Muslims were, early on, aware of the significance of the Sunnah and its authority. They, one generation after the other, were keen to preserve the Sunnah because they saw that as a part of the preservation of the last revelations man is ever to receive. Their efforts were unabated, and the remarkable job they did is unparalleled in the experience of any other religion or civilization.

At the time of the Prophet:

One of the main reasons behind this is the fact that the Prophet clearly taught the Companions the importance of his Sunnah, its place in Islam and their role in saving it, teaching and conveying it to others around them and to those who would come after them. In so doing, he followed an effective methodology, which will be briefly outlined below:

1. He emphasised the importance of seeking knowledge and teaching it to others. He said: “Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim (male and female).” [Ibn Mājah] Also, he said: “Whosoever pursues a path to seek knowledge therein, God will thereby make easy for him a path to Paradise. No people gather together in one of the houses of God (mosques), reciting the Book of God and studying it among themselves, without tranquillity descending upon them, mercy enveloping them and angles surrounding them, and God making mention of them to those (angels) who are with Him.” [Muslim]
2. He always had a centre for teaching. Most of the time, it was the mosque.
3. He was soft in his dealings and always facilitated things and made them easy for others. He was merciful and humble and made himself readily available.
4. He never pushed people into anything. Instead, he gradually taught them and led them to change. He always motivated them to follow his example and be their best.
5. He would not continuously teach or work with them, but he would give them enough breaks to avoid overstressing or boring them.
6. He spoke plainly and clearly and he talked to people at their level of understanding and intellectual ability. Whenever appropriate, he spoke to people in their own dialect for the Arabs had different dialects.
7. He used the method of repetition. He would repeat whatever he wanted to stress for three times to insure that all heard him properly and clearly understood what he was saying.
8. When questioned, he would give more than what is expected as an answer and use the occasion to further clarify things for all, and teach about other things.
9. Whenever the Prophet had to choose between two ways, he chose the easier way, which had facility and mercy if there was nothing forbidden in that, and he kept away from the difficult and harsh ways.
10. He attached special attention to teaching the women and provided them special times for questions. He encouraged them to ask and learn.
11. He used to do his best in everything, and he perfected whatever he did, thus setting an example for others.

The era of the Companions and their Followers

The Companions did their utmost to convey Islam to the generations succeeding them in the best and most accurate way possible. They sincerely loved it, honestly lived according to it and faithfully preserved it and kept any impurity or irregularity out of it.

Their role in the preservation of Islam was one of utmost importance to its continuation, but they were highly prepared for it by the best teacher and trainer, the Prophet. Thus the studying of this era, especially with respect to the history and authority of the Sunnah, is necessary to all Students of Knowledge.

And since this article will not provide enough details to properly cover the subject, it is recommended that the readers consult the following list of books on the subject:

• Studies of Early Hadith Literature by M. M. Azami,
• Sunnah Qabla at-Tadween (the Sunnah before Writing) by Ajaj Al-Khateeb,
• The Sunnah and its Place in Islam by Mustafa As-Siba’ee,
• Manhajj an-Naqd fi Uloom Al-Hadith (The Methodology of Critique in the Sciences of Hadeeth) by Noor-ud-deen Etr,
• Al-Hadeeth wal Muhaddithoon (Hadith and Hadith Narrators) by Muhammad M. Abu Zahou, and
• Hujjiatus Sunnah (The Authority of the Sunnah) by Houcine Chouat.

Methodology of the Companions in Preserving the Sunnah

Before discussing the Companions’ ways of learning, practising, preserving and conveying of the Sunnah, it is worthwhile to shed some light on the main points one needs to understand about the Companions and their methodology:

1. The Companions were fully aware of the responsibility they shoulder after the death of the Prophet.
2. The Companions are all trustworthy. They never doubted one another in the matters of this religion and the narration of Hadith.
3. The Companions have developed a methodology for scrutinising Hadiths and narrators, and by doing that have established the rules of ascertaining narrations for those who came after them.
4. The ability of different Companions to understand the Sunnah, memorize it and convey it varied from one Companion to another.
5. The Companions left Makkah and Madinah to many places around the Muslim world, at the time, for the purpose of delivering the message and teaching Islam to those who accepted it thus spreading the Sunnah throughout the land.

It is interesting to note that about 750 Companions narrated Hadiths, seven of whom narrated a high number of Hadiths, and about twenty narrated an average number, the rest narrated a small number.

The seven who narrated a large number of Hadiths are: Abu Hurairah who narrated 5374 Hadiths, ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Umar narrated 2630, Anas Ibn Malik narrated 2286, ‘Aishah narrated 2210 Hadiths, ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas narrated 1660, Jabir Ibn ‘Abdullah narrated 1540, and Abu Sa’īd AI-Khudri narrated 1100 Hadiths. They understood their role and were aware of the significance of their ability in narrating the Hadiths and did their best to deliver them diligently and accurately. Muslims of all times are indebted to them.

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 hadiths, verification and substantiation of the hadiths before accepting them, critique, discussions and assessment of the narration, travelling for search and confirmation of the hadiths, memorization, practice and writing of the hadiths. Some scholars refer to these aspects as ‘rulings’, ‘methods’ or ‘ways’ instead of methodology.

1- Prudence in narrating the Hadeeth:

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 said or did. This vigilance was illustrated in:

• Avoiding narration unless they had to. ‘Abdurrahman Ibn Abi Layla said: “I have met with 120 Companions from the Ansar (supporters of the Prophet), none of whom would narrate a hadith 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 it, 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-Khattab and was accepted and practiced by the Companions. This attitude is founded on the famous hadith narrated by many Companions: “It is sufficient —for one to tumble into lying – to narrate or repeat everything he/she hears.” [Al-Bukhārī 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 Hadith, “May God  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 Hadith.

2- Verification of the Hadith before accepting it

This is an important tool that the Companions established to safeguard the Sunnah against any foreign material interference and accidental or deliberate mistakes. This was a common practice amongst all of the Companions when receiving or narrating the Sunnah. Imam Ath-Thahabi mentioned this practice, in one of his great books, addressing the issue of Hadith Memorizers. He said that it was one of the ways used by of the four Caliphs to protect the Hadeeth. For example, Abu Bakr was asked to rule in the case of a grandmother who came asking for her right in inheritance, he said that he knew of no amount due to her neither in the Book of God (i.e., Quran) nor the Sunnah of the Prophet. But when Al-Mugheerah told that he has witnessed the Prophet give one-sixth of the total amount of the inheritance, he asked him if he had witness to substantiate this claim. And when Muhammad Ibn Maslamah witnessed to the truth of that figure, Abu Bakr accepted it and gave the grandmother exactly that.

In the case of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattab Ath-Thahabi mentioned many incidents that testify to the fact that he always ascertained the narration when it was necessary to do so. He narrated that Malik Ibn Aws heard ‘Umar say to ‘Abdur-Rahmaan Ibn ‘Awf, Talhah Ibn Az-Zubayr and Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqas: “I ask by God, Who maintains the Heaven and Earth! Did you hear the Prophet say: ‘I am not to be inherited, whatever I leave is to be given in charity’? They said: ^`Yes, God is our witness.” [Ahmad]

After narrating the above incidents among others, Imam Ath-Thahabi repeatedly asserted that the verifications were not meant to doubt the truthfulness of any of the Companions rather they were necessary to establish a standard of care and respect for what the Prophet said or did. They did that for themselves and to institute a tradition to be followed and honored by all who come after them.

In summary, it is essential to note the following about this method:

– The purpose was to protect the Sunnah, not to doubt one another. All of the Companions are trustworthy as clearly stated in the Quran, and doubting their trustworthiness can certainly damage one’s faith.

– The purpose, also, was to establish a method and set an example to be followed by the rest of the Muslim nation. The truth, however, remains that Companions used to accept narration conveyed by any one of them. Their request of witnesses or that the narrator gives an oath that he is saying the truth was to establish the methodology, so that people would not take narrating a Hadeeth lightly. This fact may further be supported when considering that:

– Sometimes they required a witness while at others they had the narrator give oath or reminded him of how serious it is to lie against the Prophet. This variation indicates that the purpose was actually to establish awareness of the significance of narrating the Hadeeth rather than set up a requirement of having more than one narrator as a condition for its authenticity^.

– There are a very large number of narrations, which indicate that in many cases the Companions had actually accepted Hadith from one narrator without seeking any substantiation or verification.

As a part of our discussion of the Companions’ methodology in preserving the Sunnah of the Prophet we mentioned thus far two of its aspects; namely, prudence in narrating the Hadeeth, and verification and substantiation of the Hadith before accepting it. Three more aspects are presented here.

3. Study, critique, and assessment of the narrations

Of the ways the Companions used to preserve the Sunnah, properly learning and studying it, was perhaps the most important. They refer to this using terms like, “Tadaarus” and “Muthaakarah,” both of which indicate a studying that involves more than one person as well as a mutual exchange of knowledge and ideas. The results of this “studying and discussing” were manifold. Learning the Sunnah correctly, free of mistakes was one of the goals, and so was the firm memorization of it. And since it was physically impossible for a large number of the Companions to have equal time access to the Prophet these discussions were the means through which the narrations known to only a few individuals were passed on to many others, thus expanding the circle of narrators. Books such as Jaami’ Bayaan Al-‘Ilm by Ibn Abd Al-Barr and Al-Jaami’ Li Akhlaaq Ar-Raawi by Al-Khateeb have many authentic narrations from the Companions bearing witness to the effectiveness of these discussions in preserving the Sunnah.

Another aspect of the Companions’ methodology in preserving the Sunnah was the critical assessment and evaluation of what they narrated and taught to one another. Anytime a Companion felt what he heard from another had a problem, he or she would critically analyze it and give his/her opinion about it. A major example of this effort by the Companions was demonstrated by Badruddeen Az-Zarkashi who wrote a book in which he collected more than seventy narrations in which one Companion, ‘Aa’ishah, the Mother of the Believers was reported as having corrected other Companions’ narrations based on her assessment of the narrations in light of the Quran and the Hadeeth.

4. Traveling in search of the Hadith

Another great effort they made was travelling in search of the Hadith, for after the death of the Prophet the Companions moved to different places within the Muslim land, and traveling became an essential method of Hadith collection, authentication and preservation. Here are a few examples of the Companions’ travel for the sole purpose of confirming certain narrations:

Jabir Ibn Abdullah travelled a whole month to Ancient Syria only to verify one Hadith. [Al-Bukhārī]

One of the Companions travelled to visit Fudhalah Ibn ‘Ubayd and told him that he came not to visit him but only to ask him about a narration that they both heard together from Prophet and he was hoping that Fudhalah had the complete wording of that Hadeeth. [Abu Dawood]

One of the Companions left his home in Madinah in order to meet Abu Ad-Dardaa’ in Damascus only to have Abu Ad-Dardaa’ confirm a narration which this Companion had already heard from the Prophet. [Ibn Abd Al-Barr]

The Companion Abu Ayoub travelled all the way to Egypt to ask ‘Uqbah Ibn ‘Amr about one Hadith. Abu Ayoub told ‘Uqbah that the two of them were the only living Companions who have heard that Hadeeth directly from the Prophet and he wanted to confirm the Hadith from ‘Uqbah. [Ahmad]

5-Memorization of the Hadith

Muslims – one generation after the other – did all that is humanly possible to preserve the texts of the Quran and the Sunnah as accurate as they received it from the Prophet. Beside the extra effort they exacted to develop the Methodology, the Companions benefited from a talent that came naturally to them, one that was truly befitting to the main undertaking of that methodology—the verbatim transmission of the Sunnah. This unique quality of the Companions was that they enjoyed powerful memories. It was easy for anyone of them to commit to heart any number of narrations and retain them as such for a very long time.

This quality was not specific only to the Companions but rather was a common feature of the Arab society as a whole. Many scholars—Muslims and non-Muslim alike – established the fact that the Arabs of that era were masters of language, and their society had a profoundly strong oral tradition. The known narrator of poetry, Hamad, for example, was reported to have memorized at least one hundred long poems for each letter in the Arabic alphabet. That is more than 2800 pieces of poetry. Powerful memory was a source of pride for them and they placed more confidence in it than in writing, they believed that writings could be tampered with. Some even took this pride to extreme levels, they would not write anything down for fear that may be taken as indication of defective memory.

Obviously, the Companions who had more passion for preserving the Sunnah than poetry and literature used this powerful quality to protect and maintain the Sunnah. Imam Ad-Daarimi narrated that the Companion Abu Hurairah said: “I used to divide the night into three parts. In the first, I would perform the optional night Prayer, in the second I would sleep, and in the third I would spend committing Hadeeth to my memory.” Actually, all of the Companions considered this an honour and a blessing, for they were encouraged to do so by the saying of the Prophet: “May God make radiant (bestow vigor upon) anyone who heard what I said and committed it to his memory until he is able to convey it to another. Perhaps the person who hears it from him can have a better understanding of it than him.” [At-Tirmithi]

On the other hand, the Prophet also taught the Companions two aspects that brought a needed balance to the use of memorization in conveying his Hadith, namely the importance of writing, and the need of being moderate in all matters. This fact complemented their efforts in establishing a sound and well rounded methodology.

The phenomenon of “Memory Power” continued to be a general character of the Arab society well into the third and fourth centuries of Hijrah, the time by which all of the Sunnah was collected into books and records. But the diminishing of its prevalence in the society with time did not minimize the role memory played in the preserving of the Sunnah. “Memory Power,” or Dhabt—proficiency in narration, as it later came to be known—became an essential part of the standards used to judge authenticity. Judging the narrators memory power is central in what we know as the science of “Al-Jarh wa Ta’deel.”