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The first collector of the Prophet's authentic Hadeeths

Question

Who was the first collector of the authentic Hadeeths of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

The process of recording the Hadeeths of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, went through several stages, starting from the era of the Companions  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  them where some of them wrote what they heard from the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. So, the Companions  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  them were the first people to write down the Hadeeth, but nothing of what they wrote reached us. During the caliphate of ‘Umar ibn Abdul ‘Azeez  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him he wrote for a group of scholars to collect the Hadeeth of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, but when they collected the Hadeeths they were mixed with the sayings of the Companions and Fataawa (rulings) of the Taabi‘oon (Followers; generation following the Companions).

The matter remained as such until some scholars suggested collecting the Hadeeth of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, in a different manner. Therefore, ‘Ubaydullaah ibn Moosa  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him authored a Musnad, and so did Musaddad Al-Basri, Asad ibn Moosa, and Nu‘aym ibn Hammaad Al-Khuzaa‘i  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them. The methodology of these Musnads was that the Hadeeths of each Companion were grouped separately. Later, scholars of religious sciences followed the methodology of those scholars.

The first one to collect the authentic Hadeeths of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, was Imaam Al-Bukhari  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him as stated by scholars of Hadeeth terminology.

Allaah Knows best.

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