6- Ibn Mas`ud (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated a Hadith then his son said: "The Hadith is not as you reported. Ibn Mas`ud said: How did you know? He said: I wrote it. Ibn Mas`ud said: Show me the sheet. His son brought it and Ibn Mas`ud erased it."(1)
7- Abu Burdah said: "I and another Mawla (freed slave) wrote the Hadiths which Abu Musa narrated. He figured out that I was writing his Hadiths thereupon he said: O son, do you write down the Hadiths I narrate? I said: Yes. He said: Bring it to me. So, I brought it to him. He looked at it then erased it and said: O son, memorize (Hadiths) in your mind as I used to do."(2)
8- Al Awza`y said: I heard Abu Kathir saying: I heard Abu Hurayrah saying: "We neither write down Hadiths nor are asked to write them down."(3)
9- Tawus said: A man from Najran asked Ibn `Abbas (about something) and Ibn `Abbas admired his question, then the man said: Write it down (the answer) for me. Thereupon, Ibn `Abbas said: "We do not write down knowledge."(4)
10- Ibn Sirin said: "If I were to have a book (along with the Book of Allah), I would have taken the letters of the Prophet (peace be upon him)."(5)
Second, those who arose this doubt depend on what the scholars of Hadith and others mentioned that the Hadith was not written down except in the second century after Migration and the first person who wrote down knowledge was Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Shihab who was known as Az-Zuhry who died (124 AH) by the command of the Just Caliph `Umar ibn `Abdul-`Aziz who died (101 AH).
Third, they also depend on what the scholars of Hadith and others mentioned that the classification of Hadith was not done except in the second century after Migration. Abu Talib Al Makky said about writing down and that classification of Hadith that the first generation of the Followers hated to write down Hadiths. Furthermore, they used to say: Memorize as we used to memorize. However, those who came after them permitted that and the classification of Hadith was not done but after the death of Al Hasan who died 110 AH and Ibn Al Mussayyab who died 94 AH. (6)
Ibn Khaldun said: "The people were Bedouins and did not know much about education, composition, or writing down. They neither resorted to writing down nor needed to do so, and the matter remained as such during the time of the Companions and the Followers."(7)
Al Hafizh ibn Hajar said: "Let it be known —may Allah grant you and us understanding— that the traditions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was not written in the time of his Companions nor those who followed them, and was not arranged because of two reasons:
1- They were forbidden to write down the Sunnah as was authentically reported in Sahih Muslim lest some Hadiths may be mixed with the Glorious Qur'an.
2- Their powerful memorization and because most of them did not know writing, then in the late of the Followers' time, they began writing down traditions, and classification of news when scholars spread in cities, and innovations spread by the Kharijites, the Rafidites, and those who deny fate.(8)
Al Kittany said: "The Pious Predecessors from the Companions and the Followers did not write down Hadith, but they reported it orally and took it by heart except the book of charity and other few things which a researcher can find after in-depth search until people feared that knowledge be lost and the death of scholars, so `Umar ibn `Abdul-`Aziz wrote to his agent in Madinah (Medina), Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn `Amr ibn Hazm Al Ansary, saying: Gather what you have in your city from the Sunnah or the Hadith and write it down."(9)
Because of these proofs telling that the Sunnah was not written down during the first century after Migration, we should not trust it or rely on, accordingly, it is not a source to resort to.
(1) Reported by Ad-Darimy in his Musnad in the introduction, chapter on those who do not support writing down the Hadith (1 / 122, 123, 124, 125) with the meaning, and Al Khatib in (Taqyid Al `Ilm) p. 38-39 with the same wordings and meaning, and Ibn `Abdul-Bar in (Jami` Bayan Al `Ilm) (1 / 78) with the same meaning,
(2) Reported by Ad-Darimy in his Musnad in the introduction, chapter on those who do not support writing down the Hadith (1 / 122) with the meaning, Al Khatib in Taqyid Al `Ilm p. 39-41 with the same wordings and meaning, and Ibn `Abdul-Bar in Jami` Bayan Al `Ilm (1 / 79) with the same meaning,
(3) Reported by Ad-Darimy in his Musnad in the introduction, chapter on those who do not support writing down the Hadith (1 / 122) with the wordings "is neither written down nor dictated." Al Khatib in Taqyid Al `Ilm p. 41, 42 with multiple narrations with the same meaning, and Ibn `Abdul-Bar in Jami` Bayan Al `Ilm (1 / 79) with the same wordings.
(4) Reported by Al Khatib in Taqyid Al `Ilm p. 42, 43 with his own wordings, and Ibn `Abdul-Bar in Jami` Bayan Al `Ilm (1 / 78) with the same meaning.
(5) Reported by Ad-Darimy in his Musnad in the introduction, chapter on those who do not support writing down the Hadith (1 / 120) with his wordings and whoever wants to read more Hadiths and traditions may refer to these three books mentioned previously. (6) See: Qut Al Qulub of Abu Talib Al Makky (1 / 159).
(7) Al Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun, a chapter on most knowledge carriers in Islam are Non Arabs p. 482.
(8) See: Hady As-Sary p. 7.
(9) See: Ar-Risalah Al Mustatrafah p. 3, 4.
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