, but the wording with which they were expressed was from the Prophet. And so in distinguishing between the Qur’an and his sayings – by recording one and not the other – the Prophet was taking a necessary precaution to prevent the Qur’an, which he was receiving from Jibreel, from getting mixed up with his own speech. (Dr. ‘Ali Muhammad As-Sallabee, The Noble Life of the Prophet, translated by Faisal Shafeeq [Darussalam Publishers & Distributors, First Edition: October 2005], Volume 1, pp. 138-139)
Another reference states that:
The holy Qur’an had been collected and written during the government of Abu Bakr al-Seddiq (11-13 of Hejira), but the Prophet’s traditions were only kept orally within hearts. No one dared to record in written form the sayings of the Messenger, as a response to a tradition (Hadith) cited by Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri, in which the Prophet said: Do write nothing but the holy Qur’an; and who has written from me anything should have it erased. He seemed apparently to be fearful of any mixture between the divine revelation and the Messenger’s traditions. It was clear that this order was intended to serve the purpose of keeping the holy Qur’an as a heavenly divine revelation, far from being amalgamated with any human speech; even the speech of the Prophet himself, though his deeds and acts as a whole were revealed by Allah… When Omar Ibn Al-Khattab became the Muslims’ Caliph (13-23 of Hejira), some companions called upon him for issuing an order of writing the tradition. He asked Allah to guide him to do this action for a month, but he was not inspired to fulfill this task. Some 76 years later, Omar Ibn Abdul-Aziz took the power (99-101 of Hegira), and was successfully qualified to accomplish the collection and writing of the Messenger’s traditions after asking Allah for the proper guidance, in this case several times for about 40 days. He allowed for Abu Bakr Ibn Mohammad Ibn Omar Ibn Hazm to record them in written form. He wrote what he had kept in a book, from which several copies were sent to the different Islamic regions. Abu Bakr, during this time, was Medina’s judge and governor. He died in 120H. Mohammad Ibn Muslim Ibn Shehab Al-Zuhri was ordered also by Omar Ibn Abdul-Aziz to compose another book of tradition. In this way, a collection of the Prophet’s traditions (Hadith) began to appear, with no methodologically specific arrangement or classification. The traditions were randomly gathered… (Ibn Hesham, The Prophet’s Biography, translated by Mohammad Mahdi Al-Sharif [Dar Al-Kotob Al-ilmiyah, Beirut-Lebanon, 2006 2nd edition], Introduction, pp. 4-5; emphasis mine)
Here is a final quote:
Secondly, the Prophet was keen to write down the text of the Qur’an immediately after he received it from God. To ensure the distinction between his own words and the word of God, he warned people not to write down his own prophetic utterances so that they would not be mixed in with God’s words. Muhammad even commanded people to erase anything they had written of his own sayings that was not part of the Qur’an. (Dr. Muhammad Abu Laylah, The Qur’an and the Gospels – A Comparative Study [Al-Falah Foundation for Translation, Publication & Distribution, Third edition, 2005], p. 55: source; emphasis mine)
According to the hadith literature itself Muhammad was adamantly set against anyone writing down his words. The following are rough translations of narratives taken from the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal:
Abu Said al-Khudri said, Ishaq ibn Isa told me that Abdul Rahman ibn Zaid told us that his father said about Ata ibn Yasar who said that Abu Hurayrah said:
We were sitting down writing what we heard from the prophet. He entered the room and asked us: What are you writing? We said: We are writing what we hear from you. He said: Another book next to the book of Allah? We said: It is what we hear from you. He said: Then write the book of Allah, uphold the book of Allah, no other books but the book of Allah, uphold the book of Allah. Abu Hurayrah said: So we collected all that we wrote and burnt it. Then we asked the prophet: Can we talk about you? He said: Yes you can and feel no shame of it, and whoever lies about me deliberately his seat in hell will be secured. Abu Hurayrah said: Can we talk about Bani Israel? He said: Yes you can and feel no shame of it… (Musnad Ahmad, Number 10611)
Ismail told us that Hammam ibn Yahya narrated from Zaid ibn Aslam who narrated from Yasar who stated that Abi Saeed said: The messenger of Allah said, “Do not write anything I say but the Quran and whoever writes anything but the Quran should delete it.” (Musnad Ahmad, Number 10713)
Shu’aib told us that Hammam said that Zaid ibn Aslam narrated from Ibn Yassar who stated that Abi Saeed said: The messenger of Allah said, “Do not write anything I say except the Quran and whoever writes anything but the Quran should delete it.” (Musnad Ahmad, Number 10715)
Yazid told us that Hammam ibn Yahya narrated from Zaid ibn Aslam who narrated from Yassar who said that Abi Saeed stated: The messenger of Allah said, “Do not write anything I say except the Quran and whoever writes anything but the Quran should delete it.” (Musnad Ahmad, 10781)
Abu Ubayda told us that Hammam ibn Yahya narrated from Zaid ibn Aslam who narrated from Yassar who stated that Abi Saeed said: The messenger of Allah said, “Do not write anything I say except the Quran and whoever writes anything [besides it] should delete it.” (Musnad Ahmad, Number 10966)
Finally:
Affan told us that Hammam told us that Zaid ibn Aslam narrated from Ibn Yassar who stated that Abi Saeed said: The messenger of Allah said do not write anything I say but the Quran and whoever writes anything but the Quran should delete it. (Musnad Ahmad, Number 11160)
When a man was found recording Muhammad’s narrations Zaid, one of the scribes who used to write down the Quran, told him to erase them:
Narrated Zayd ibn Thabit:
Al-Muttalib ibn Abdullah ibn Hantab said: Zayd ibn Thabit entered upon Mu’awiyah and asked him about a tradition. He ordered a man to write it. Zayd said: The Messenger of Allah ordered us not to write any of his traditions. So he erased it.
Grade: Da’if in chain (Al-Albani) (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 25, Number 3640 https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3647)
Another companion of Muhammad also censured the writing down of his words because Muhammad did not allow folks to record his own statements:
‘Uffan (bin Abdullah bin Mardas al-Muharibi) narrated from his father (‘Abdullah) that he heard the Messenger of Allah saying: “Indeed, some people hear my words, then they go and write them down, and I do not permit anyone to write anything other than the Book of Allah Almighty.”
Reference: Sunan al-Darimi 498
(A hadith that has not been transmitted) Abu Nu`aym informed us, Isra`il informed us, on the authority of `Uthman ibn Abi al-Mughira, on the authority of `Affaq al-Muharibi, on the authority of his father, who said: I heard Ibn Mas`ud say: “Some people listen to my words, then they go and write them down, and I do not permit anyone to write anything except the Book of God.” (https://hadithweb.com/darimi:498)
In fact, as collaborated by ibn Hisham in his sira, according to another narrative the official recording of hadiths first took place during the caliphate of Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz (c. 717-720 AD):
Narrated Abu Huraira:
I said: “O Allah’s Apostle! Who will be the luckiest person, who will gain your intercession on the Day of Resurrection?” Allah’s Apostle said: O Abu Huraira! I have thought that none will ask me about it before you as I know your longing for the (learning of) Hadiths. The luckiest person who will have my intercession on the Day of Resurrection will be the one who said sincerely from the bottom of his heart, “None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.” And ‘Umar bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz wrote to Abu Bakr bin Hazm, “Look for the knowledge of Hadith and get it written, as I am afraid that religious knowledge will vanish and the religious learned men will pass away (die). Do not accept anything save the Hadiths of the Prophet. Circulate knowledge and teach the ignorant, for knowledge does not vanish except when it is kept secretly (to oneself).” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 3, Number 98: https://hadithcollection.com/sahihbukhari/sahih-bukhari-book-03-knowledge/sahih-bukhari-volume-001-book-003-hadith-number-098; https://sunnah.com/bukhari:99)
Here is where the Sunni Muslims face a number of problems. In the first place, although there are many reports that say that Muhammad expressly censured the writing of his statements there are other narratives which contradict this by claiming that he did allow his followers to record them:
Narrated Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-‘As:
I used to write everything which I heard from the Apostle of Allah. I intended (by it) to memorise it. The Quraysh prohibited me saying: Do you write everything that you hear from him while the Apostle of Allah is a human being: he speaks in anger and pleasure? So I stopped writing, and mentioned it to the Apostle of Allah. He signalled with his finger to him mouth and said: Write, by Him in Whose hand my soul lies, only right comes out from it.
Grade: Sahih (Al-Albani)
(Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 25, Number 3639 https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3646)
The following report implies that there were certain companions who started recording Muhammad’s words during his lifetime:
Narrated Abu Huraira:
There is none among the companions of the Prophet who has narrated more Hadiths than I except ‘Abdallah bin Amr (bin Al-‘As) who used to write them and I never did the same. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 3, Number 113 https://sunnah.com/bukhari:113)
We, therefore, have a huge contradiction within the hadith literature.
Hence, the dilemma at hand is, to write or not write? That is, indeed, the Sunni question!
Further Reading