The fourth doubt: Some people hold the view that it is not proper to resort to the Sunnah in arbitration because it was not written but in the second century after Migration. Moreover, they say that the Sunnah was preserved in the hearts of people and memorization only, no matter how powerful it is, is not enough because no doubt that memory may miss. If the matter as described, the Sunnah is not trusted and it is better to leave it and not to resort to it, moreover they mentioned the following proofs to sustain their view:
First, a group of narrations, of which:
1- Abu Sa`id Al Khudry (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "Do not write down anything from me but the Qur'an, and whoever wrote down anything from me except the Qur'an should efface that and narrate from me for there is no harm in that and whoever attributed any falsehood to me, shall find his abode in the Hell-Fire." (1)
2- The saying of Abu Sa`id Al Khudry: "I sought the permission of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to write down Hadith but he did not give me permission." (2)
3- Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) came out to us while we were writing down Hadith, thereupon he asked: what are you writing down? We replied: Hadiths that we have heard from you. He said: A book other than the Book of Allah? Do you know, nothing has misled the nations before you but the books they wrote besides the Divine Scriptures? We said: Shall we narrate from you, O Messenger of Allah? He said: Narrate from me for there is no harm in that but whoever attributed any falsehood to me, shall find his abode in the Hell-Fire." We asked: Shall we narrate from the Children of Israel? He said: Narrate from them for there is no harm in that and you shall not narrate something from them but something more wonder happened to them. Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We gathered these sheets in one spot then threw them into fire." In another wordings: "Are you writing another book similar to the Book of Allah? distinct the Book of Allah and purify it." (3)
4- Al Muttalib ibn `Abdullah ibn Hantab said: Zayd ibn Thabit entered upon Mu`awiyah and asked him about a Hadith. He commanded a man to write it. Zayd said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) instructed us not to write any of his Hadiths. So he erased it. (4)
5- Abu Nadrah said: We said to Abu Sa`id: Would you write (those Hadiths) to us because we do not memorize well? He said: We will not write to you or make them as books. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used to narrate to us and we would memorize, so, memorize from us as we used to memorize from your Prophet. (5)
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(1) Reported by Muslim in the book of asceticism, chapter on verifying the authenticity of the Hadith and the ruling on writing down knowledge (72), Ad-Darimy in the introduction, chapter on those who do not support writing down the Hadith (1 / 119), Imam Ahmad (3 / 12- 21- 39- 567), Ibn `Abdul-Bar in Jami` Bayan Al `Ilm, chapter on the undesirability of writing down knowledge and putting it down in books (1 / 76), and Al Khatib Al Baghdady in (Taqyid Al `Ilm) p. 29-32.
(2) Reported by At-Tirmidhy in the book of knowledge, chapter on the undesirability of writing down knowledge (2665) with similar words, and he said: That Hadith was reported from another way which is the way of Zayd ibn Aslam. It was also reported by Ad-Darimy in the introduction, chapter on those who do not support writing down the Hadith (1/ 119) with similar wordings and Al Khatib in (Taqyid Al `Ilm) with multiple narrations p. 32 - 33 with the same wording.
(3) Reported by Ahmad (3 / 12- 13) from the Hadith of Abu Sa`id Al Khudry with similar wordings, Al Khatib in Taqyid Al `Ilm p. 33 - 35 with the same wording, and Al Haythamy said in Majma` Az-Zawa'id (1 / 150- 151). It was also reported by Ahmad from the way of `Abdur-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam who was not a trustworthy narrator, but the rest narrators are Rijal As-Sahih (narrators of Hadith compiled by Al Bukhari and/or Muslim).
(4) Reported by Abu Dawud in the book of knowledge, chapter on the Book of Knowledge (2 / 286) with his wordings, and Ahmad (5 / 182) with his own wordings from the Hadith of Zayd ibn Thabit, Al Khatib in Taqyid Al `Ilm p. 35, and Ibn `Abdul-Bar in Jami` Bayan Al `Ilm (1 / 76).
(5) Reported by Ad-Darimy in the introduction, chapter on those who do not support writing down the Hadith (1 / 122) with the same meaning, Al Khatib in (Taqyid Al `Ilm) p. 36- 38 with the same wordings and meaning, and Ibn `Abdul-Bar in (Jami` Bayan Al `Ilm) (1 / 76- 77) with the same meaning.
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