An Analysis of Riwāyas Concerning Abū Bakr’s and Umar’s Approaches to Hadith Compilation

The question of when the hadiths began to be recorded and compiled is one of the major issues of the history of hadith. The fact that there are riwāyas (transmitted reports) which both encourage and forbid the recording of hadith caused a split between hadith scholars over whether or not the kitābah (writing/recording) of hadiths began at the time of the Prophet Muhammad. One can also find a similar disagreement about when the hadiths began to compiled. Some riwāyas in sources have it that compilation of hadiths was first brought up during the caliphates of Abū Bakr and Umar and both caliphs took interest in this idea along with some other companions. This article examines these riwāyas in terms of the sanad (the chain of narration) and the matn (the text of the hadith), and discusses the validity of such reports.