Why Did the Prophet Prohibit Writing Non-quranic Texts? – Shaykh Anas al-Musa

Why did the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) prevent the Companions from writing down anything other than the Quran?

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger sent as a mercy to the worlds, our Master and Prophet, Muhammad, and his Family and Companions.

The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) allowed his Companions to write down the Quran and forbade them from writing anything else from him. He said,

“Do not write anything from me except the Quran. Whoever wrote anything other than the Quran should erase it…” [Muslim]

The reason for this prohibition was the fear that some people might confuse the Quran with the Sunna. To prevent this, the prohibition was issued. This prohibition was general, and the evidence for this is that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) permitted some Companions to write down what he said from the Sunna in specific situations and special circumstances. This happened with Abu Shah, a man from Yemen, when he asked the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) to command his Companions to write down a sermon he delivered. Abu Shah said, “Write it down for me, O Messenger of Allah.” The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Write it for Abu Shah.” [Bukhari]

This is supported by Abu Hurayra’s statement (Allah be pleased with him):

“None of the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) narrated more Hadiths than I did, except for Abdullah Ibn ‘Amr, who used to write them down while I did not.” [Ibid.]

And Abdullah Ibn ‘Amr (Allah be pleased with him) said:

“I used to write down everything I heard from the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) because I wanted to memorize it. The Quraysh dissuaded me, saying, ‘Do you write down everything when the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) is a human who speaks in anger and pleasure?’ So, I stopped writing and mentioned it to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace). He pointed to his mouth and said, ‘Write, for by Him in Whose Hand my soul lies, nothing comes out of it except the truth.’” [Ahmad]

Also, it was reported from Abu Juhayfa (Allah be pleased with him) who said: “I said to Ali (Allah be pleased with him): Do you have anything from the revelation apart from what is in the Book of Allah? He said: No, by the One who splits the grain and creates the soul, except for an understanding that Allah gives to a person in the Quran and what is in this document. I asked: What is in this document? He said: Reason, the release of captives, and that a Muslim is not to be killed in retaliation for a disbeliever.” [Bukhari]

Thus, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) allowed the writing of his words for those who feared they might forget and forbade those who were confident in their memory from writing to avoid reliance on written records.

He also feared the confusion between the Quran and other writings. When this risk was mitigated, he permitted writing. After that, there was no longer a need for the prohibition, and scholars compiled the Sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), as is evident in the books of Hadith today. This is in fulfillment of Allah’s promise to preserve this religion as He said:

“It is certainly We Who have revealed the Reminder, and it is certainly We Who will preserve it.” [Quran, 15:9]

May Allah bless the Prophet Muhammad and give him peace, and his Family and Companions.

And Allah knows best.
[Shaykh] Anas al-Musa