Introduction
Praise be to Allah. Contemporary discourse has seen a repeated return of old claims attacking the authority of the Sunnah of the Prophet, except that today they have come back dressed in historical and methodological garb that gives an illusion of scholarship, while building their conclusions on false premises and a selective use of quotations. In one recent study there appeared a lengthy presentation of what are called the stages of the recording of the Sunnah. It begins by denying that there was any writing in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, passes through a supposed ban on recording in the time of the Caliphs, and ends with the claim that recording only took place a century and a half later, so that the authentic became mixed with the fabricated and reliability vanished.
In this article we analyse statements made in one of the recently published contemporary books, and we refute the most prominent doubts it contains, showing the unsoundness of its reasoning, the weakness of its quotations, and the collapse of its methodological structure.
The First Axis: The Doubt That the Recording of the Sunnah Came Late
The book says of the Sunnah: “It was permitted to be recorded more than a hundred years after the death of the Messenger… so hundreds of thousands of fabricated hadiths entered it.”
Reply and Refutation
Recording began in the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ: for example “al-Sahifa al-Sadiqa” of ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As, and the letters of the Prophet ﷺ to his governors. As for the prohibition that appears in some hadiths, it was temporary and was abrogated by the later permission: such as the hadith “Do not write from me…” (narrated by Muslim), after which came the permission: “Write it for Abu Shah” (narrated by al-Bukhari). Among the Companions were those who recorded the Sunnah themselves, among them ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, who had written scrolls. The claim that recording did not begin until a century later is a great fallacy, for books such as the Muwatta’ of Imam Malik, the Musannaf works such as those of ‘Abd al-Razzaq and Ibn Abi Shayba, and the Musnad works all came before al-Bukhari and Muslim.
The Second Axis: The Doubt That Early Recording Lacked Methodical Precision
The book says: “Recording passed through phases… there was no comprehensive, chapter-arranged compilation of hadith until the third century…”
Reply and Refutation
The science of hadith was built on the chain of transmission (isnad) before recording. The system of isnad, uprightness (‘adala), precision (dabt), and criticism and accreditation (al-jarh wa al-ta’dil) began with the Successors, before the second century. The early compilations were not chaotic; rather they were arranged according to the chapters of jurisprudence, with hadith classified as attributed to the Prophet (marfu’), stopping at a Companion (mawquf), or stopping at a Successor (maqtu’). History has never known documentation greater than the science of hadith: every hadith has a chain of narrators with their names, dates and uprightness, and this exists in no other civilisation.
The Third Axis: The Doubt That the Authentic Became Mixed with the Fabricated
The book says: “The authentic became mixed with the fabricated, and every sect fabricated what supported its position.”
Reply and Refutation
Yes, lying did occur, but the scholars of hadith exposed it and devoted books to it: such as Ibn al-Mubarak, Shu’ba, Yahya ibn Sa’id al-Qattan, Ibn Mahdi, al-Bukhari, Muslim and others. Books specifically on fabricated hadiths were written: such as al-Mawdu’at by Ibn al-Jawzi, al-La’ali’ al-Masnu’a by al-Suyuti, and al-Fawa’id al-Majmu’a by al-Shawkani. The books of hadith were not devoid of criticism; rather every narration was mentioned with its chain, and distinguishing the authentic from the weak was the basis of compilation.
The Fourth Axis: The Doubt That Impugns the Companions and the Rightly Guided Caliphs Regarding the Sunnah
The book says: “‘Umar ordered the people to burn the hadiths they had, and said: I will not mix the Book of Allah with anything.”
Reply and Refutation
The narrations attributed to Abu Bakr and ‘Umar are mursal, weak, or tied to a context. The prohibition was not a rejection of the Sunnah, but an organisational measure for a specific period, out of fear of confusion. The Companions were the first to transmit the Sunnah to the Successors, and they were known for precision in narration and for extreme caution against lying about the Prophet ﷺ. Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman and ‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with them, are among the most prolific narrators of hadith, and the Successors relied on them.
The Fifth Axis: The Arbitrary Comparison Between the Qur’an and the Sunnah
The book says: “The Qur’an has a manuscript to refer back to… as for the hadiths, there is no original for them that we can return to.”
Reply and Refutation
The Qur’an and the Sunnah are both revelation, but each has its own mode of transmission: the Qur’an was mass-transmitted (mutawatir) in its wording, and the Sunnah was transmitted by connected chains, and both are preserved. The Sunnah is preserved by hearing and by isnad, not by manuscript alone. The science of hadith went beyond the notion of the “document” to a living documentation between the teacher and his student. The claim that the Sunnah has no original is a fallacy: the Sunnah is preserved in thousands of manuscripts, but the more important documentation lay in the chain and in precision, not merely in paper and ink.
Conclusion
A review of these doubts reveals that the modernist discourse in criticising the Sunnah is not built on genuine scholarly reflection, but on a partial summoning of quotations, arbitrary comparisons, and a Western method that does not understand the nature of the science of isnad in Islam.
Allah has preserved His Sunnah as He preserved His Book, and He appointed for it men distinguished by verification, uprightness and precision, who laid down a scholarly method without equal in human history.
The Sunnah of the Prophet is preserved, transmitted, explained, examined for hidden defects, and narrated from upright, trustworthy narrators. It is the second source of legislation; no doubt undoes it, no narration torn from its context shakes it, and no modernist reading that tries to demolish the foundations in the name of criticism can undermine it.
And Allah is behind every intention, and He guides to the way. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
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