Is this hadeeth saheeh, and what does it mean: "Do not write anything
from me, and whoever writes anything but the Qur'aan, let him erase
it"? May Allaah reward you with good.
Praise be to Allaah.
It was narrated from Abu Sa'eed al-Khudri that the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Do not write
anything from me; whoever has written anything from me other than the
Qur'aan, let him erase it and narrate from me, for there is nothing
wrong with that." (Narrated by Muslim,al-Zuhd wa'l-Raqaa'iq, 5326)
Al-Nawawi said in his commentary on Saheeh Muslim:
"Al-Qaadi said: there were many disputes among the Sahaabah and
Taabi'een concerning the writing down of knowledge. Many of them
regarded this as being makrooh, but most of them regarded it as
permissible. This dispute is no longer an issue.
They differed as to the meaning of this hadeeth which says that it is
forbidden. It was said that this pertained to one who was sure of his
memory, and there was the fear that he may rely upon what he had
written if he wrote it down; the ahaadeeth which say that it is
permissible to write things down is to be interpreted as referring to
the one whose memory is not reliable, such as the hadeeth, "Write it
down for Abu Shaah"; or the hadeeth of the saheefah of 'Ali (may
Allaah be pleased with him); the hadeeth of the book of 'Amr ibn Hazm,
which contains laws on inheritance, sunnahs and diyaat (blood money);
the hadeeth about writing down charity, and the minimum amounts at
which zakaah becomes obligatory (nisaab), with which Abu Bakr sent
Anas (may Allaah be pleased with him) to Bahrain; the hadeeth of Abu
Hurayrah which says that Ibn 'Amr ibn al-'Aas used to ; write things
down but he (Abu Hurayrah) did not write things down, and other
ahaadeeth. And it was said that the hadeeth forbidding writing down
ahaadeeth was abrogated by these ahaadeeth. The prohibition was in
effect when there was the fear that (the words of the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) might be mixed with the Qur'aan.
When that danger was no longer present, permission was given to write
down (ahaadeeth). And it was said that the prohibition mentioned in
the hadeeth referred to writing ahaadeeth on the same page as Qur'aan,
lest they become mixed and thus the reader would be confused when
looking at this page. And Allaah knows best.
The hadeeth of Abu Shaah was narrated by al-Bukhaari from Abu Hurayrah
(may Allaah be pleased with him), who said: 'When Allaah granted His
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) victory over
Makkah, he stood before the people and praised and glorified Allaah,
then he said: "Allaah protected Makkah from the elephant and has given
authority to His Messenger and the believers over it, so fighting was
forbidden for anyone before me, and was made permissible for me for
part of a day, and it will not be permissible for anyone after me. Its
game should not be chased, its thorny bushes should not be uprooted,
and picking up its fallen things is not allowed except for one who
makes public announcement for it, and he whose relative is murdered
has the option either to accept a compensation for it or to
retaliate." Al-'Abbas said, "Except Al-Idhkhir (a kind of plant), for
we use it in our graves and houses." The Messenger of Allaah (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, "Except Al-Idhkhir." Abu
Shaah, a Yemeni, stood up and said, "O Messenger of Allaah! Get it
written for me." The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said, "Write it for Abu Shaah." (al-Luqatah,
2254)
Ibn Hajar said: What may be understood from the story of Abu Shaah
("Write it for Abu Shaah") is that the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) gave permission for hadeeth to be written down
from him.
This contradicts the hadeeth of Abu Sa'eed al-Khudri, which says that
the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said, 'Do not write down anything from me except the Qur'aan.'
(Narrated by Muslim).
The two may be reconciled by noting that the prohibition applied only
to the time when the Qur'aan was being revealed, lest it be confused
with something else, and that permission was given at other times; or
that the prohibition applied only to writing down things other than
Qur'aan with the Qur'aan on one thing, and that permission was given
to write them separately; of that the prohibition came first and the
permission abrogated that, when there was no longer any fear of
confusion. This is most likely to be the case.
It was said that the prohibition applied only to those whom it was
feared would depend on the writing and not memorize things, and that
permission was given for those from whom such a thing was not feared.
The scholars said: a group of the Sahaabah and Taabi'een regarded it
as makrooh to write down the hadeeth and they regarded it as mustahabb
to learn it from them by heart, as they had learned it. But when
people were no longer able to strive so hard (in memorizing) and the
scholars feared that knowledge might be lost, they compiled it in
books."
'' Our Lord ! grant us good in this world and good in the hereafter and save us from the torment of the Fire '' [Ameen]
-
{in Arab} :->
Rabbanaa aatinaa fid-dunyaa hasanatan wafil aakhirati hasanatan waqinaa 'athaaban-naar/-
(Surah Al-Baqarah ,verse 201)
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