Mode of collection of hadith

[KashifN]

assalaamu alaikum

Is anyone able to point me to a resource or briefly explain the mode of collection of hadith up to the time of Imam al-Bukhari. As in, we're familiar with the fact that the Qur'an was written down during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad sallalllahu alaihi wa sallam. What about the hadith? Are there any known collections of hadith in the time between the death of the Prophet and Imam al-Bukhari.

jazakallahu khair

Kashif
Wa Salaam

[Mursaleen AlKhurasani]

Walaikum as Salam wa rahmatullah,
Imam bukhari lived during and after the time of Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal. Before Imam Ahmed, we know that Imam Malik wrote a book of collection of Hadaith called the Muwatta. In fact even at the time of the prophet, some sahabas used to write down what would come out of the mouth of the prophet and the Prophet did not discourage him to do so.

There is some info here... http://www.islamworlduk.com/hadith.htm

Here are also a collection of lecture related to this topic. (http://www.audioislam.com/category.asp?CAT=Hadith)

May Allah increase us in Ilm and Practice...ameen.

Wallahu ta'ala a'lem :)

[UmmZahMar]

Don't know of this helps, but if you're subscribed to AlJumuah magazine, Br. Hasen Laidi has been doing a series on teh sciences of Hadeeth and goes into good detail about transmission.

[bintMunir]

Assalamu3alaykum.

Br. Yasir Qadhi has a very good two lecture series called the Science of Hadith. He also has another called Usul al Hadith. Both are online at www.audioislam.com .

Here's the link. Actually I'd highly encourage you to listen to all of Usul al Hadith. It talks first about the Authority of the Sunnah in Islam. Then it talks about the History of the Preservation of the Sunnah and Hadith (which is what you were looking for) It goes into a little detail about this and talks about the 4 main ways that hadith were compiled into books (like by narrator, by fiqh issues, by saheeh hadith, etc.) it talks about the first hadith book to be "published" and all. There are 6 lectures in the series but each one is only 30 minutes long.. so the total is about 3 hours. It is well worth the time though, I learned a lot from the lectures. It also is very interesting.. and very well presented masha'Allah.

I'd also suggest listening to Sciences of Hadith after you have heard Usul al Hadith. Sciences of Hadith is a two lecture series, each one a little over an hour. So the total time is less than 2.5 hours. That ones also good, shows how well the hadith have been preserved and how much it takes for a hadith to be considered Saheeh.

http://www.audioislam.com/category.asp?CAT=Hadith

Hope you benefit!

[AbuIlyaas]

The best thing to do, Allaahu A'alim, would be to read Muhammad Mustafa Azami's, Studies in Hadith Methodology and Literature. Or, the more lengthy work by the same author with the very similar title, Studies in Early Haith Literature.

He goes in to great detail about early collections, such as the saheefah of ibn Munabbih, who was a student of Abu Hurayrah.

Jamal Zarabozo, has written and lectured on this topic, and noticeably cites these works a lot, so I'd advise cutting out the middle man and going straight to first book I mentioned by Dr Azami.

There is also a book by M.Z.Siddiqui called, Hadith Literature, which covers this topic, and is also good, but I'd heavily recommend the first book by M.M.Azami as essential reading. It's also one of my favourite all time books.

Allaah A'alim.

[AbdulHasib]

The best thing to do, Allaahu A'alim, would be to read Muhammad Mustafa Azami's, Studies in Hadith Methodology and Literature. Or, the more lengthy work by the same author with the very similar title, Studies in Early Haith Literature.

He goes in to great detail about early collections, such as the saheefah of ibn Munabbih, who was a student of Abu Hurayrah.

Jamal Zarabozo, has written and lectured on this topic, and noticeably cites these works a lot, so I'd advise cutting out the middle man and going straight to first book I mentioned by Dr Azami.

There is also a book by M.Z.Siddiqui called, Hadith Literature, which covers this topic, and is also good, but I'd heavily recommend the first book by M.M.Azami as essential reading. It's also one of my favourite all time books.

Allaah A'alim.

Can you cite which book by sh.Zarabozo? it is The Authority of Sunnah or his other works?

And specifically which audio? There are a lot of his lectures online regarding the subject... i wanted to know which of the titles if they are not the ones we've already heard.

BarakAllahu feek.
WAllahu A'lam

[AbuIlyaas]

AsSalaamu akh AbdulHasib. I wasn't sure if you were asking where Sheikh Zarabozo refers to Sheikh Azami's various works, or where Sheikh Zarabozo discusses early collections and compilations of ahaadeeth, so I'll try and address both.

Can you cite which book by sh.Zarabozo? it is The Authority of Sunnah or his other works?

Sheikh Zarabozo does use al-Azami as a reference in 'The Authority and the Importance of the Sunnah.'

See for example p3, in a footnote he states, "A detailed defense of the sunnah against the claims made against it is also beyond the scope of this work. By the grace of Allah, Professor Mustafa al-Azami has refuted a number of the claims of the Orientalists and their followers. See Muhammad Mustafa al-Azami, On Schact's Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1985), passim; Muhammad Mustafa al-Azami, Studies in Early Hadith Literature (Indianapolis, IN: American Trust Publications, 1978), passim."

However, the writings I had in mind when I said that, is a collection of his early writings for his al-Basheer magazine (from the late 80's to early 90's). They were distributed as a resource for the 'Authority of the Sunnah' module for the London Open College, the American Open University's UK sister organisation. The articles touch upon a number of issues that Sheikh Zarabozo didn't explore in his work, "The Authority and Importance of the Sunnah." These articles haven't, to my knowledge, been re-published so far. These articles also weren't inculded in the first volume of 'Towards understanding our Religion', I hope insha Allaah they are republished in future volumes as they are beneficial.

Articles include, "Recording, Travelling and Isnad of Hadith: From the Early Years (Parts I,II,III)", "Sahih Hadith", "Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim", "Mutawatir and Ahaad hadith".

If you know someone who is with AOU they may be able to give you a photocopy of this.

Having read Azami's works prior to reading Sheikh Zarabozo's I noticed numerous places where Sheikh Zaraozo will say, "al-Azami demostrates ...", "al-Azami has given the answer to these queries ...", "al-Azami discussed..." etc. Which is why I was suggesting to brother Kashif to go direct to Azami's works. Many times Sheikh Zarabozo will use the same evidences that Sheikh Azami did in his works to make points. Plus it was through Sheikh Zarabozo's lectures that I first heard of al-Azami.

And specifically which audio? There are a lot of his lectures online regarding the subject... i wanted to know which of the titles if they are not the ones we've already heard.


I don't listen to lectures on line, my computer always crashes :(, so I'm not sure where you could find these lectures.

Another problem is that there are a number of lectures with similar titles by Sheikh Jamal on the Sunnah and they may not have been placed online with the exact same title.

I've heard about at least 12 or more cassettes where Sheikh Jamal lectures on the sunnah so it would take some time to re-listen and track down where exactly he mentions early hadeeth compilations. The written articles I referred to I remember going into this more than any lecture I heard. Plus this term I'm studying the tafseer of Juz Amma with the LOC, so I kinda need to spend my free time concentrating on that.

However, one lecture entitled "The status of the Sunnah", as a single lecture. Sheikh Jamal outlines the way in which the ahaadeth were preserved by Allaah. Detailing the arguments that outline the methods that the Sahaabah and their followers in transmitting and cross checking hadeeth. He refers to the saheefah of Ibn Munabbih, which was a collection of the ahaadeeth related by Abu Hurayrah. He also makes a number of explicit references to Sheikh Azami's books by name.

I hope that goes somewhat towards answering your query. Sorry, I don't have more time to be more specific.

As a side point Sheikh al-Azami's latest book , "The History of the Qur'anic Text from Revelation to Compilation: A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments" is also an excellent read!

Jazaakum Allaahu khairan.