History of the Sunnah -I: At the time of the Prophet

Muslims were, early on, aware of the significance of the Sunnah and
its authority. They, one generation after the other, were keen to
preserve the Sunnah because they saw that as a part of the preserving
of the last revelations man is ever to receive. Their efforts were
unabated, and the remarkable job they did is unparalleled in the
experience of any other religion or civilization.
At the time of the Prophet:
One of the main reasons behind this is the fact that the
Prophetclearly taught the Companionsthe importance of his Sunnah, its
place in Islam and their role in saving it, teaching and conveying it
to others around them and to those who would come after them. In so
doing, hefollowed an effective methodology, which will be briefly
outlined below:
1. Heemphasized the importance of seeking knowledge and teaching
it to others. Hesaid:"Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every
Muslim )male and female(." ]Ibn Maajah[ Also, hesaid: "Whosoever
pursues a path to seek knowledge therein, Allaah will thereby make
easy for him a path toParadise. No people gather together in one of
the houses of Allaah )mosques(, reciting the Book of Allaah and
studying it among themselves, without tranquility descending upon
them, mercy enveloping them and angles surrounding them, and Allaah
making mention of them to those )angels( who are with Him."]Muslim[
2. Healways had a center for teaching. Most of the time, it was the mosque.
3. Hewas soft in his dealings and always facilitated things and
made them easy for others. Hewas merciful and humble and made himself
readily available.
4. Henever pushed people into anything. Instead, hegradually
taught them and led them to change. Healways motivated them to follow
his example and be their best.
5. Hewould not continuously teach or work with them, but he would
give them enough breaks to avoid overstressing or boring them.
6. Hespoke plainly and clearly and hetalked to people at their
level of understanding and intellectual ability. Whenever appropriate,
hespoke to people in their own dialect for the Arabs had different
dialects.
7. Heused the method of repetition. Hewould repeat whatever he
wanted to stress for three times to insure that all heard him properly
and clearly understood what hewas saying.
8. When questioned, hewould give more than what is expected as an
answer and use the occasion to further clarify things for all, and
teach about other things.
9. Whenever the Prophethad to choose between two ways, hechose
the easier way, which had facility and mercy if there was nothing
forbidden in that, and hekept away from the difficult and harsh ways.
10. Heattached special attention to teaching the women and provided
them special times for questions. Heencouraged them to ask and learn.
11. Heused to do his best in everything, and heperfected whatever he
did, thus setting an example for others.
The era of the Companions and their Followers
The Companionsdid their utmost to convey Islam to the generations
succeeding them in the best and most accurate way possible. They
sincerely loved it, honestly lived according to it and faithfully
preserved it and kept any impurity or irregularity out of it.
Their role in the preservation of Islam was one of utmost importance
to its continuation, but they were highly prepared for it by the best
teacher and trainer, the Prophet. Thus the studying of this era,
especially with respect to the history and authority of the Sunnah, is
necessary to all Students of Knowledge.
And since this article will not provide enough details to properly
cover the subject, it is recommended that the readers consult the
following list of books on the subject:
Studies of Early Hadeeth Literature by M. M. Azami, Sunnah Qabla
at-Tadween )the Sunnah before Writing( by Ajaj Al-Khateeb, The Sunnah
and its Place in Islam by Mustafa As-Siba'ee, Manhajj an-Naqd fi Uloom
Al-Hadeeth )The Methodology of Critique in the Sciences of Hadeeth( by
Noor-ud-deen Etr, Al-Hadeeth wal Muhaddithoon )Hadeeth and Hadeeth
Narrators( by Muhammad M. Abu Zahou, and Hujjiatus Sunnah )The
Authority of the Sunnah( by Houcine Chouat.
Methodology of the Companions in Preserving the Sunnah
Before discussing the Companions' ways of learning, practicing,
preserving and conveying of the Sunnah, it is worthwhile to shed some
light on the main points one needs to understand about the
Companionsand their methodology:
1. The Companionswere fully aware of the responsibility they
shoulder after the death of the Prophet.
2. The Companionsare all trustworthy. Theynever doubted one
another in the matters of this religion and the narration of Hadeeth.
3. The Companionshave developed a methodology for scrutinizing
Hadeeths and narrators, and by doing that have established the rules
of ascertaining narrations for those who came after them.
4. The ability of different Companionsto understand the Sunnah,
memorize it and convey it varied from one Companion to another.
5. The Companionsleft Makkah and Madeenah to many places around
the Muslim world, at the time, for the purpose of delivering the
message and teaching Islam to those who accepted it thus spreading the
Sunnah throughout the land.
It is interesting to note that about 750 Companionsnarrated Hadeeths,
seven of whom narrated a high number of Hadeeths, and about twenty
narrated an average number, the rest narrated a small number.
The seven who narrated a large number of Hadeeths are: Abu Hurayrah
who narrated 5374 Hadeeths, 'Abdullaah Ibn 'Umar narrated 2630, Anas
Ibn Maalik narrated 2286, 'Aa'ishah narrated 2210 Hadeeths, 'Abdullaah
Ibn 'Abbaas narrated 1660, Jaabir Ibn 'Abdullaah narrated 1540, and
Abu Sa'eed AI-Khudri narrated 1100 Hadeeths. They understood their
role and were aware of the significance of their ability in narrating
the Hadeeths and did their best to deliver them diligently and
accurately. Muslims of all times are indebted to them.

History of the Sunnah -II: The era of the Companions and their followers

Most scholars group the main aspects of the methodology of the
Companionsin preserving the Sunnah into the following seven
categories: prudence in narrating the hadeeths, verification and
substantiation of the hadeeths before accepting them, critique,
discussions and assessment of the narration, traveling for search and
confirmation of the hadeeths, memorization, practice and writing of
the hadeeths. Some scholars refer to these aspects as 'rulings',
'methods' or 'ways' instead of methodology.
1- Prudence in narrating the Hadeeth:
Because of the fact that the Sunnah is a revelation and a sacred
Source for this religion, the Companionswere very careful when
narrating what the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi sallam, said or did.
This vigilance was illustrated in:
· Avoiding narration unless they had to. 'Abdur-Rahmaan Ibn Abi
Laylasaid:"I have met with 120 Companionsfrom the Ansaar )supporters
of the Prophet(, none of whom would narrate a hadeeth or answer a
question of fatwa unless he absolutely had no choice but to do it. One
would have to go and ask another instead of him, so much so you would
keep going from one to the other until you get back to the first one
you asked."Theyunderstood that they were conveying the message brought
to them by the Prophetand that people see it as such, thus everyone
wanted the other to do that because they may know it better. This,
however, should not be construed to mean they avoided spreading the
message or teaching Islam to others. This prudence indicates they were
fully aware of their role and its significance. They would rather let
others, who may be more knowledgeable, do the job, but once they had
to do, they did it in the best way possible.
· Limiting or discouraging the narration. This attitude was
adopted for the purpose of protecting the Sunnah because it minimizes
the possibility of mistakes or forgetfulness that may otherwise cause
people to doubt the Sunnah or mistrust the narrators. This trend was
strongly encouraged by Caliphs Abu Bakr and 'Umar Ibn Al-Khattaaband
was accepted and practiced by the Companions. This attitude is founded
on the famous hadeeth narrated by many Companions:"It is sufficient
—for one to tumble into lying - to narrate or repeat everything he/she
hears."]Al-Bukhaari and others[
· Encouraging narration from knowledgeable Companions. To
strike a necessary balance between being cautious and insuring the
transmission of the religion and the spreading of its teachings, the
Companionswho had a great deal of knowledge—like those recommended by
the Prophet—never hesitated to narrate, write or teach the Sunnah.
There are hundreds of narrations that encourage such practice so long
as it is done in the right manner.
· Opting for verbatim narration. Guided with instruction in the
Hadeeth, "May Allaah bless the person who hears a statement from me
and conveys it as he/she heard it," the Companionsdid all that was
humanly possible to keep their narration verbatim of what they
actually heard from the Prophet. There are many reported incidents,
which testify to this fact. Having such natural mastery of the Arabic
– that was common among them—and the fact that theysaw and heard the
Prophetsay, do and explain to them his teachings repeatedly, as well
as their understanding of the need for verbatim transmission of
narrations, all combined to make it easy for them not to cause changes
as they narrate any Hadeeth.
2- Verification of the Hadeeth before accepting it
This is an important tool that the Companionsestablished to safeguard
the Sunnah against any foreign material interference and accidental or
deliberate mistakes. This was a common prac­tice amongst all of the
Companionswhen receiving or narrating the Sunnah. Imaam
Ath-Thahabimentioned this practice, in one of his great books,
addressing the issue of Hadeeth Memorizers. Hesaid that it was one of
the ways used by of the four Caliphsto protect the Hadeeth. For
example, Abu Bakrwas asked to rule in the case of a grandmother who
came asking for her right in inheritance, hesaid that he knew of no
amount due to her neither in the Book of Allaah )i.e., Quran( nor the
Sunnah of the Prophet. But when Al-Mugheerahtold that he has
wit­nessed the Prophetgive one-sixth of the total amount of the
inheritance, heasked him if he had witness to substantiate this claim.
And when Muhammad Ibn Maslamahwitnessed to the truth of that figure,
Abu Bakraccepted it and gave the grandmother exactly that.
In the case of 'Umar Ibn Al-KhattaabAth-Thahabimentioned many
incidents that testify to the fact that healways ascertained the
narration when it was necessary to do so. Henarrated that Maalik Ibn
Awsheard 'Umarsay to 'Abdur-Rahmaan Ibn 'Awf, Talhah Ibn Az-Zubayr and
Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqaas:"I ask by Allaah, Who maintains the Heaven and
Earth! Did you hear the Prophetsay: 'I am not to be inherited,
whatever I leave is to be given in charity'? They said:`Yes, Allaah is
our witness."]Ahmad[
After narrating the above incidents among others, Imaam
Ath-Thahabirepeatedly asserted that the verifications were not meant
to doubt the truthfulness of any of the Companionsrather they were
necessary to establish a standard of care and respect for what the
Prophet, sallallaahu alay­hi wa sallam, said or did. Theydid that for
themselves and to institute a tradition to be fol­lowed and honored by
all who come after them.
In summary, it is essential to note the following about this method:
- The purpose was to protect the Sunnah, not to doubt one another. All
of the Companionsare trustworthy as clearly stated in the Quran, and
doubting their trustworthiness can certainly damage one's faith.
- The purpose, also, was to establish a method and set an example to
be followed by the rest of the Muslim nation. The truth, however,
remains that Companionsused to accept narration conveyed by any one of
them. Their request of witnesses or that the narrator gives an oath
that he is saying the truth was to establish the methodology, so that
people would not take narrating a Hadeeth lightly. This fact may
further be supported when considering that:
- Sometimes theyrequired a witness while at others they had the
narrator give oath or reminded him of how serious it is to lie against
the Prophet. This variation indicates that the purpose was actually to
establish awareness of the significance of narrating the Hadeeth
rather than set up a requirement of having more than one narrator as a
condition for its authenticity.
- There are a very large number of narrations, which indicate that in
many cases the Companionshad actually accepted Hadeeth from one
narrator without seeking any substantiation or verification.

History of the Sunnah – III: The era of the Companions and their followers

As a part of our discussion of the Companions'methodology in
preserving the Sunnah of the Prophetwe mentioned thus far two of its
aspects; namely, prudence in narrating the Hadeeth, and verification
and substantiation of the Hadeeth before accepting it. Three more
aspects are presented here.
3. Study, critique, and assessment of the narrations
Of the ways the Companionsused to preserve the Sunnah, properly
learning and studying it, was perhaps the most important. They refer
to this using terms like, "Tadaarus" and "Muthaakarah," both of which
indicate a studying that involves more than one person as well as a
mutual exchange of knowledge and ideas. The results of this "studying
and discussing" were manifold. Learning the Sunnah correctly, free of
mistakes was one of the goals, and so was the firm memorization of it.
And since it was physically impossible for a large number of the
Companionsto have equal time access to the Prophetthese discussions
were the means through which the narrations known to only a few
individuals were passed on to many others, thus expanding the circle
of narrators. Books such as Jaami' Bayaan Al-'Ilm by Ibn Abd
Al-Barrand Al-Jaami' Li Akhlaaq Ar-Raawi by Al-Khateebhave many
authentic narrations from the Companionsbearing witness to the
effectiveness of these discussions in preserving the Sunnah.
Another aspect of the Companions'methodology in preserving the Sunnah
was the critical assessment and evaluation of what they narrated and
taught to one another. Anytime a Companionfelt what he heard from
another had a problem, he or she would critically analyze it and give
his/her opinion about it. A major example of this effort by the
Companionswas demonstrated by Badruddeen Az-Zarkashiwho wrote a book
in which he collected more than seventy narrations in which one
Companion, 'Aa'ishah, the Mother of the Believerswas reported as
having corrected other Companions'narrations based on her assessment
of the narrations in light of the Quran and the Hadeeth.
4. Traveling in search of the Hadeeth
Another great effort they made was traveling in search of the Hadeeth,
for after the death of the Prophetthe Companionsmoved to different
places within the Muslim land, and traveling became an essential
method of Hadeeth collection, authentication and preservation. Here
are a few examples of the Companions'travel for the sole purpose of
confirming certain narrations:
Jaabir Ibn Abdullaahtraveled a whole month to Ancient Syria only to
verify one Hadeeth. ]Al-Bukhaari[
One of the Companionstraveled to visit Fudhaalah Ibn 'Ubaydand told
him that he came not to visit him but only to ask him about a
narration that they both heard together from Prophetand he was hoping
that Fudhaalahhad the complete wording of that Hadeeth. ]Abu Daawood[
One of the Companionsleft his home in Madeenah in order to meet Abu
Ad-Dardaa'in Damascus only to have Abu Ad-Dardaa' confirm a narration
which this Companionhad already heard from the Prophet. ]Ibn Abd
Al-Barr[traveled all the way to Egypt to ask 'Uqbah Ibn 'Amrabout one
Hadeeth. Abu Ayyoob told 'Uqbahthat the two of them were the only
living Companions who have heard that Hadeeth directly from the
Prophetand he wanted to confirm the Hadeeth from 'Uqbah. ]Ahmad[
5-Memorization of the Hadeeth
Muslims – one generation after the other – did all that is humanly
possible to preserve the texts of the Quran and the Sunnah as accurate
as they received it from the Prophet. Beside the extra effort they
exacted to develop the Methodology, the Companionsbenefited from a
talent that came naturally to them, one that was truly befitting to
the main undertaking of that methodology—the verbatim transmission of
the Sunnah. This unique quality of the Companionswas that they enjoyed
powerful memories. It was easy for anyone of them to commit to heart
any number of narrations and retain them as such for a very long time.
This quality was not specific only to the Companionsbut rather was a
common feature of the Arab society as a whole. Many scholars—Muslims
and non-Muslim alike – established the fact that the Arabs of that era
were masters of language, and their society had a profoundly strong
oral tradition. The known narrator of poet­ry, Hammaad, for example,
was reported to have memorized at least one hundred long poems for
each letter in the Arabic alphabet. That is more than 2800 pieces of
poetry. Powerful memory was a source of pride for them and they placed
more con­fidence in it than in writing, they believed that writings
could be tampered with. Some even took this pride to extreme levels,
they would not write anything down for fear that may be taken as
indication of defective memory.
Obviously, the Companionswho had more passion for preserving the
Sunnah than poetry and literature used this powerful quality to
protect and maintain the Sunnah. Imaam Ad-Daariminarrated that the
Companion Abu Hurayrahsaid: "I used to divide the night into three
parts. In the first, I would perform the optional night Prayer, in the
second I would sleep, and in the third I would spend committing
Hadeeth to my memory." Actually, all of the Companionsconsidered this
an honor and a blessing, for they were encouraged to do so by the
saying of the Prophet: "May Allaah make radiant )bestow vigor upon(
anyone who heard what I said and commit­ted it to his memory until he
is able to convey it to another. Perhaps the person who hears it from
him can have a better understanding of it than him." ]At-Tirmithi[
On the other hand, the Prophetalso taught the Companionstwo aspects
that brought a needed balance to the use of memorization in conveying
his Hadeeth, namely the importance of writing, and the need of being
moderate in all matters. This fact complemented their efforts in
establishing a sound and well rounded methodology.
The phenomenon of "Memory Power" continued to be a general character
of the Arab society well into the third and fourth centuries of
Hijrah, the time by which all of the Sunnah was collected into books
and records. But the diminishing of its prevalence in the society with
time did not minimize the role memory played in the preserving of the
Sunnah. "Memory Power," or Dhabt—proficiency in narration, as it later
came to be known—became an essential part of the standards used to
judge authenticity. Judging the narrators memory power is central in
what we know as the science of "Al-Jarh wa Ta'deel."

** Dought & clear, - Was the adhaan revealed by wahy or was it suggestedby a sahaabi?.

** I think i once read that the adhan (call to prayer)was suggested to
our prophet Muhammed () by another muslim after he said he didnt want
to use the bells that the christians used or the rams-head(?) that the
jews used to call people to prayer. How does the idea of everything
the prophet ordered being an inspiration that is inspired fit in with
this?
I am not trying to be picky here, but am asking purely to aid my understanding.
Praise be to Allaah.
"Adhaan" in Arabic means conveying; in Islam it means announcing that
the time (for prayer) has come. It was prescribed during the time of
the Messenger of Allaah(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in
Madeenah. According to the hadeeth of 'Abd-Allaah ibn Zayd ibn Abd
Rabbihi, when the Messenger of Allaah(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) decided to use a bell even though he disliked it because it
was like what the Christians used, 'there appeared to me in a dream a
man who was wearing two green garments, in whose hand was a bell. I
said, "O slave of Allaah, will you sell that bell?" he said, "What
will you do with it?" I said, "We will call the people to prayer with
it." He said, "Shall I not show you something better than that?" I
said, "Yes." He said, "Say,Allaahu akbar Allaah akbar… (to the end of
the adhaan)." When morning came, I went to the Messenger of
Allaah(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and told him what I
had seen. He said, "This is a true dream, in sha Allaah. Get up with
Bilaal and tell him what you have seen, so that he can give the call,
because he has a more beautiful voice than you." So I got up with
Bilaal and started telling him what I had seen, and he gave the call
to prayer. 'Umar ibn al-Khattaab heard that whilst he was in his
house, and he came out, dragging his cloak behind him, saying, "By the
One Who sent you with the truth, O Messenger of Allaah, I saw the same
as he saw." The Messenger of Allaah(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: "To Allaah be praise."'(Narrated by Ahmad, 1588;
al-Tirmidhi, 174; Abu Dawood, 421, 430; Ibn Maajah, 698).
It is clear from this hadeeth:
That the words of the adhaan came in a dream which was seen by a great
sahaabi and approved of by our great Prophet. They were not a
suggestion as you mentioned, but a dream, and it is known that dreams
are one of the seventy parts of Prophethood, because it was stated in
a hadeeth narrated by Ibn 'Umar that the Prophet(peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) said: "Dreams are one of the seventy parts of
Prophethood."(Narrated by Ahmad, 4449).
Al-Bukhaari narrated a different version: "True dreams are one of the
forty-six parts of Prophethood."(Narrated by al-Bukhaari,, 6474;
Muslim, 4203, 42005).
The dream here, which the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) described as a true dream, came from Allaah and was not a
suggestion from a person. So it was a part of Prophethood because it
was approved of by the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) and was described by him as a true dream. If the Prophet had not
approved of it, it would not have been considered a true dream and it
would not have been a part of Prophethood. The one who judged it to be
true was the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and
the one who commanded them to act upon it was the Prophet(peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him), who received revelation (wahy) from
his Lord.
'Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) had seen a similar dream. Let
us not forget that 'Umar was one of the Rightly-guided khaleefahs
(al-khulafaa' al-raashidoon), of whom the Messenger(peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, "I exhort you to adhere to my
sunnah (way) and the sunnah of the rightly-guided khaleefahs. Hold on
tight to it with your back teeth."(Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2600; Ibn
Maajah, 43; Ahmad, 16519).
'Umar's view frequently coincided with the wahy and divine
legislation. 'Aa'ishah reported that the Prophet(peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) used to say, "Among the nations who came before
you there were people who were muhaddathoon (inspired). If there is
anyone like this in my ummah, it is 'Umar ibn al-Khattaab."(Narrated
by al-Bukhaari, 3282; Muslim, 2398).Ibn Wahb said muhaddathoon means
inspired.
You may ask, why did the adhaan start in this fashion, being seen in a
dream by two sahaabis then being confirmed by the wahy? Why was it not
revealed directly? The answer is that Allaah decrees whatever He
wills, however He wills, may He be glorified and exalted. Perhaps the
way it happened was meant to demonstrate the virtue of these two
sahaabis and to confirm the how good this ummah is, because among them
are some whose opinions coincide with the wahy and some who had true
dreams which confirmed their truthfulness, for the people who have the
truest dreams are the truest in speech as the Prophet(peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said.
Finally:
The definition of the Sunnah given in the books of the scholars is
that it consists of everything that was narrated from the
Messenger(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), everything that
he "said, did or approved of."
What is meant by his words and actions is clear. What he approved of
refers to when someone did something in front of him and he approved
of it – this is also part of the sharee'ah, not because that person
did it, but because the Messenger(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) approved of it. The Messenger(peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) never kept quiet about falsehood and he never approved of
anything false or misguided that was done by others. He would
disapprove of it and speak out against it, as he did in the case of
the sahaabi Abu Israa'eel, as was narrated by Ibn 'Abbaas, who said:
"Whilst the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was
giving a khutbah, he saw a man standing in the sun, and he asked about
him. They said, 'That is Abu Israa'eel. He vowed to stand and not sit
down, not to seek shade, not to speak, and to fast.' He said, 'Tell
him to speak, seek shade and sit down, but let him complete his
fast.'"(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6326).
The Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) approved of Abu
Israa'eel's vow to fast, but he cancelled the rest of his vow and did
not approve of it.
So it is clear that the adhaan became part of the religion when the
Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) confirmed what
Allaah had shown the two sahaabis in their dreams, and commanded
'Abd-Allaah ibn Zayd to teach it to Bilaal so that he could call the
people to prayer. Hopefully the explanation given above will dispel
your confusion and make matters clearer to you. We ask Allaah to grant
us and you understanding of Islam. And Allaah knows best.