MOST PROLIFIC
NARRATORS AMONG
THE SAHABA l
5364
Abu Hurayra g narrated the most
hadith in the shortest amount of
time. He accepted Islam in 6-7 A.H.
2686
Anas g came into the Prophet’s a
service at 10 and was 20 when he
passed away.
2660
Ibn Umar k was the illustrious son
of Umar bin al-Khattab g.
2540
Jabir g— his father was martyred
in Uhud leaving his nine younger
sisters in his care.
2270
Abu Saeed al-Khudri g was the
leading faqih among the Ansar
Sahaba l.
2210
Ayesha j was the mother of the
believers. She was a polymath: a
jurist, muhadditha, and mufassira
of Qur’an.
biographer notes, “After completing
memorization, he spent his nights
and days in recitation. I know of one
occasion in which he recited 23 juz in
one rak‘a. If anyone came and stood
behind him, he quickly completed
his rak‘a and then politely asked the
person not to stand behind him.
Then he again started his salat, alone
this time, and engrossed himself
in recitation for the remainder of
the night” (ibid; p.101). His student,
Shaykh al-Hind Mufti Mahmood
Hasan (1851-1920 A.D.), a mufassir of
Qur’an, the first graduate of Darul
Uloom Deoband, and an activist
against British rule throughout his
life, was not a hafiz. But, that did not
stop him from reciting Qur’an the
whole night behind different huffaz
throughout the nights of Ramadan.
His biographer writes, “He assigned
various huffaz to lead him in nawafil
throughout the night and in case they
were not local, he provided them with
a place to stay, food and drink, and
covered all their expenses…then if he
had time, he slept for a short while
and awoke to perform nawafil again.
One hafiz completed two to four juz
and went off to rest while Hadrat
waited for the next hafiz to arrive. In
this manner, Hadrat listened to many
huffaz throughout the night. The
reciters changed periodically, whereas
Hadrat remained in his spot (ibid;
p.104).
As mentioned earlier, recitation of
Qur’an was the rule for the Salaf and
Khalaf (latter predecessors), and they
did not sway from this rule without
good reason.
But, how would we define ‘good
reason?’
Today, we consider gatherings of
knowledge and work of Deen as
sufficient reason to reduce our quota
for recitation Qur’an in Ramadan
and afford ourselves of opportunities
to make the most of Ramadan by
attending seminars and sessions of
knowledge. But, based on the routine
of the Salaf and the Khalaf, we learn
that they shut down all gatherings
at a time when the Islamic fields
and sciences were in their critical,
evolutionary stages. Any sort of
hiatus would disturb the process
of growth and systemization of the
fields. Any deficiency or curtailing
of the process would have dire
consequences on the latter Umma.
Hypothetically, if the principles of
hadith authentication were cut short
so that the imams of the science of
authentication of hadith could attend
to Ramadan and we were unable
to determine weak from sahih on
a number of hadith because those
hadith fell through in that time,
how would we be able to determine
whether to act or not act upon those
hadith a thousand years later? No
such thing happened, of course,
because the Salaf and Khalaf held
a conviction (which often evades
us) that it was not their efforts and
struggles that preserved the Deen.
The Salaf and Khalaf believed with
absolute certitude that even if they
devoted their life to a field of Deen
(e.g. fiqh or hadith), which they did
(they did not have 9 to 5 jobs), still the
matter of preservation of Deen and its
transmission to the latter Umma was
in the hands of Allah. They knew they
were not in charge. Whatever they
did and how much ever they invested
into their fields, the outcome was with
Allah. This conviction facilitated for
them taking off time for Ramadan.
But, even if they were concerned
with ‘finishing the job’ and had put
themselves in charge of the outcome,
they would never have given time
to their own spiritual growth and
personal and religious duties to
themselves and those around them,
in addition to falling short in the
Ramadan and the Qur’an continued
from page 19
continued on page 30
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