Kitabat al-Sunna fi Ahd al-Nabi wa al-Sahaba wa Atharuha fi Hifz al-Sunna al-Nabawiyya
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Kitabat al-Sunna fi Ahd al-Nabi wa al-Sahaba wa Atharuha fi Hifz al-Sunna al-Nabawiyya (The Writing of the Sunna in the Era of the Prophet and the Companions and Its Impact on Preserving the Prophetic Sunna) is a specialized study in hadith historiography by the contemporary Egyptian scholar and professor Rifat Fawzi Abd al-Muttalib . The book examines the historical reality of early hadith recording during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad and the era of the Companions (Sahaba), refuting arguments that hadith transmission relied purely on oral memory until the end of the first century AH .
Background and Methodology
The work addresses a widespread misconception that conflates initial recording (kitaba) with formal, systematic codification (tadwin) into comprehensive collections (jawami' or diwan) . The author clarifies that when classical authorities like Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuṭi cited Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri as the first to codify hadith under the instruction of the Umayyad caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, they referred to the compilation and chapter-based structuring (tabwib) of existing written sheets (suhuf), not to the inception of writing itself . Abd al-Muttalib contends that confusing these terms provided fodder for Orientalists and critics to argue that hadiths were vulnerable to distortion during an alleged century-long oral transmission gap .
The author reconciles the narrations concerning the prohibition of writing hadith—notably the narration of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri in Sahih Muslim—with those permitting it, such as the Prophet’s instruction to write down the conquest sermon for Abu Shah and his explicit permission to Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As . Drawing on rulings from Ibn Hajar, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, and al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, he highlights that the initial prohibition was either abrogated (mansukh) once the Quran was securely compiled and distinguished from hadith, or aimed at preventing confusion with the Quran on the same writing materials . Furthermore, he explains that early transmitters rarely noted whether an individual hadith came from a text because scholarly criteria prioritized direct auditory audition (sama') and continuous chains of transmission (ittisal al-asnad) over transmission by written discovery (wijada) .
Structure and Contents
The book is arranged into a preliminary introduction, two main parts, and a conclusion:
Part One: Writing of the Sunna in the Prophetic Era
- General Survey of Prophetic Writings: Explores early documents produced during the Prophet's lifetime, such as the sahifa held by Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Sahifa al-Sadiqa compiled by Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As, the instruction booklet sent to Amr ibn Hazm upon his appointment to Yemen, the official document on zakat dues attached to the Prophet's sword, and various political letters sent to rulers .
- Detailed Examination of Specific Documents: Provides text analyses of Ali's sahifa—covering the sacred precinct of Medina, the mutual pact and security of Muslims, blood retaliation, ransoming captives, and grave prohibitions—and Amr ibn Hazm's epistle concerning ritual purity, prayer timings, zakat rates, blood moneys (diyat), and the poll tax (jizya) .
- Corroborating Routes (Shawahid): Demonstrates how the core contents of these Prophetic written records were transmitted through multiple parallel lines across prominent Companions, including Anas ibn Malik, Abu Hurayra, Jabir ibn Abd Allah, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, Aisha, Abdullah ibn Umar, and Abdullah ibn Abbas, establishing that numerous circulated oral narrations stemmed directly from established written texts .
Part Two: Writing of the Sunna in the Era of the Companions
- Overview of Sahaba Manuscripts: Reviews the expansion of written records among the Companions, noting that modern scholars such as Muhammad Mustafa al-Azami documented over fifty Companions who held written hadith collections, including Jabir ibn Abd Allah, Samura ibn Jundub, Ibn Abbas, and Ibn Umar .
- In-Depth Case Studies:
- The Sahifa of Hammam ibn Munabbih from Abu Hurayra: Analyzes this complete preserved text containing 139 hadiths, showing how its various theological, legal, and ethical traditions are corroborated by more than 700 supporting transmission paths and parallel chains in classical collections .
- The Sahifa of Samura ibn Jundub: Examines the collection transmitted by his sons and through al-Hasan al-Basri, assessing its status as a written codex, the critical assessments of scholars like Ali ibn al-Madini and Abu Dawud, and its textual parallels across other Companion reports .
The book concludes by synthesizing these findings, arguing that the multitude of hadiths found in later canonical compilations represent branches radiating from this extensive, documented foundation of early written recordings dating back to the prophetic and companion eras .
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