Compilation of Ahadith

1. The first stage relates to the period of the Prophet till 10 A.H. 2. The second stage is approximately from 11 A.H. to 100 A.H. This is the period of Sahaba, the companions of the Prophet. 3. The third stage is from about 101 to nearly 200 A.H. This is the period of the Tabiin, the disciples of the companions of the Prophet. 4. The fourth stage is roughly from 200 A.H. to 300 A.H. This is the period of Taba Tabiun, the disciples of the disciples.

1st Stage Lifetime of the Holy Prophet

During the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) there was no pressing need to write down all his statements or to record his actions because he was present and could be consulted at any time. Though there was no regular compilation of the traditions, for they were not generally recorded in writing. However, they were orally transmitted, with great accuracy of detail, thanks to the Arabs exceptionally retentive memories. Some companions had, however, prepared written collections of traditions for their own personal use. Those companions, in particular, who had weaker memories used to write them down for memorizing and preservation. These were also dictated to their disciples. Then there were those companions who had administrative offices arranged for written copies of traditions, so that they might carry out their duties in the true spirit of Islam. For instance, while appointing Amr ibn Hazm as the governor of Yaman, the Prophet himself gave him a letter containing the times of prayer, methods of prayer, details of ablution, booty, taxation, zakat, etc. Holy Prophet himself encouraged people to write down his words. Abdullah ibn `Amr said, I used to write everything which I heard from the Messenger of Allah with the intention of memorizing it. However, some Quraishites forbade me from doing so saying, "Do you write everything that you hear from him, while the Messenger of Allah is a human being who speaks in anger and pleasure?" So I stopped writing, and mentioned it to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He pointed with his finger to his mouth and said, "Write! By Him in whose hand is my soul, only truth comes out from it."

Holy Prophet also said : Those who are present should convey the message those who are not here. At Madina the Holy Prophet himself appointed some persons to acquireknowledge of Islam.These were called as Ashabb-us-Suffah ( the people of Bench).Suffah means shaded area or an area covered by some roof.There was such a small area in the Prophets mosque designed for residence and educational activities of the poor and neddy.Most of the Hadith of that time were compiled and narrated by Ashaab-us-Suffah and their guide and teacher was the Prophet himself. Some official narration/compilations of that time are: The Book of Sadaqa which contained specifications of Zakat rate Sahifa Amr-bin-Hazm which was dictated directly by the Prophet himself to Ubay-binKab who handed it over to Amir ibn Hazam , governor of Yemen. Hadiths were also compiled on the occasion of Farewell Pilgramage of the Prophet.

2nd Stage Compilation in the time of Holy Prophets Companions

After the death of the Prophet his sayings and actions took of a new importance because he was no longer there to consult when problems arose The Companions who knew the Hadith at first hand were gradually passing away. Their number continued to diminish day by day. Therefore, people became more keen to preserve the precious Hadith literature that had been stored in their memories. The number of converts was also growing and they showed great eagerness to learn as much about the traditions as possible..So The practice of narration on a large scale started during this period. Abu Huraira one of Prophets Closest Companions is knows to have narrated more than 5374 Hadith, more than any other companion.He devoted his entire life in hearing and preserving Hadith of Prophet.Later one of his students Hamam bin Munabah wrote a collection under his supervision knows as Sahifa Hammam bin Munabah Abdullah bin Umar transmitted 2630 Hadith and compiled the script called as Sahifa-alSadiqah.It was written on instructions of Holy Prophet. Anas Bin Malik served the Holy Prophet and transmitted many Hadith.He wrote a script called Sahifa Anas bin Malik. Abdullah bin Abbas transmitted 1660 Hadith and many of his students transmitted Hadith from him in written form.

Close companions such as Jabir and Ali also compiled the Hadiths.Jabir is said to have compiled 1560 Hadith. Abu Saeed al-Khudree also narrated 1170 Hadith. The wives of the Prophet were also looked upon as vital custodians of Ahadith.The names of Ayesha, Hafsa , Umm-e-Habibah,, Mamunah are famous transmitters.Ayesha which is one of the most important figures is said to have transmitted 2210 Hadith. Famous works in this Stage : Hazrat Abdullah ibn Amr Saheefah-e-Sadiqah Hazrat Ali Saheefah-e-Ali Hazrat Humam bin Munabbih Saheefah-e-Abu Hurairah Hazrat Saad bin Ubadah Book of Saad Hazrat Jabir bin Abdullah Book of Jabir

Stage 3 Compilation by companions of Holy Prophet companion (Tabiin)

This is the age of the followers of the companions of the Prophet. They devoted their entire lives to collecting traditions from different centres of learning, with the result that a large number of traditions were preserved. Now it became possible to collect several memoirs in larger volumes. Islam had spread into the Middle East, India, and North Africa and the narration of Hadith had become widespread, there arose people who began to invent hadiths. To combat this development, `Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz (reign 99 to 101 A.H. 718 to 720 A.C.) ordered the scholars to compile the traditions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The scholars had already begun composing books containing biographical data on the various narrators of Hadith in order to expose the liars and fabricators. Abu Bakr ibn Hazm (died 120/737) was among those who was directed by the khalifah to compile Hadith. `Umar asked him to write down all the hadiths of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and of `Umar ibn Al-Khattab and to pay particular attention to gathering the hadiths of `Amrah bint `Abdur-Rahman, who was at that time the most respected custodian of the narrations of `Aishah Mohd. ibn Shihab Al Zuhri, the first regular compiler, was one of the most distinguished traditionists. Ibn Shihab Zuhri and Abu Bakr Al-Hazm were asked by Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, the Umayyad caliph, to prepare a collection of all available traditions. Umar bin Abul Aziz wrote to Abu Bakr Al Hazm: Whatever sayings of the Prophet can be found,

write them down, for I fear the loss of knowledge and disappearance of learned men, and do not accept anything but the Hadith of the Holy Prophet, and people should make knowledge public. Other famous Tabein were Saeed Ibn al-Mussayab , Urwah ibn ZUbair , Saalim ibn Abdullah ibn Umar and Naafi The famous Sahifa of Shihab al Zuhri was compiled in this period.The sahifa of Abu Hurairas student Hammam ibn Munbah known as Sahifa Hamam bin Munabah was also transmitted and compiled in this time of Tabiin

Stage 4 Compilation by Companions of the Companions of Companions of Holy Prophet (Taba Tabiin)
In the period following that of the Tabi`in (era of Tabi`ut- Tabi`in), the hadiths were systematically collected and written in texts. One of the earliest works was AlMuwatta' composed by Malik ibn Anas. Other books of Hadith were also written by scholars of Maliks time; by the likes of Al-Awza`i who lived in Syria; `Abdullah ibn AlMubarak of Khurasan; Hammad ibn Salamah of Basrah; and Sufyan Ath-Thawri of Kufah. However, the only work which survived from that time is that of Imam Malik. It could be said that in this period the majority of hadiths were collected in the various centers of Islam. There arose in the third century scholars who undertook the task of critical research of hadiths that were narrated and compiled in the first two centuries. They also grouped the hadiths which they considered to be accurate according to the branches of Islamic Law. For example, from this period is the book Sahih Al-Bukhari containing 7,275 hadiths which Al-Bukhari (died- 870 C.E.) chose from 600,000; and Sahih Muslim which contains 9,200 hadiths that Imam Muslim selected from 300,000. Besides these two works of Hadith, there are four other works which became famous during this period. They are the Sunan of Abu Dawud (died 889 C.E.); Sunan of At-Tirmidhi (died 893 C.E.); Sunan of An-Nasa'i (died 916 C.E.); and Sunan of Ibn Majah(died 908 C.E.).