4-Prudence in Narrating the Hadeeth

Most scholars group the main aspects of the methodology of the Companions  in 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.  

Because of the fact that the Sunnah is a revelation and a sacred Source for this religion, the Companions  were 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 Layla  said: “I have met with 120 Companions  from 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.” They  understood that they were conveying the message brought to them by the Prophet  and 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-Khattaab  and 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 Companions  who 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 Companions  did 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 they  saw and heard the Prophet  say, 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.