The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume I — Page 24
Seal of the Prophets - Volume I 24 reminiscences. As a result, these narrations acquired greater strength and authenticity. People of this nature could be found among the companions of the Holy Prophet sa and in ensuing generations as well. As a matter of fact, as knowledge developed through positive progression and the art of composition spread, the number of such people multiplied. In later generations, as narrations took on a written form and present-day books of Ḥadīth began to come into existence, approximately in the second century of Hijrah 1 , the written preservation of narrations had transformed into a common practice. In the communication of narrations from one to another, narrators began to greatly rely upon their written memoirs. However, the mere existence of a written account is not sufficient warrant to accept a narration as authentic, unless a reliable verbal attestation also supplements it. It is for this reason that the court of justice in every civilised country requires supplementary verbal testimony to authenticate written documentation. Therefore, generally, Muḥaddithīn have not exhibited a distinction between verbal and written narrations in their collections. However, undeniably, an ample portion of the collections of Aḥādīth present today include narrations which have travelled through generations, from narrator to narrator, verbally as well as by written records. In support of this claim, for the purpose of brevity, only a few examples have been presented ahead. If it is proven that there was a group of people among the companions of the Holy Prophet sa , who would preserve his Aḥādīth by way of writing and then relate narrations from this written collection, then it will serve as conclusive evidence that this practice (when the art of composition had advanced and every type of facilitation was available for the writing of these narrations) continued as in preceding ages. The first and foremost Ḥadīth we wish to mention in this regard is one in which the Holy Prophet sa himself instructed that one who cannot remember his sayings should commit them to writing, thus safeguarding them. Hence, it is mentioned in Tirmidhī: َ عَن ْ اَبِی ْ ھُرَیْرَة َ قَال َ كَان َ رَجُل ٌ مِن َ الاَنْصَار ِ یَجْلِس ُ اِلَی النَّبِی ِّ صَلَّی اللّٰه ُ عَلَیْه ِ وَسَلَّم ْ فَیَسْمَع ُ مِن َ النَّبِی ِّ الْحَدِیْث َ وَلَا یَحْفَظُه ٗ فَشَكَا ذَالِك َ اِلَی النَّبِی ِّ فَقَال َ رَسُوْل ُ اللّٰه ِ اِسْتَعِن ِّ َأ بِیَدِہ ٖ لِلْخَط ا َ بِیَمِیْنِك َ وَاَوْم 1 Migration of the Holy Prophet sa to Madīnah (Publishers)