3.7.2 Preservation of Hadith

The Promise of Protection and the Place of Hadith

Allah promised to protect His final revelation. The Quran states:

“Indeed, it is We who sent down the Reminder, and indeed, We will surely guard it.”
(Qur’an 15:9)

The “Reminder” is first and foremost the Quran. However, the Quran itself commands the believers to obey the Messenger and to take what he gives them. This shows that the explanation of the Quran, which is found in the Sunnah and Hadith, is also part of what Allah protected for this Ummah.

“And whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, refrain from it.”
(Qur’an 59:7)

“Whoever obeys the Messenger has indeed obeyed Allah.”
(Qur’an 4:80)

Since the command to obey the Messenger is in the Quran until the Day of Judgment, the Ummah must reliably know what the Messenger said and did. The preservation of Hadith is the way Allah enabled Muslims to fulfill these Quranic commands.

The Prophet ﷺ also indicated that his teachings would be faithfully carried by his followers:

“May Allah brighten a person who hears a statement from us, then conveys it as he heard it. Perhaps the one it is conveyed to will understand it better than the one who heard it.”
(Reported by at-Tirmidhi)

This hadith shows that accurate hearing and conveying are praiseworthy acts in the sight of Allah. It became the foundation of a careful scholarly culture focused on precise preservation.

Early Oral Preservation in the Prophet’s Lifetime

The Arabs at the time of the Prophet ﷺ had an extraordinarily strong culture of memorization. Poetry, tribal histories, and long genealogies were memorized and transmitted from generation to generation. When revelation came, this skill served the preservation of both Quran and Sunnah.

The Companions memorized the words and actions of the Prophet ﷺ. They did not think of what he said as casual remarks to be forgotten, but as guidance and light:

“He does not speak from his own desire. It is but a revelation revealed.”
(Qur’an 53:3–4)

Although this verse refers primarily to the Quran itself, it also shows that the Prophet ﷺ is guided in his speech and judgment. For this reason, the Companions paid special attention and transmitted his sayings and actions carefully to others.

The Prophet ﷺ encouraged learning and teaching his sayings:

“Let the one who is present convey to the one who is absent.”
(Reported by al-Bukhari)

This instruction made every listener feel a responsibility to pass on what they had heard with honesty and precision. Many Companions became known for narrating large numbers of hadith, such as Abu Hurayrah, Aisha, Ibn Umar, Ibn Abbas, and Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with them all.

Written Records in the Earliest Generations

Although memorization was central, writing also existed from the beginning. The Prophet ﷺ had scribes for the Quran. Some Companions also wrote his sayings, with his permission.

One Companion, Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As, had a personal collection of hadith that he wrote down. He said:

“I used to write everything I heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, intending to memorize it. Quraysh forbade me and said, ‘Do you write everything you hear from him, while the Messenger of Allah is a human being who speaks in anger and pleasure?’ I stopped writing, then mentioned that to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He pointed to his mouth and said: ‘Write, for by Him in whose hand is my soul, nothing comes from it except truth.’”
(Reported by Abu Dawud)

This narration shows that the Prophet ﷺ approved the writing of his hadith and affirmed the truthfulness of what he said in matters of guidance.

There are also reports that the Prophet ﷺ dictated written instructions and legal rulings to specific individuals. Among them are the written document for Amr ibn Hazm regarding laws of zakah, inheritance, and other rulings, and letters sent to different rulers. These are early examples of recorded Sunnah.

Even when the focus after the Prophet’s death was heavily on preserving the Quranic text, the memory of the Companions remained full of his sayings and explanations, and some written collections existed in a personal form among them and the next generation, the Successors (Tabiʿin).

The Chain of Narration (Isnād)

As the Muslim community spread into different lands, scholars realized they had to distinguish between genuine reports from the Prophet ﷺ and statements mistakenly attributed to him or even fabricated. Out of this need emerged one of the most remarkable features of Islamic scholarship, the science of isnād, or chains of narration.

In hadith terminology, every report includes two parts. The first is the chain of narrators who pass on the statement, such as “X narrated from Y, from Z, from the Companion.” The second is the actual text of the hadith itself. The chain became a powerful tool for verification.

A famous early scholar, Muhammad ibn Sirin, said:

“They did not use to ask about the isnād. But when the fitnah (turmoil) occurred they said, ‘Name for us your men.’ Then the narrations of Ahl as-Sunnah were accepted, and the narrations of the people of innovation were left.”
(Reported by Muslim in the introduction to his Sahih)

This shows that asking about the chain developed early, especially when Muslims faced internal conflicts and disputes. The scholars refused to accept anonymous or unsupported claims about what the Prophet ﷺ said.

The importance of the chain is also highlighted in the saying attributed to Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak:

“The isnād is from the religion. Were it not for the isnād, whoever wished could say whatever he wished.”
(Reported by Muslim in the introduction to his Sahih)

With this approach, every link in the chain had to be known, examined, and judged trustworthy before a hadith could be accepted as authentic.

The Science of Evaluating Narrators (al-Jarḥ wa at-Taʿdīl)

To make the chain meaningful, scholars built a detailed science around the biographies and reliability of narrators. This field is called “al-jarḥ wa at-taʿdīl,” meaning “criticism and validation.”

They asked questions such as:

Who is this narrator? Where was he born? Whom did he meet? How honest was he? How strong was his memory? Did he ever contradict more reliable narrators?

They collected information from contemporaries, students, and teachers. They examined the narrator’s religious commitment, his adherence to the Sunnah, and his moral character. Lying was considered a severe sin, and anyone known to lie about worldly matters was usually rejected as a reliable narrator, let alone someone who lied about the Prophet ﷺ.

The Prophet ﷺ had already warned very clearly against lying about him:

“Whoever lies about me deliberately, let him take his seat in the Fire.”
(Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim)

This stern warning made Muslims extremely cautious. A person caught fabricating or twisting hadith risked both religious disgrace and eternal punishment. As a result, scholars considered it a serious duty to protect the Sunnah from such people.

Books were compiled that listed narrators and gave short judgments about each one, such as “trustworthy,” “reliable,” “truthful but with weak memory,” “abandoned,” or “liar.” Through these works, later generations could see how earlier scholars had judged thousands of narrators over centuries.

Classifying Hadith by Authenticity

Because of these methods, hadith scholars did not treat every report the same. They developed precise categories, especially the categories of authentic (ṣaḥīḥ), good (ḥasan), and weak (ḍaʿīf). Some reports were also labeled fabricated (mawḍūʿ) when evidence showed that someone had invented them.

A hadith scholar examined at least two main aspects before classifying a report.

First, the chain of narration. The chain had to be unbroken, with each narrator proven to have met or been capable of receiving from the one before him. The narrators had to be trustworthy, known for honesty and good character, and they had to have reliable memories or accurate written records.

Second, the text of the hadith itself. It could not contradict the Quran, more established hadith, or known facts of the religion. It also could not contain impossible or absurd information that clearly opposed reason and revelation together.

Only when a report met strict conditions was it called ṣaḥīḥ. Many reports were accepted as ḥasan when they were slightly less strong but still reliable. Reports that had serious problems in the chain, or in the text, were labeled weak or worse.

Although beginners often only hear of “authentic” and “weak,” behind these two words there is a fine and careful science that took shape in the early centuries of Islam and continued to be refined by later scholars.

The Great Collections and Methodology of the Imams

As the body of hadith grew, scholars traveled long distances to hear reports from different teachers and to compare what each person narrated. A student might travel from Iraq to the Hijaz, then to Syria, collecting hadith all along the way, comparing chains, and testing memory.

From this rich activity came the great collections that many Muslims know by name, such as the compilations of al-Bukhari and Muslim. These works did not simply gather whatever the compilers could find. Each compiler set conditions and applied them rigorously.

Imam al-Bukhari, for example, is known to have set very strict requirements. He verified that each narrator in a chain actually met the one he narrated from, and that they had a known teacher student relationship. He demanded high standards of character and memory. He is reported to have said that he selected his Sahih from hundreds of thousands of narrations he had come across, placing in it only those that met his strict criteria.

Imam Muslim also set high standards, though with slightly different technical conditions. Together, the collections known as Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim came to be regarded by the scholars as the most authentic books after the Quran.

The compilers often placed the same hadith in more than one place, with slightly different chains, to show its strength through multiple supporting routes. They also placed chapter headings that hinted at their understanding of the hadith and the rulings derived from it.

Other important compilers, such as Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, an-Nasa’i, and Ibn Majah, also produced collections that became foundational for later scholars. They did not all restrict themselves to only authentic hadith, but they generally informed the reader of the strength of the narrations and gathered evidence relevant to law, manners, and belief.

Continuous Transmission in Every Generation

One remarkable aspect of hadith preservation is that it did not stop after the major books were compiled. Instead, the teaching and recitation of these works continued in every generation.

Teachers would grant permission (ijāzah) to reliable students to transmit a book or a group of hadith, creating new chains of narration that extended from the compiler down to the present day. A single hadith might be linked through multiple continuous chains across centuries.

Alongside the oral transmission, written manuscripts were copied with care. Scholars compared different copies to correct mistakes. Marginal notes and explanations were added. Libraries in different lands preserved multiple manuscripts of the same work.

The Quran encourages the Muslim community to maintain a group of people dedicated to understanding and teaching the religion:

“But why should not a group from every section of them go forth so that they may gain understanding of the religion, and so that they may warn their people when they return to them, that they might be cautious?”
(Qur’an 9:122)

This verse is not limited to hadith, but it includes the work of hadith scholars. They were the ones who “went forth,” traveled, learned, and then returned to teach and clarify for others. Through them, the chains connecting us to the Prophet ﷺ were preserved and renewed.

Protecting the Sunnah from Fabrication and Error

Not every statement that circulated among Muslims was true. Political disputes, sectarian differences, and sometimes misplaced enthusiasm led some people to invent sayings and attribute them to the Prophet ﷺ. Some people even admitted that they had fabricated hadith to promote what they thought were good acts.

However, the scholarly community treated this as a betrayal of the Prophet ﷺ and a sin of the worst kind, exactly as warned in the hadith about lying on him. They investigated reports, identified fabricators, and wrote works exposing false narrations.

A newcomer to Islam might imagine that the existence of weak and fabricated hadith is a sign of weakness in the tradition. In reality, it is a sign of its strength. The fact that scholars identified, labeled, and warned against unreliable reports shows that they were not naive or careless. They did not pretend that every narration was equal. Instead, they developed tools to separate the sound from the unsound.

Allah describes the believers as people who stand for fairness, even if it is against themselves:

“O you who believe, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives.”
(Qur’an 4:135)

Hadith scholars applied this principle to religious knowledge. They did not hesitate to criticize narrations or even famous figures when the evidence required it. Their loyalty was to the truth and to the protection of the Prophet’s Sunnah.

The Connection Between Hadith Preservation and Daily Practice

The preservation of hadith is not an abstract academic exercise. Without hadith, core parts of Islamic practice would be left undefined. The Quran commands the believers to establish prayer, pay zakah, fast in Ramadan, and perform hajj, but the details are in the Sunnah, known through hadith.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

“Pray as you have seen me praying.”
(Reported by al-Bukhari)

He also said regarding hajj:

“Take your rites from me.”
(Reported by Muslim)

These instructions cannot be followed unless the community reliably knows how he prayed and how he performed hajj. The effort to preserve the hadith kept these practices living and consistent across the Muslim world, even as cultures, languages, and lands differed.

When a Muslim today performs the five daily prayers, follows the manners of eating and greeting, or observes the rulings of marriage and trade according to the Sunnah, he or she is acting through a living connection to the Prophet ﷺ. That connection is possible because hadith were preserved with care.

The Balance between Reverence and Critical Study

For a beginner, it is important to recognize two truths at the same time.

First, authentic hadith are a source of guidance that must be respected and followed along with the Quran. The Quran itself commands obedience to the Messenger, and the Sunnah is his way and explanation.

Second, not every statement attributed to the Prophet ﷺ is authentic. Scholars have done detailed work to classify and explain the status of different narrations. A person should not feel overwhelmed by this, but should learn gradually from reliable teachers and recognized works.

The Quran reminds believers of their duty when they receive information:

“O you who believe, if a wicked person comes to you with news, verify it, lest you harm a people in ignorance and then become regretful over what you have done.”
(Qur’an 49:6)

Although this verse speaks about general news, hadith scholars applied its lesson to religious reports as well. They verified, examined, and cross checked, so that the Ummah would not rely on falsehood.

For someone starting the study of Islam, it is enough to know that Allah did not leave the Sunnah unprotected. Through memorization, writing, chains of transmission, and critical scholarship, the words and actions of the Prophet ﷺ were kept safe enough for guidance, worship, and law.

In later chapters, when learning about following the Prophet ﷺ, and the meaning of Sunnah in daily life, this preserved heritage of hadith will become the basis for living Islam with knowledge and confidence.