Discussion of the doubt regarding the non-recording of the Sunnah during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh : The second point: It is not true what is circulated and spread on various occasions in lectures and writings in different magazines—and this is from the whispers of the missionaries and the enemies of Islam and the religion—that this hadith was not written down and not collected until about a century and a half after the death of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). This is absolutely not true. This is because of authentic, well-known hadiths that we use to prohibit and permit things, which indicate that the hadith was written down during the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and that he himself (peace and blessings be upon him) sometimes ordered the writing down of a sermon he delivered to the people. For example, there is a hadith in "Sahih al-Bukhari" from Abu Hurayrah who said: "Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As had more hadith than I did; he used to write and I did not." Look at this text: a Companion who attended the Messenger (peace be upon him) and kept the company of his companion Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As in accompanying the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and receiving knowledge and hadith from him, says that in his opinion—and his opinion was actually wrong, as established by the thorough investigation that came later—he thought that Abdullah ibn Amr had more hadith than he did. He explains by saying: "He used to write and I did not." So, Ibn Amr was writing the hadith during the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him); and for that reason, Abu Hurayrah thought that he had more hadith than he did.
And we have from his preserved hadiths, with authentic chains of narration, what confirms Abu Hurayrah's statement that Ibn Amr was writing the hadith. There is a hadith in "Musnad Ahmad" and elsewhere from Abdullah ibn Amr—this very man—that he sat in a gathering with a group of polytheists, and they said: "How do you write down everything your Prophet says, whether in a state of satisfaction or anger? He is a human being?" So this doubt entered his heart, and he hastened to his Prophet to ask him to remove it, and he recounted to him the previous statement of the polytheists. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him, and you have heard this hadith in the recording: ; so the Messenger is telling him: Write down every hadith you hear from me. So he was writing the hadith. This is a second hadith.
And a third hadith from him—also from himself and his own person—that he was sitting around the Messenger (peace be upon him) and said: "We are writing the hadith from him." So a questioner asked him: "O Messenger of Allah, will we conquer Constantinople first or Rome?" He said: . This is what concerns me: this great glad tidings, and this must be preserved by you well so that you know that the future belongs to Islam. But this requires work for Islam and a correct understanding of Islam. The point of this is that while we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) writing the hadith from him, a questioner asked him. Therefore, there is even today a document known among the hadith scholars as the "Document of Amr ibn Shu'ayb from his father from his grandfather," and his grandfather is this Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As. A document means it was inherited by the sons from the fathers from the grandfather in writing. And there are other documents known in the books of terminology and the science of hadith. So this is sufficient for us as an example to refute this doubt which says: that the collection of the hadith did not begin during the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him).
And despite that, we say: suppose that the hadith was not collected at all during the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him); what harm is there in the collection being delayed by a century and a half, as long as this century and a half is a medium in which there is only one Companion, two from the generation of the Tabi'un, and the third from the generation after the Tabi'un? And these narrators have the most noble and clearest history that can exist for the followers of a Prophet who passed away in previous centuries. There is no parallel to these people ever. And suffice it for you as a difference, as the poet said:
"And suffice it for you this difference between us *** And every vessel is filled with what it contains"
That you know the difference between the hadith and the Qur'an; between the hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and the Torah and the Gospel. They do not have any chain of narration, even if fabricated or forged, that connects the world to the Gospel and the Torah to the one upon whom the Gospel was revealed and the one upon whom the Torah was revealed. The Gospel was written after the ascension of 'Isa (peace be upon him) by a hundred years or more; I do not remember exactly now. This is known and acknowledged by them. Therefore, what multiplied? The Gospels to more than seventy or close to eighty. And they even held a council there in Constantinople long ago and chose these four Gospels to reduce the intensity of the disagreement existing between these Gospels, which are their sacred book. Our hadith is narrated with authentic chains of narration from the authors whose biographies are trusted and known. We know the biography of al-Bukhari and Muslim in a way that the Jews and Christians do not know the biography of 'Isa and Musa, let alone the other prophets and messengers. And all of this is a verification of the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic): .
But the questioner I referred to earlier mentioned this verse and found it difficult to accept that the hadith is preserved. I answered that the hadith is preserved in the aggregate of the Ummah, just as the Qur'an, whose meaning is intended, is preserved in the aggregate of the Ummah. It is not necessary that every one of those present now understands like the verse: What does it mean? If this meaning is missed by you, it does not mean it is missed by the entire Ummah. Likewise, if you do not know whether a hadith is authentic or weak, it does not mean that the hadith is lost to the entire Ummah. And even more so, it does not mean that the hadith that is difficult for you is difficult for the entire Ummah. Rather, it is due to your lack of concern for seeking religious knowledge and your absence from the gatherings of knowledge. Therefore, merely hearing a hadith that is difficult for you, which may not be authentic, means you do not know the authentic from the weak. And even if it were authentic, you would not be able to understand its correct meaning.
In conclusion, I say: there is no problem with the Sunnah, for it is—praise be to Allah—preserved. It is sufficient that there are known books, some of which collected the authentic, some of which collected the authentic, good, and weak, and some of which collected the weak and fabricated specifically. All of this is to facilitate for the Ummah that they be on clear evidence regarding their religion.
And perhaps this extent is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.