Foreword

This book presents the development of the transmission of the prophetic Hadith over the course of the first three centuries; from the era of the Companions reception of the Hadith of the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam until the era of its compilation in the well-known Hadith books in the third century after Hijrah. The book represents the last era of the model of al Bukhari’s compilation of his al Sahih, as it is a clear expression of it.

This book adopts an approach of presenting the history of the Prophet’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam Hadith and the development of its transmission based on the transmission of narration from one generation to the next. It presents the manner the Companions radiya Llahu ‘anhum received Hadith from the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and its transmission from the Companions to the Tabi’in (Successors), focusing on the natural and spontaneous aspects in transmission, then the paths of transmission of the narrations from the Tabi’in to their followers (Atba’ al Tabi’in), then from the Atba’ al Tabi’in to the compilers of the famous books of Hadith in the third century.

The book focuses on the movement of critical examination that accompanied the development of the narrations in all its stages and movements. I preferred to call it the critical authority because of its emphasis on narrators and narrations, warning of them, and informing of the danger of narrating Hadith without verifying, which has an important impact on the process of Hadith critical examination.

I preferred it to be a book concerned with the history of narration insofar as it is history, focusing on the question of the historical veracity of Hadith, without focusing on the question of the authenticity of the Sunnah and practicing on Hadith, as the question of authenticity and practice goes back to the issues of prophecy, infallibility, and miracle; which is what other sciences are engaged in, such as the Usul al Fiqh (principles of Fiqh) and theology etc. This is a different study from the study of the history of narrations, as that is history. Therefore, I did not dedicate special discussions to the issues of the authenticity of the Sunnah and the differences between the Ahl al Ra’y (people of opinion) and the Ahl al Hadith (people of Hadith) and between the Mu’tazilah and the Ahl al Hadith. This will only be mentioned randomly in a way that assists the historical development of narrations.

Accordingly, this book explores the question of the historical veracity of Hadith, as if its case is based on the following two questions:

Was the transmission of the Prophet’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam Hadith a natural transmission, consistent with the movement of history in the first three centuries? Is there evidence that points to its naturalistic state or is there evidence of major fraudulent factors behind it?
Was there a critical process of documenting these narrations during the period of their movement, development, and spread? Or what is called the ‘critical process’ came years later, far from the actual hadith and thereafter it was applied to it?

These two historical questions can be asked with regards to every historical statement or event that occurred in the past, because we must verify the events of history and document its information by ensuring the naturalness and consistency of the narration and the existence of a critical process that governs it and ensures its authenticity and integrity throughout history.

From all of this comes the importance of this book, as it attempts to present the development of transmission as it was and attempts to identify aspects of its nature, its smooth transition, and its spontaneous development, which did not separate from many other events that influenced it.

The book does not suffice on presenting the natural development only, but it also tries to identify the aspects of critical examination accompanying the narrations in their eras and during the course of their narration, and subsequently, the criticism of the paths of narrations and the developments of the narrators; to ascertain the strength of that critical process accompanying the transmission or the weakness of it in issuing verdicts on those narrations.

It is necessary to acknowledge that tens of thousands of narrators carried out Hadith transmission in its active eras, and that it included vast and expansive areas of Islamic countries, extending tens of thousands of kilometres, from the furthest cities of Persia to the heart of Spain on the European continent; which means that it is not possible for a book like this to be comprehensive, general, detailed, and precise in all of this. Therefore, I resorted to selecting famous models that express the Hadith movement—that I regard as clearly representing the Hadith movement—which paints a closer picture of the Hadith movement in those centuries.

Since the book does not aim to study finer details and delve into them—even though it contains a lot of that—its intention is approximation of the Hadith movement’s image in the first centuries. Its addressees are students in colleges of Islamic Sciences who wish to study the history of Hadith and the development of its narration, as well as intellectuals and researchers in human studies who are interested in learning about the history of the development of Islamic Intellect and Islamic Sciences.

As for the sources of this book, I intended to extract historical information about the Muhaddithin (Hadith scholars), Hadith narrators, and means of criticism from the oldest written books, and I relied on them primarily in selecting transmissions and narrations. I tried, as much as I could, not to resort to any text from a latter secondary source, if I had access to a source in the era of the narration itself, in the first three centuries. Thus, I quoted mostly from the early critics’ books such as: Ahmed ibn Hanbal, Ibn Ma’in, Abu Zur’ah al Razi, Abu Hatim al Razi, al Fasawi, Ibn Sa’d, Ibn Abi Khaythamah, and others. I relied on them in that.

Since I am not one of those who consider historical documentation confined to written documents, but rather it extends to oral history—which is reliable history if it is proven, as it will become clear to the honourable reader during the study—I relied on previous books to show criticism by Ibn Ma’in, Ahmed Ibn Hanbal, Abu Khaythamah, al Bukhari, Abu Zur’ah, Abu Hatim, and others, as these are their books or the books of their students who transmitted directly from them. Similarly, I relied on them with regards to transmissions of those before them from the generation of the Atba’ al Tabi’in, the Tabi’in, and the Companions radiya Llahu ‘anhum—who did not author books—if those transmissions appeared to be reliable to me, I do not see any general systematic forgery or fabrication in the origins of those transmissions, and I do not see any projection by latter over a former one, based on abundant proofs, data, and evidence which are difficult to detail in this brief introduction, wherein eastern and western scholarly studies have been detailed that have proven beyond any doubt that these books and their content cannot be forged and fabricated. I dropped the idea of projection, so there is no need to study it here.^[1]

As for previous studies, I did not find a systematic book that presents the history of Hadith, the stages of development of the narrations, and the critical examination in the first three centuries. There were studies on some of those stages, such as the study of Professor Dr. Muhammad ‘Ajaj al Khatib called al Sunnah Qabl al Tadwin (The Sunnah before compilation), and the study of Professor Dr. Rif’at Fawzi ‘Abdul Muttalib called Tawthiq al Sunnah fi al Qarn al Thani al Hijri, Usasuhu wa Ittijahatuhu (Documenting the Sunnah in the second century after Hijrah, its foundations and trends), which are strong and momentous studies; however, they do not include all stages and do not give the reader a general image of the development of Hadith transmission in that era. Perhaps the closest book to mine is the writings I found in the Turkish Academy directed at university students and intellectuals and carrying the title Tarikh al Hadith (The History of Hadith). I did not find anything equivalent to that in the Arabic academy. Perhaps this is due to two aspects:

First: The material of Tarikh al Hadith is an important established material in the faculties of theology and Islamic sciences in Turkey, which is unparalleled—as far as I know—in the Arab world. This material was the primary source for my compilation of this book. I taught it to Turkish students at Istanbul University from May 29 for three years, from 2012 to 2015 CE. I did not find anything that would assist me in the Arabic Academy. Hence, I resorted to collecting the original material for this book at that time and then developed it over many years.

Second: The Turkish academy engage with Orientalist discussions much more than the Arab world. The issues of the history of Hadith and its development is one of the issues that Orientalist studies have been and are still preoccupied with.

Perhaps the most famous books bearing the title ‘History of Hadith’, in the Turkish Academy, wherefrom I benefited in my research, are the books of Professor Dr. Tal’at Koshit, the book of our teacher Dr. Ahmed Yücel,^[2] and the book of Professor Dr. Bakr Quzudishli, which are momentous and important books.

Then I preferred to mention Imam al Bukhari in the title of this book, meaning al Bukhari’s class of scholars who compiled the famous Hadith books of that era. However, the necessity of brevity in the title and the necessity of (presenting) the closest image by presenting specific examples from the Muhaddithin (Hadith scholars) compelled me to suffice on it; otherwise, the intention is (to present) the methods by which Hadith reached the second half of the third century after Hijrah. In addition to the fact that al Bukhari’s Hadith status is famous and well-known and the authenticity of what is in his book and the importance of his choices and criticisms are accepted issues in the sciences of Hadith.

As I was referring to the class of al Bukhari, the entire book was arranged according to the method of Muslim scholars in history, which is the method of classes. Thus, the first chapter is on the transmission of the Hadith from the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam to the Companions radiya Llahu ‘anhum, the second from the Companions radiya Llahu ‘anhum to the Tabi’in (successors), the third from the Tabi’in to the Atba’ al Tabi’in (followers of the successors), and the fourth from the Atba’ al Tabi’in to the authors of the famous written books.

I intended this categorisation and recording of history with the intention of refraining from recording the history according to centuries (dates) or according to political authority. Therefore, I did not categorise the book taking into account the Khilafah Rashidah (Rightly Guided Caliphate), then the Umayyad Caliphate, then the Abbasid Caliphate… as political categorisation is a categorisation that sees centralisation of the state and politics in Islamic society; and this was not the case—in my opinion—because the scholars were the centre of scholarly and social interactions in Islamic history. Therefore, my sequence here was based on classes. Their centralisation in society and the marginality of political authority will manifest throughout the book.

In conclusion, I would like to express my gratitude to anyone who favoured me by reviewing the book in its first draft even though briefly, and who kindly corrected, edited, reviewed any concept, or encouraged me. I would like to particularly thank the honourable teachers: Professor Muhammad Fatih Qaya, Dr. Usamah Nimr, Dr. Sharif al Tashadi, and Dr. ‘Abdul Salam Abu Samhah, Dr. Sa’id al Marri, Professor Dr. Bakr Quzudishli, Professor Iyad Erbakan, and Professor ‘Abdullah al Thallaj. Special thanks to Professor Muhammad Amanah for the many days he spent reviewing and capturing the book’s quotations. Special appreciation of the honourable researcher Bushra Jatin for the long hours she spent in which she kindly translated and discussed the ideas of some Turkish books into Arabic, which enriched and influenced the book.

I wish to thank those who generously taught the book in its draft copy, encouraged me to publish it, and honoured me with some scholarly observations about it. They are: My dear brother, Dr. Hamzah al Bakri, who taught it at the Sultan Mehmet al Fatih Endowment University in Istanbul in 2016 CE, and my dear brother, Dr. Fakhr al Din Yildiz, who taught it in Sabahattin Zaim University in Istanbul for three academic years, between the years 2018 to 2021, which was a strong motivation for me to publish and develop it. They deserve all thanks.

I cannot forget to thank the publishing house, Dar al Fath, represented by its honourable director, Dr. Iyad al Ghowj, a man of great determination and rare encouragement, who honoured me by selecting distinguished reviewers whose observations and scrutiny I benefited from in developing this book and who was kind enough to print it in this beautiful suit. Thus, all thanks, praise and gratitude to him.

With that appreciation and thanks, I alone bear responsibility for every ideology in the book and every sentence in it, as some professors had reviewed it in its old draft before I developed it around the middle of 2021. So, the responsibility for any error falls on me alone, and I ask every honourable reader to kindly offer the slightest of observation he finds, for which I will be grateful and appreciative.

All praises are for Allah, the Lord of the universe.

NEXT⇒ Chapter 1 – From the Prophet salla Llahu `alayhi wa sallam to the Companions – The Companions’ Natural Reception from the Prophet salla Llahu `alayhi wa sallam

^[1] One of those earnest studies is the study of the German orientalist Harald Motzki in his book, The Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence: Meccan Fiqh before the Classical Schools, which is translated with the title Bidayat al Fiqh al Islami wa Tatawwuruhu fi Makkah Hatta Muntasaf al Qarn al Hijri al Thani, where he established—through evidences and criteria drawn from an intelligent sample that included the two books on marriage and divorce in Musannaf ‘Abdur Razzaq—the authenticity of attributing the narrations in Musannaf ‘Abdur Razzaq to him, then the authenticity of what ‘Abdur Razzaq attributed to the class of his teachers and their teachers, the likes of Ibn Jurayj, ‘Amr ibn Dinar, and ‘Ata’ ibn Abi Rabah, then the authenticity of what ‘Ata and ‘Amr attributed to the Companions radiya Llahu ‘anhum. What is meant by authenticity is that these narrations were not forged or projected from a later generation who attributed it to them. Thus, they are real people and have true narrations, not forgers or forged narrations. This is an important study in proving the credibility of ancient Hadith books and their content of narrations through a purely historical method and refuting the idea of forgery and projection which is attached to it.

Take, for example, his analysis of the structure of Musannaf ‘Abdur Razzaq’s narrations and proving its attribution to him through them, then his analysis of Ibn Jurayj’s narrations from ‘Ata’ and his proving that they actually go back to him, then his analysis of ‘Amr ibn Dinar’s views and that they are most likely to be his correct views, and his mention of conclusive evidence that opposes the theory of projection and refutes the idea of forgery and projection in Hadith books, in the following pages, respectively:

Harald Motzki: The Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence: Meccan Fiqh Before the Classical Schools, pg. 61, 94, 201, 245, 285-287.

Harald Motzki: Bidayat al Fiqh al Islami wa Tatawwuruhu fi Makkah Hatta Muntasaf al Qarn al Hijri al Thani, pg. 131, 191, ‎372, 448, 520-524.

If Motzki was able to reach this important conclusion through this small sample from one chapter of one of the Hadith books, then if the sample was expanded to the entire book, then to all the narrations in the book, then to all the Hadith narrations in all the Hadith books, then to the narrations and texts in all the ancient Islamic books, the possibility of forgery and projection would have been impossible or almost impossible historically. I did a research relating to Motzki, wherein I concluded that his dispute with Schacht and other orientalists and the refutation of their theories of forgery and projection was through a deep study on a collection of narrations by a group of narrators, (the Meccan narrators) in a section (which is the chapter of marriage and divorce) of a large book (which is Musannaf ‘Abdur Razzaq), from a large collection of Hadith books, that are included in a very large system of Islamic books from the first three centuries.

It is a study, the results of which cannot be generalised. If the reports of these narrators were studied in all of ‘Abdur Razzaq’s writings, the results would be clearer. If the reports of all the narrators in the entire book al Musannaf were studied, they would be more, and if all the writings were studied, they would be even more, and if all the Hadith books of the third century AH were studied with all the hundreds of thousands of narrations it contains, it would be clearer, and if all the Hadith and other books from the first centuries were studied, the results would be almost definitive, and we could say that the former critical scholars have studied all these narrations and deduced these clear results. Hence, you see them making a great distinction between the conditions of the narrator in a different country; when he erred and when he did not err, and when he agreed and when he disagreed.

Ahmed Snubar: Criticisms of the German Orientalist Harald Motzki of some Orientalist theories about the Sunnah of the Prophet: A study of his book Bidayat al Fiqh al Islami wa Tatawwuruhu fi Makkah, pg. 645-646, printed with the proceedings of the symposium on the Sunnah and its Sciences in contemporary studies that were held at Dar al Hadith al Hassaniyyah in the city of Rabat in the Kingdom of Morocco on May 8-9, 2013 CE.

See the introduction to this study, pg. 613-618, for a division of orientalist trends in dealing with heritage, and the new trend represented by Motzki, which is a generally moderate trend in dealing with Islamic heritage. The Muslim Western researcher Jonathan Brown describes him as the first western scholar to treat Hadith and books of narrations with the same respect that Muslims themselves afford it.

Jonathan Brown: Hadith, Muhammad’s legacy in the medieval and modern world, pg. 226, One World Book, Oxford.

Similarly, see what follows in the third chapter when mentioning al Muwatta’ and the refutation by Motzki and other researchers of the West of the idea of projection of al Muwatta’ to Imam Malik.

^[2] This book has been published more than 60 times so far! This indicates the widespread interest of Turkish academics in this topic and the great need for it.

BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents

Foreword

This book presents the development of the transmission of the prophetic Hadith over the course of the first three centuries; from the era of the Companions reception of the Hadith of the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam until the era of its compilation in the well-known Hadith books in the third century after Hijrah. The book represents the last era of the model of al Bukhari’s compilation of his al Sahih, as it is a clear expression of it.

This book adopts an approach of presenting the history of the Prophet’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam Hadith and the development of its transmission based on the transmission of narration from one generation to the next. It presents the manner the Companions radiya Llahu ‘anhum received Hadith from the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and its transmission from the Companions to the Tabi’in (Successors), focusing on the natural and spontaneous aspects in transmission, then the paths of transmission of the narrations from the Tabi’in to their followers (Atba’ al Tabi’in), then from the Atba’ al Tabi’in to the compilers of the famous books of Hadith in the third century.

The book focuses on the movement of critical examination that accompanied the development of the narrations in all its stages and movements. I preferred to call it the critical authority because of its emphasis on narrators and narrations, warning of them, and informing of the danger of narrating Hadith without verifying, which has an important impact on the process of Hadith critical examination.

I preferred it to be a book concerned with the history of narration insofar as it is history, focusing on the question of the historical veracity of Hadith, without focusing on the question of the authenticity of the Sunnah and practicing on Hadith, as the question of authenticity and practice goes back to the issues of prophecy, infallibility, and miracle; which is what other sciences are engaged in, such as the Usul al Fiqh (principles of Fiqh) and theology etc. This is a different study from the study of the history of narrations, as that is history. Therefore, I did not dedicate special discussions to the issues of the authenticity of the Sunnah and the differences between the Ahl al Ra’y (people of opinion) and the Ahl al Hadith (people of Hadith) and between the Mu’tazilah and the Ahl al Hadith. This will only be mentioned randomly in a way that assists the historical development of narrations.

Accordingly, this book explores the question of the historical veracity of Hadith, as if its case is based on the following two questions:

Was the transmission of the Prophet’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam Hadith a natural transmission, consistent with the movement of history in the first three centuries? Is there evidence that points to its naturalistic state or is there evidence of major fraudulent factors behind it?
Was there a critical process of documenting these narrations during the period of their movement, development, and spread? Or what is called the ‘critical process’ came years later, far from the actual hadith and thereafter it was applied to it?