Page 104 - Bigotry: The Dark Danger

Bigotry:
The Dark Danger

The Rightly-Guided Caliphs Did Not

Allow the Writing of Hadiths

All the Rightly-Guided Caliphs followed in the footsteps of our

Prophet (pbuh) and did not let the hadith be written down or even
be related. Although these first four caliphs were the people who
best knew about the words and practices of the Prophet (pbuh), they
did not narrate any hadith in order to ensure that people take the
religion described in the Qur'an as their sole guide of religion.

Following the death of our Prophet (pbuh), Abu Bakr (ra) gath-
ered people and said the following to them:

You relate from the Messenger of God traditions regarding
which you disagree, and consequently severer controversy
shall occur among people. So relate nothing from the Messen-
ger of God, and when asked by anyone you can say: The Book

of God is the arbitrator between us. Deem lawful what it con-
siders lawful, and deem unlawful what is considered unlawful
in it. (Al-Dhahabi in Tadhkirat-al-Hufadh, v. 1, p. 3)

Umar (ra) sent letters to the Companions of our Prophet (pbuh)
residing in other cities and asked them to destroy all the handwritten
hadith they had in their possession.

According to another account about Umar (ra), he said:

I recall those nations before you, they too have written books
and held on to them, forsaking the Book of God. I would never
intermingle anything to the Book of God. (Al-Khatib al-Bagh-
dadiy, Taqyid al-'Ilm )

Ali ibn Abu Talib (ra) also objected to writing down any hadith

or their narration. He once said in one of his speeches:

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