Mukaththiroon (i.e., those who narrated more than a thousand hadiths)
Abu Hurairah
Abu Hurairah stands at the top of the list of Hadith transmitters. This is because of the sheer bulk of his narrations.
He was regarded by the Prophet himself as the most eager, among all Muslims, to acquire the knowledge of Hadith.
Belonging to the tribe of Daws, an offshoot of the great clan of Azd, Abu Hurairah came to Madinah in the seventh
year of the Hijrah (the Prophet's migration to Madinah). On being told that the Prophet was in Khaybar, he went
there and accepted Islam. Since that time and until the death of the Prophet, Abu Hurairah constantly remained
in the company of the Prophet, attending him and memorizing his words during the day, thereby sacrificing all
worldly pursuits and pleasures.
We are told that Abu Hurairah would divide his nights into three parts: one for sleeping, one for praying, and one
for studying. After the death of the Prophet, he was appointed governor of Bahrain for a while during the caliphate
of `Umar ibn Al-Khattab. He also acted as governor of Madinah under the early Umayyad caliphs. He died in
AH 59 (678 CE).
When the Prophet died, information about religion and jurisprudential judgments had to be sought indirectly. At that
time, Abu Hurairah (who instructed more than 800 students in Hadith) poured out the store of knowledge he had
so meticulously accumulated. At times he was taken to task for reporting certain hadiths unknown to other
Companions. But he would reply that he had simply learned what the Ansar (Muslims of Madinah) had missed
because they had been attending to their lands and properties, and what the Muhajirun (Immigrants to Madinah)
had failed to learn because of their commercial activities.
Once he was taken to task by `Abdullah ibn `Umar for relating a particular hadith, so Abu Hurairah took him to
`A'ishah, who bore witness to the truth of what Abu Hurairah had related. His knowledge and memory were also
tested by Marwan ibn Al-Hakam, the then governor of Madinah. Having written down some hadiths related by Abu
Hurairah, Ibn Al-Hakam wanted him to relate the same after a year. He found them to be exactly identical to Abu
Hurairah's earlier narration.
When one considers Abu Hurairah's intense dedication to learning Hadith, his devotion to the Prophet, and the
various tests applied to his memory and scholarship by his contemporaries, one finds it inconceivable that he
would have fabricated any hadith. This does not mean, however, that some material was not falsely imputed to
him at a later time. The fact that he narrated a uniquely large number of hadiths did make inventing hadiths in
his name an attractive proposition.
`Abdullah ibn `Umar
The son of Caliph `Umar ibn Al-Khattab, Ibn `Umar is the second most prolific narrator of Hadith. He and his father
had simultaneously accepted Islam, and they immigrated to Madinah together. Ibn `Umar took part in many battles
during the Prophet's lifetime; he also took part in the wars in Mesopotamia, Persia, and Egypt. However, he
maintained strict neutrality in the conflicts that erupted among the Muslims following the assassination of the third
caliph, `Uthman ibn `Affan.
Despite the immense esteem and honor in which he was held by all Muslims, who repeatedly asked him to become
caliph (an offer which he refused), he kept himself aloof from factional strife. Throughout those years, he led an
unselfish, pious life, setting an example of an ideal citizen, just as his father had set an example of an ideal ruler.
He died in Makkah in the year AH 74 (692 CE) at the age of 87.
`Abdullah's long association with the Prophet and his kinship with the Prophet's wife Hafsah and with certain other
Companions offered him a superb opportunity to learn Hadith. His long, peaceful life gave him time and leisure
enough to teach and spread the hadiths he had learned among the Muslims who assiduously sought them.
He was renowned for the extreme scrupulousness with which he related hadiths. Ash-Sha`bi, the famous Hadith
narrator, remarks that he did not hear a single hadith from him for a whole year. When Ibn `Umar related hadiths,
his eyes would be filled with tears. His activities in the service of Islam, his austere life, his straightforward and
honest character, and his careful treatment of the hadiths render the material we have from him of the highest value.
Anas ibn Malik
At the age of 10, Anas was presented by his mother, Umm Sulaym, to the Prophet following the Hijrah. From that
time and until the Prophet's death, Anas was the Prophet's favorite attendant, and afterward he was appointed by
Abu Bakr As-Siddiq as a tax collector in Bahrain. Toward the end of his life, Anas settled in Basra, where he died
in 93 AH (711 CE). He is said to have lived more than a hundred years.
During the 10 years he spent in the Prophet's service, he was able to memorize a large number of his words. Later,
he also learned a good deal of the Prophet's hadiths from Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, `Umar ibn Al-Khattab, and many other
Companions. His knowledge of Hadith was so copious that his death was regarded as a deathblow to half of the
entire mass of hadiths. Scholars of Hadith accept him as one of the most prolific narrators of Hadith.
Mother of the Believers `A'ishah
`A'ishah occupies the fourth place among the mukaththiroon. She enjoyed the constant company of the Prophet for
about eight years and a half. She died in 57 AH (676 CE) at the age of 65.
`A'ishah was naturally endowed with a retentive memory and a developed critical faculty that enabled her to memorize
a large number of ancient Arab poems, for which she was a recognized reference. During her lifetime, she was also
esteemed for her expertise in medicine and Islamic law.
Regarding Hadith, not only did she learn a large volume of hadiths from her husband but also she showed critical
appreciation of them and corrected many Companions' mistakes in understanding. When, for instance, Ibn `Umar
related that the Prophet had said that the dead are punished in their graves on account of the wailing of their relatives,
she pointed out that the Prophet had said that while the dead are punished in their graves for their sins, their relatives
weep for them.
It was on account of her extensive knowledge of Hadith and Islamic law that even the most important Companions
sought her advice on jurisprudential problems. A long list of those who related Hadith on her authority may be found
in Ibn Hajar's book Tahtheeb At-Tahtheeb.
`Abdullah ibn `Abbas
He was born three years before the Prophet's Hijrah and was thirteen years old at the time of the Prophet's death.
He was greatly loved by the Prophet, as is apparent from the hadiths that concern him. He died in AH 68 (687 CE)
at the age of 71.
It appears that despite his youth he learned a few hadiths directly from the Prophet. Ibn Hajar refers (quoting Yahya
ibn Al-Qattan) to the assertion that Ibn `Abbas related only four to ten hadiths from the Prophet, and adds that this
estimate is incorrect because the authentic books of Al-Bukhari and Muslim alone contain more than ten hadiths
related by Ibn `Abbas directly from the Prophet.
There is, however, no doubt that the number of hadiths related by Ibn `Abbas directly from the Prophet is very small
in comparison with what he related via some Companions. He learned these hadiths through years of hard labor. He
remarked, "Whenever I expected to learn any hadith from a Companion, I would go to his door and wait there until he
came out and said, 'O cousin of the Prophet, what brings you here? Why did you not send for me?' And I would reply
that it was only proper that I go to him. Then I learn the hadith from him."
Ibn `Abbas was held in universal awe for his intellectual powers and capacity for memorization. He was entirely
devoted to the study of the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and was loved and respected for his scholarship by all the first
four caliphs, as well as his contemporaries. He collected a large body of hadiths, which he wrote down in books.
He delivered lectures on them to his disciples. His tafseer (exegesis) of the Qur'an (which was handed down by his
student Mujahid) is well known. It has been referred to by numerous later commentators.
Jabir ibn `Abdullah
This Companion is one of the early converts to Islam in Madinah. He was present in Makkah at the second meeting
of the Prophet and the first group of Muslims of Madinah .He took part in 19 battles in the Prophet's company, and
died in Madinah in ca. AH 74 (693 CE) at the age of 94.
Not only did he learn hadiths from the Prophet but also he learned hadiths from many of the Prophet's important
Companions, including Abu Bakr, `Umar, and others. He also studied under some of the Tabi`in (first generation
after the Prophet), including the famous Umm Kulthum, the daughter of Abu Bakr. He used to teach Hadith regularly
in the mosque in Madinah.
Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri
His name is Sa`d ibn Malik, and he is another early convert of Madinah. His father was killed during the Battle of
Uhud. He, himself, took part in 12 of the battles fought during the Prophet's lifetime. He died in Madinah in AH 64
(683 CE).
Like Abu Hurairah, he was one of Ahl-us-Suffah — those people who lived on the porch of the Prophet's dwelling by
the mosque in order to dedicate themselves to an austere life of Prayer and learning. He learned the Sunnah from
the Prophet, as well as from his important Companions, such as Abu Bakr, `Umar, and Zayd ibn Thabit. He was
considered the best jurist among the young Companions.
- source from islamonline.net
