Salam )
Below i will quote some parts of a past text i wrote for fajr on this forum
I want to give you some information about the history of hadith that i think might interest you.
Did you know that all the Hadith-collecters were Persian, and that zoroastrianism was irans biggest religion at the time when Islam came to iran? Here is some information about the Hadith-Colllectors and the history of hadiths.
As you know, shia and sunni Imams/sheykhs claim that hadith should be accepted as divine and set laws for us, and that Hadith is announcedas a undivideable part of islam. 6 different versions of Hadith collections are considered to be the most authentic versions by the sunni muslims, and is called "Sahaa Sitaa". Shia muslims have their own collections and they are all different from the hadiths of sunni's.
A little about the history of hadith
First i want to talk about our Prophet, Prophet Muhammed
The history tells us that Prophet Muhammed was born year 570, and died 8.june year 632 in medina. He died 10 years after Hijrah.
I want to mention what Hijra is
Hijra is an arabic term for the Prophets emigration from Mecca to Medina in year 622, which establish the starting point of the Islamic time. With other words, the islamic time started year 622.
Lets start with some important facts
These 6 Hadith-Versions/collections came with the following titles
Sahih Bukhari
Sahih Muslim
Tirmidhi
Abu Dawud
Ibne Maja
Nisaayee
Introductions to the authours above
Imam Bukhari
He was born year 256 in Hijra, and some people say he was born year 260 (Hijra is the islamic calender as mentioned earlier). We know that Bukhari died in Khartank. It was said that after wandering through different towns and villages, he collected as much as 600 000. and after having grading them, he found 7300 ahadiths that he assumed was authentic. These are repeated in various chapters. If we don't take the repetions, the total number is 2630 or 2762.
He is mostly known as Bukhari, Al-Bukhari or Imam bukhari, and he is know to be a Sunni Islamic scholar of persian roots. With other words, bukhari was originally Iranian/Persian.
Imam Muslim
Muslim bin Hajaj came from a city in iran, called Nishapoor. He was born in year 204 in hijra and died 261.
Tirmidi
Imam abu isa Muhammed Tirmidhi was from a city by the name Trimz in Iran. He was born in the year 209 in hijra. amd died year 279 hijrah.
Abu Dawud
Imam abu dawud, came from Seestan in iran. He was born in year 202 hijra, and died year 275 hijra.
Ibne Maja
Abu Abdullah Muhammed bin zai, ibne Maja comes from a city iran by the name Kazdin. He was born hijra 209, and died year 273 in hijra.
Imam nisaayee
Imam ABdur Rahma Nisaayee comes from a city in iran Nisa in the eastern province of Khorasan. He died year 303 in Hijra.
Some Opinions
After a good introduction to these religious scholars/academicians, we can see that all of them wee iranians. None of these Scholars were of arabic origin. We must also note thaarabs don't have prepared themselves of what these scholars had done. And that is because all of these academicians/scholars were born 200-300 year after prophet Muhammeds died.
Another question that comes to mind is; all the ahadiths are only heard, they are not written down in an earlier archive until the collections of the Imams came.
From these thousands of hadiths that are collected, only a few thousand of them are seen as authentic, while most of them are discarded. The criteria for the Hadith-collectors was their own personal Judgments.
None of these Authours were being inspired by God when it comes to which ahadith that should be discarded, and which of them that should come in "the golden collection". Neither Prophet Muhammed was there to approve the hadiths of the muslims, since hadith was collected 200-400 years after Muhammeds death. With other words, there are no proofs that showes us that Prophet Muhammed has approved the Hadiths to be authentic.
Again, there was no earlier record/archive where the material could have been "loaned" from an archive and worked with. All the ahadiths, went from mouth to mouth, from city to city, village to village.
Important things
After personal judgment we can see that some ahadiths were wrote down, and other were thrown away/discared.
-How can someone based on ahadith which are stories told from mouth to mouth and from ear to ear collection, gove proofs that these are Prophet Muhammeds exact words?
Not the fact that these words are not give from a father to a son, or a teacher to a student, as memories
It would be stupid to not show people what the number of collected and discarded hadiths.
Ahadith authors founded ahadith collected in their Hadith-collections
Imam bukhari, Found 600 000, Only 2,762 collected, the rest was Discarded
Imam muslim, Found 300 000 Only 4348 collected, the rest was Discarded
Imam trimzi, Found 300 000 Only 3115 collected, the rest was Discarded
Imam abu daw, Found 500 000 Only 4800 collected, the rest was Discarded
Imam abu Maja Found 400 000 Only 4000 collected, the rest was Discarded
Imam nisai, Found 200 000 Only 4321 collected, the rest was Discarded
Mathematical calculations of collected and Discarded hadiths
Imam Bukhari Collected less than 0,5 % that was authentic,og discarded over 99,5%
Imam Muslim Collected less than 1,5 % authentic, and discarded over 98,5 %
Imam Tirmidhi Collected a lil bit over 1 % that was authentic, and discarded 99%
Imam Dawud Collected under 1 % that was authentic, and discarded over 99%
Imam abu Maja Collected exactly 1% authentic hadiths, discarded exactly 99%
Imam Nisai Collected a collected over 2% authentic hadiths, discarded over 97%
Conclusion
As we can see above, the Imams discarded over 98-99% of all the hadiths they collected. They claimed that all these were not authentic, and were false. Totally they colleced only 1-2 % of the hadiths, and claimed this was authentic. That means that only 1-2 % of the hadiths that were found was collected into the HADITH-COLLECTIONS.
The first thing that comes to our mind is; how can we be sure that all these authors did not throw away/discard the right ones, because the majority of hadiths that actually are written down as authentic, contradicts/violates Gods-word in the Quran. And what about all the hadiths that contradicts other hadiths, contradicts reason, contradicts science, history and many other things?
From the results of the research above, we can easily see that the collection and teachings of Prophet muhammed, was nothing but an individual struggle without no guarantee from God or approval of muhammed.
It has been discussed that we are lucky that we had people like Bukhari to make a collection like this. Some Scholars even go further and claim that 1/10 of the knowledge is in Quran, while the rest 9/10 is in the Hadith-collections. Its is not hard 2 understand why the 9/10 of the muslim people constantly are in war wich each other in the middle east.
When God tells us in the Quran that the system of deen is complete, and after this, can we even a moment, just a moment imagine that Prophet Muhammed would leave a so important part of his knowledge to the mercy of destiny?
If you wanna learn more about hadiths-history, read summary of this great book about the history of hadiths
http//www.free-minds.org/articles/hadith/rethink.htm
Yours sincerely
David...
