“WRITING DOWN OF HADITHS IN THE VII-VIII CENTURIES: APPROACHES AND METHODS”

The article is devoted to the study of history of writing of hadiths in the VII-VIII centuries and methodological approaches and methods used in this process by scholars of the Science of Hadith. The process of writing and compiling of hadith collections is studied historically dividing into the stages of Sahabah (companions), Tabi`un (successors) and Tabi` al-Tabi`un (successors of Tabi`un). The specific features, used approaches and methods of these stages are analyzed and explained based on sources. The article also covers various political and social factors that have accelerated the process of writing of hadiths. The article examines the long process from the first stage of the history of written collection of hadiths to the creation of the main collections of hadith in the ninth century, which is recognized as the golden age of hadith science.


INTRODUCTION
Hadiths have a special place in the formation of the culture and values of Muslim people. They are the second important source after Qur`an in the solution of various issues belonged to prayer or social life. Hadiths can also be considered as a historical source that gives important information about the history and teaching of Islam as well as Muslims' way of life, worldview, traditions and values. In Islam, narrations that contain information about the Prophet's (pbuh) sayings, deeds, taqrirs, inner world, outer appearance and biography are called hadiths. Accordingly, scholars of the Science of Hadith -Muhaddiths divided hadiths into types such as qavli ‫,)قولي(‬ fe`li ‫,)فعلي(‬ taqriri ( ‫,)تقريري‬ khalqi ‫)خلقي(‬ and khulqi ‫.)خلقي(‬ Literally, the term "hadith" ‫)حديث(‬plural form as "ahadith" ‫)أحاديث(‬ -means "speech", "word", "message", "story", "new" and "modern" (9, p. 152).
The interest in hadiths and their consistent study has begun since the early period of Islam. In particular, companions' approaches to hadiths, methodology and methods used by them in the understanding, interpretation and application of hadiths in practice have later played an important role in the formation and development of the Science of Hadith.

MAIN BODY
The companions accepted hadiths from the Prophet (pbuh) by hearing from himself and by witnessing his deeds and taqrirs directly or indirectly. The companions, who could not witness the Prophet's (pbuh) hadith directly or could not attend scientific meetings for some reason, received it by asking others. Bara following information about it: "We did not hear all hadiths from the Prophet (pbuh) himself. We were learning what we did not hear from the Prophet (pbuh) by asking other companions. Sometimes we were engaged in looking after camels and did not hear hadiths. Therefore, we asked these hadiths from the companions who had heard them directly from the Prophet (pbuh) and had a strong memory" (17, p. 53).
The information given above shows that the companions tried to memorize hadiths, which they had heard or witnessed perfectly, and to pass them on to others as much as possible. In turn, it caused hadiths to be memorized by people and spread to the different regions. The reason of that hadiths came to a muhaddith in forms of mutavatir and ohod is connected to the number of narrators who heard or witnessed these hadiths.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the I/VII century, in the period of the companions and older successors, hadiths were not been collected as books. Nevertheless, hadiths were written by some companions on pages for private using. Since there was an opportunity in the time of the Prophet's (pbuh) lifetime to ask him directly about religious matters, there was no need to compile hadiths in order to refer to them when it was necessary. Especially, for the first time, the Prophet (pbuh) forbade the companions to compile hadiths in order to prevent hadiths from being mixed with the verses of Qur`an. This information is also reflected in the following hadith. ‫ن‬ "Do not write from me. Whoever wrote from me anything other from Qur`an, let him erase it. Tell a hadith from me, there is no harm in it" (7, p. 400).
Qur`an is the main source of Islam and divine speech of which both word and meaning must not be changed. For this reason, the Prophet (pbuh) ordered to write down verses before hadiths. There are many narrations about some companions, who asked permission to write down hadiths, the Prophet (pbuh) refused it. In particular, Abu Said Khudri (612-74/693) gives the following information about it: "We asked the Prophet (pbuh) for permission to write down hadiths, but he refused" (18, p. 54).
There were few people among the companions, who could read and write in the early period of Islam. Those who could do it were engaged in writing down the verses. Over time, it has been growing an interest in literacy among them. As a result, companions such as Said ibn Os (2/623-59/679), Sa`d ibn Rabi` Khazraji (died 3/625), Bashir ibn Sa`d ibn Sa`laba (died 12/644), Abon ibn Said ibn Os (died 13/634) learned to read and write and, in turn, began to teach the rest. Thus the number of copyist of the divine revelation reached 40 (21, p. 63). Increase of the number of such companions accelerated the process of writing down hadiths.
So, the companions were not allowed to write down hadiths first because the main attention was paid to perfection of the companions' memory so that they could adopt and memorize Qur`an better as well as to preventing the verses from being mixed with hadiths. The following hadith by Abu Said Khudri can be cited as a proof for it: "We wrote nothing except tashahhud and Qur`an" (5, p. 211).
There is information in sources that the Prophet (pbuh) forbade the companions to write down hadiths because he did not want the verses to be written on the same page with together other things (21, p. 66). Indeed, there was a possibility that the verses would be mixed with hadiths when they were written in the same page because of the rarity of the means of writing in that period. That is why the Prophet (pbuh) might forbid the companions to write down hadiths. As muhaddith scholar Abdurahman Itr stated in his work "Ma`alimu-s-sunnati-n-nabaviyah" that the reason for refraining from writing hadiths was to prevent them from being mixed and to get similar to the ISSN:00333077 5538 www.psychologyandeducation.net verses, especially, the lack of the means of writing (1, p. 72-23). The reasons for this are also to strengthen the companions' skill of the memorization, to prevent hadiths from being accepted by some people as the same as the verses as well as from being mixed with and the companions' strong desire for the study of Qur`an.
Indeed, the Prophet (pbuh) forbade the companions to write down hadiths when Qur`an was being revealed. However, the companions were allowed to write down hadiths after they had an experience of the adoption of the verses. There is information about it in many hadiths. In particular, it is stated in hadith narrated by Abu Huraira: "There was no one among the companions of the Prophet (pbuh) who knew hadiths better than me. But Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Os was excluded. He used to write down hadiths, and I did not write them" (8, p. 299).
The fact that there are hadiths that order to write and hadiths that forbid to do it in the same time led to the emergence of contradictory opinions among researchers. Special researches have also been carried out in this regard (3).
Over time, the number of hadiths increased. That is why it was difficult to remember all of them. For this reason, people began to forget some of hadiths. It led that hadiths were allowed to be written. According to sources, one of the companions came to the Prophet (pbuh) and complained to him about the weakness of his memory. The Prophet (pbuh) advised him "to ask for help from his right hand" (13, p. 19). This information shows that hadiths were allowed to be written. Scholars such as Abu Muhammad ibn Qutaybah Dinovari (213/828-276/889) and Abu Sulayman Khattobi (319/931-388/998) state that hadiths that orders to write cancelled another hadiths that forbid to write.
There is information in sources about that the Prophet (pbuh) allowed some companions such as Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Os (died 63/683) and others to write down hadiths (19, p. 54). Abdullah ibn Amr was known as a person who compiled hadiths in a written form. There is also information about small hadith collections in this period. In particular, the hadith collection compiled by Abdullah ibn Amr was called "as-Sahifatu-s-sodiqa" (14, p. 30). This collection included only authentic hadiths and later narrated by Abdullah ibn Amr's grandson Amr ibn Shuayb (died 282/895). It leads to conclusion that special hadith collections were compiled in that time, and all of these collections were called "sahifa" or in plural "suhuf" as a general name. Unfortunately, they are almost lost today. One of these collections was discover, studied and its modern publication was carried out by Indian scholar Muhammad Hamidullah (1326/1908-1423/2002) (18). As a result, it became possible to study the special features and structure of the collections created in the early period of Islam. It should be noted that hadiths were collected in this period for the purpose of personal use without any rules of a particular system.
It also should be noted that the letters sent by the Prophet (pbuh) to the neighboring regions proves that hadiths were written in that time. According to sources, such kind of letters were sent to Yemen, Bahrain, Yamama, Khadramavt and Oman (19, p. 87). These letters played an important role in the spread of Islam to other religions at the same time.
Cases of disagreements about the issue of a caliph among Muslims, of that some tribes turned away from Islam and refused to pay zakat were observed after the Prophet's (pbuh) death. An interest in hadiths was increased because of attempts to solve such kind of issues that have just emerged in society. The companions, who could find answers to any question directly from the Prophet (pbuh) when he was alive, were forced to refer to hadiths for it after his death. Naturally, there were few people among them, who knew all hadiths by heart. It necessitated collecting hadiths.
Cases that some people or groups changed the original meaning of hadiths or spread fabricated ones for malicious purposes began to be observed after the Prophet's (pbuh) death. The companions tried to narrate hadiths as little as possible in order to prevent it. According to Dinovari, the second of the Rashid Caliphs, Umar ISSN:00333077 5539 www.psychologyandeducation.net ibn Khattob (13/634-23/644) called the companions to narrate less, and he fully rejected hadiths that did not have witnesses and encouraged others to do the same as well (17, p. 92). It was customary to ask about the narrators of hadiths when they were narrated. The cases that the meaning of hadiths was changed or misinterpreted by various biased people or groups were almost not observed because the companions knew each other well. Muhammad ibn Siyrin's (32/653-111/729) opinion also confirms the information given above: "First, the sanad of hadiths was not asked. But when distractions were emerged, the companions began asking each other: "Tell us your narrators". Thus, hadiths narrated by the representatives of Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama`a began to be accepted, at the same time, those which were narrated by people of the conspiracy to be refused" (20, p. 108-109). Thus, the scientific rules and methods of the selection and acceptation of hadiths were developed. The system of sanad began to play an important role in the determination of the authenticity of hadiths. An attention to the system of sanad was increased especially in the II/VIII century.
It can be noted that the system of sanad was also studied by western scholars. In particular, German researcher Joseph Schacht (1320Schacht ( /1902Schacht ( -1389Schacht ( /1969) stated that this system has been existed in the early period of Islam and reached its peak in the hadith collections created in the middle of the II/VII -III/IX centuries (12, p. 163).
The idea of the compilation of hadiths was put forward during the reign of the Rashid Caliphs. In particular, Urva ibn Zubair (23/643-94/713) informed about that Umar ibn Khattob held a meeting with the companions in this regard. According to him, the companions agreed to collect hadiths. However, Umar changed his opinion and said to the companions: "I wanted to compile Sunnah. However, I remembered that those who lived before you had written books and abandoned Allah's Book giving in their books. I will not exchange Allah's Book for anything" (4, p. 80-81). That is why the companions, especially Zubair, Abu Ubaidah Omir ibn Abdullah (584-18/639), Abbos ibn Abdulmutallib (568-32/653) refrained from narrating much hadiths fearing of making a mistake or adding to hadith something that did not exist in it. Making a mistake in the issues related to the religion is considered as a big sin and the companions felt this responsibility deeply. Today, some destructive people or groups, who do not feel responsible themselves for it, are causing some Muslims to be mistaken from the right path.
A scholar of the Science of hadith, Abison Mutairi studied the history of writing and collecting of hadiths dividing into stages of kitabat ‫,)كتابة(‬ tadvin ‫,)تدوين(‬ ta`lif ‫)تأليف(‬ and tasnif ‫)تصنيف(‬ in his book "Tarikh tadvini-s-sunnah va shubuhatu-l-mustashriqin" (2). Indeed, the study of the process of the compilation of hadiths dividing into the above-mentioned stages provides an opportunity to find answers to questions arisen in history and present as well. It is necessary to understand the meaning of the terms given above in order to study this historical process objectively. A disagreement has been emerged among scholars on the history of writing and collecting of hadiths because they had not paid enough attention to it. In fact, each of these terms are used to mean a separate special historical stage of the compilation of hadiths. In sources a detailed information was given about the meaning of these terms. For example, the term "kitabat" means an inscription or number written on something. The term "tadvin" means a composition of the written things. The term "ta`lif" means to compile various written narrations that related to the different topics together. The term "tasnif" means to create a book from narrations dividing into chapters in a certain system or order (21, p. 57-58).
As Arab scholar Abison Mutairi states, the stage of "kitabat" began in the first century of Hijra and lasted until 83 of Hijra when the last caliph from the companions -Abdullah ibn Zubair died (2, p. 35 It is known that among them, Abdullah ibn Amr, Anas ibn Molik, Sa`d ibn Uboda, Samura ibn Jundub personally asked the Prophet (pbuh) for permission to write hadiths (2, p. 41-45). So, this information shows that the companions wrote hadiths during the lifetime of the Prophet (pbuh). But hadiths were not collected in the form of books in the first half of the I/VII century. As it was mentioned in sources, Abu Bakr sent a letter in which hadiths on the issues of zakat were written to Anas ibn Molik, Umar ibn Khattob sent such a letter to Utba ibn Furqad and Abu Ubaidah ibn Jarroh (584-78/639), Ali ibn Abu Tolib sent to Uthmon ibn Affon (576-35/656), Oisha bint Abu Bakr (died 58/678) sent to Muaviyah ibn Abu Sufyan (608-78/680) and Abdullah ibn Zubair (1/623-73/693) sent to Utbah ibn Mas`ud (2, p. 47-47).
The early hadith collections also existed in the form of the books of "juz" ‫)جزء(‬ of which plural is "ajza`" ‫اء(‬ ‫)أجز‬ that means "part" and "piece" in Arabic and they were related to the certain issues of Fiqh. Such books can be considered as unique hadith collections because they are differed from other collections for that they include hadiths related to only one topic. It is known that Zaid ibn Thobit (611-45/665) had such a collection on the issues of Faroiz and Jobir ibn Abdullah had another one on the issues of hajj (2, p. 39-40).
By the middle of the I/VII century, social and political events that emerged in Muslim society, especially, the death of the companions who knew hadiths by heart, attempts for finding answers to the new arose questions and the necessity to protect hadiths from various external factors necessitated the process of "tadvin" of hadiths.
Thus, the process of "tadvin" of hadiths began at the end of the I/VII century (13, p. 18-19). As it is mentioned in sources, the first administrative person who officially ordered to compile hadiths was Umar ibn Abdulaziz (11, p. 9). Nevertheless, it is known that official attempts have been made to write hadiths before it. In particular, Umar's father Abdulaziz ibn Marvan (died 86/705) and his grandfather Marvan ibn Hakam (died 2/623-65/685) ordered to write down hadiths.
It is known in history that when Abdulaziz ibn Marvan was a governor of Egypt, he sent a letter to Kathir ibn Murra from the successors and ordered him to write back hadiths of the narrators except Abu Huraira. Because hadiths narrated by Abu Huraira were written according to Marvan ibn Hakam's order before it. There are many such examples in sources.
So, the process of "tadvin" of hadiths began by the time companions started dying and was continued by the scholars of tabi`uns. Students of the companions such as Makhul (died 112/730), Zuhairi, Robi`a ibn Abdurrahman (died 142/759) and other tabi`uns also wrote and collected ISSN:00333077 5541 www.psychologyandeducation.net hadiths. This scientific process covered all cities and villages in which there were the companions at that time. A tendency of the collection of hadiths related to the issues belonged to prayer such as an ablution, worship, zakat and others was observed.
It should be noted that "tadvin" of hadiths was carried out in official and scientific directions in that time. Orders issued by the caliphs and governors accelerated the process of the compilation of hadiths. Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Muslim Zuhri (51/671-123/741), the first who wrote hadiths gives the following information about it: "Umar ibn Abdulaziz ordered us to compile hadiths. We collected hadiths in notebooks. Then these notebooks were sent to each governor" (8, p. 331 In the scientific direction, scholars of tabi`uns learned by heart, studied and interpreted hadiths which the companions had memorized or written down. Besides it, they collected the views of the companions on various issues related to Fiqh as well. As a result, sayings of the companions also began to be included into hadith collections. Solih ibn Kayson's following opinion also confirms this process: "I went to Zuhri. We decided to write hadiths down seeking for knowledge about them. Thus, we wrote down all of what narrated from the Prophet (pbuh). Then Zuhri said: "Let us to write down what narrated from the companions, they also are hadiths". I answered: "They are not hadiths; we will not include them". Zuhri wrote the sayings of the companions, and I did not" (8, p. 332).
Students The scientific study of hadiths in the time of tabi`uns was more widespread than that in the period of the companions. It was due to some factors such as the spread of hadiths in various regions, expansion of the ways of sanad, diversity of names of the narrators, death of older people who knew hadiths by heart or weakening of their memory, emergence of various bid`ahs (innovations) and falsified narrations. The younger tabi`uns and those who lived after them continued to make tadvin of hadiths in the II/VIII century. In this time, hadiths were compiled dividing into separate chapters and arranging in certain system.
In addition, the early books in the genre of "musannaf" collections also began to be created in this time. In such books, hadiths that related to a particular topic were collected in one chapter, and chapters were collected in one book. So, hadiths were compiled in books that divided into separate chapters in the period of the companions and tabi`uns. The early "musannaf" books of hadiths began to appear. However, the process of ta`lif of hadiths was carried out by those who lived after the companions and tabi`uns (16, p. 80).
The process of "tadvin" of hadiths began in about 70-th of Hijra and lasted till 120-th of Hijra (2, p. 50). Hadiths that preserved by the companions verbally or in a written form were compiled at this stage.
The process of "tasnif" began in 120 year of Hijra and lasted till about 150 year of Hijra (2, p. 83). At this stage, hadiths were systematized and collected in books. So, the early sunan books began to be created. By the second century of Hijra, traditions of the compilation of hadiths were further developed.
In particular, the early hadith collections that include all legal topics began to be created. The early hadith collections created in this period can be studied thematically dividing into three groups. The first group consists of "siyra books" (the Prophet's (pbuh) biography) and hadiths that have a historical significance were collected in them. An example of such books is the work of Ibn Ishoq. The second group is the collections that include hadiths on the issues of Fiqh. An example of such collections is Imam Molik's "al-Muvatto" and Imam Shafi`s "Kitab al-Umm". These books have great legal importance. The third group consists of collections of hadiths on various topics.
The second half of the II centurythe beginning of the III century of Hijra was a period of great changes in the field of the compilation of hadiths. Especially, the III century of Hijra was considered as a golden age of the Science of Hadith. A particular methodology and methods of the systematization of hadiths in collections were developed in this time. Scientific based rules of the selection and acceptation of hadiths were formed.
Various approaches and methods also began to appear in the compilation of hadiths in this time. It led to the creation of different hadith collections in the history of the Science of hadith. "Musnad" ‫)مسند(‬ -plural is "masonid" ‫)مساند(‬is one of the ancient methods in the compilation of hadiths. Collections created based on this method include all hadiths narrated by a certain narrator together in spite of the difference of their subjects. In this method, hadiths of the companions are given according to their names in an alphabetical order or their time of the embrace of Islam or their specific qualities (for example, "asharai mubashsharah" -"the ten companions to whom the prophecy of the Paradise was given"). Sometimes Musnad books also were created on basis of regions and cities. One of the ancient Musnad books that has come to us is Abu Davud Tayalusi's (died 204/819) (10, p. 184) and Ahmad ibn Hanbal's (died 241/855) work "Musnad". Later, muhaddiths changed the structure of musnad collections and began to create "musannaf" ‫)مصنف(‬plural is "musannafot" ‫)مصنفات(‬collections. Hadiths were collected thematically in these books. Such works differ from other books for they include hadiths that are important from the point of view of Islamic teaching.
Hadith collections that arranged according to names of the chapters (for example, book of ablution, book of prayer, etc.) of Fiqh books are called "sunan" ‫)سنن(‬ books. These collections were mainly created for faqihs to apply in practice, so it was intended to be easy and convenient to find hadiths needed in the issues of Fiqh. For this reason, such works do not include hadiths that are not important from the point of view of Fiqh and which were belonged to the issues of belief, siyra, manaqib and others. The works of Imam Tirmidhi, Imam Nasa'i, Imam Abu Dawud, and Imam Ibn Moja named as "Sunan", which are included in "as-Sihohu-s-sitta" is the best example for it. "Mu`jam" ‫)معجم(‬plural is "ma`ojim" ‫)معاجم(‬books are hadith collections in which hadiths are arranged according to the names of the author's teachers in an alphabetical order. Although these collections are not highly appreciated as sunan books, but they are still widely used today. An example of these collections is Imam Tabarani's work "al-Ma`ojimu-s-salasa". This book consists of three parts, which are structurally called "al-Mu`jamu-lkabir", "al-Mu`jamu-l-avsat", and "al-Mu`jamu-ssaghir". The collections, in which hadiths with defects are given and these defects are scientifically explained, are called "Ilal" ‫)علل(‬ books. Examples of this are Ibn Abu Hatim's and Imam Daraqutni's works named as "al-Ilal". In addition, there are hadith collections called as "juz" ‫)جزء(‬plural is "azja`" ‫اء(‬ ‫.)أجز‬ This type of hadith collections is small in size and includes hadiths narrated by one narrator or on one topic. An example of it is Imam Bukhari's "Juz` raf`i-lyadayn fi-s-salat".
Hadiths collections written according to this method include narrations which have not been included in other books. These books are created as an appendix to other hadith collections. For example, Abu Abdullah Hakim's "al-Mustadrak ala-s-sahihayn" is a book written an appendix to works of Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim. "Mustakhraj" ‫)مستخرج(‬plural is "mustakhrajot" ‫)مستخرجات(‬ -means "extracted". In this approach, an author collects hadiths that given in the works of other scholars with a different sanad which he knows himself. An example of such books is Abu Nuaym Isbahoni's book "al-Mustakhraj ala-s-sahihayn".

CONCLUSION
The search for answers to various problems in Muslim society as a result of ethnic diversity, the mixing of different religions and cultures and the rapid geographical expansion of Islamic territories, the destructive activities of various heretical sects that began to emerge after the death of the Prophet (Saas). The struggle, the need to preserve some religious unity by eliminating some ideological and intellectual divisions in society, has led to a sharp increase in interest in studying the hadith. Indeed, different sects, in many cases even the use of hadith by some people for different purposes, the falsification of non-existent hadith and the interpretation of existing ones that are incompatible with Islamic teachings, have led some Muslims astray. As a result, scientists were faced with the important and urgent task of ISSN:00333077 5544 www.psychologyandeducation.net scientifically and critically studying and sorting out hadith, including the distinction between reliable and unreliable. The scientific principles they had developed and the rules for selecting and adopting hadith served to prevent the spread of fanatical currents in the form of misinterpretation and interpretation of falsified hadith or narrative.
Abu Bakr, Umar ibn Khattob, Usman ibn Affon, Ali ibn Abi Tolib and others from the companions realized this necessity in the early period of Islam. Therefore, they paid a special attention to the preservation and collection of the authentic hadiths by narrating verbally or in a written form as well as to prevent the falsified hadiths from being mixed with the authentic ones. The compilation of hadiths in a written form in the period of the companions was carried out by writing the narrations on various things and this process can be called "kitabat".
Later, the task of the collections of hadiths that written on various things in the period of the companions was realized in order to facilitate the activity of the rulers and judges during the solution of the issues in society. This process was called as a tadvin stage of the compilation of hadiths in the history of the Science of Hadith.
After the methodology and methods of the compilation of hadiths were further developed by scholars, the process of the creation of separate books of hadithsta`lif, and then the process of the recreation of these books dividing into chapters according to a specific order and system tasnif began. Thus, almost all the approaches and methods which were applied in hadith collections that have come to us were developed and improved in the second half of the II/VIIIthe beginning of the III/IX centuries. All hadith collections created in the following period were mainly written based on these methods.