How Abu Hurairah Narrated Thousands of Hadith
The Life and Merits of Abu Hurairah: The Most Prolific Hadith Narrator
Summary
This lecture discusses the life and significance of Abu Hurairah, a prominent companion of Prophet Muhammad who arrived in Medina during or shortly after the Battle of Khaybar as a migrant (muajir) from the land of Daws. The speaker explains Abu Hurairah's humble beginnings, living in the suffa (a canopy-covered area in the Prophet's mosque) with other poor migrants, and his exceptional dedication to staying with the Prophet at all times. Despite only spending about four years with the Prophet, Abu Hurairah narrated an extraordinarily large number of hadith (prophetic traditions), which is explained through his constant companionship and his supplication for knowledge that would not be forgotten, which the Prophet corroborated. The lecture also addresses why his narration count far exceeds that of other companions, including the Prophet's wives.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Coming.
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Alhamdulillah.
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Came to the prophet sallall.aii wasallam in migration as a muaji in the same year that the battle of happened. Now it's differed amongst the scholars of scholars of and amongst the Muslim historians with regards to the exact date and the exact year of the battle of some view it in the sixth year after Hijra. Others view it in the seventh year after Hijra. However, we know for a fact that Abu arrived during or right immediately after the battle of as a matter of fact he arrived so closely during the time of the battle of that he was considered amongst those who were given of the spoils of war during that battle he accepted Islam And he came from a land known as do. And that is why he is referred to as Adosi. He is from the land of dose. When he made hijra, he came with his mother. But his mother did not immediately accept Islam. She accepted Islam later on. And perhaps a time will come when we will mention the story of his mother's acceptance of Islam. However, when he first arrived, he was very poor and he arrived to a sofa. What is a sofa? A sofa in the Arabic language literally translates to the canopy. The canopy. A sofa is a is a canopy or a small ceiling that is placed or put up using date palm branches as a kind of cover to provide some kind of shade and some kind of shelter from rain and so forth. And when the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam first arrived in Medina, he was still praying towards Beth Maktis. So his prayer was to the general direction of the west and he continued to pray in that direction for 16 months desiring to be directed to the Kaa as his as hisl because that is the of the prophets and messengers of all the prophets and messengers and faith. facing towards be makdis was an innovation that was later contrived by the people of the book. However, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made it so that he could face both at the same time when he was in Mecca. So when he was in Mecca he would stand facing towards the west with thea between him and make salah. However, when he made hijra now he had to turn to one or the other. And so he desired that hisl be restored to that of Ibraim. And so at the very front of the masjid, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam's masid was long. It was elongated, kind of a rectangle, if you will. And at the very front where the imam would stand, there would be that sofa. There would be that canopy that would shade over the imam. And the rest of the masid was open. It was open air. The it had no ceiling. And so when the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam had the direction of his kibla back to Mecca, he then came to the other end of the masjid, built a new sofa there and that became the place where he prayed. Well, the very very back we still have that old canopy where he used to stand. That is a sofa. That is the canopy. And people that would arrive in Mecca in Medina having migrated while they get on their feet while they establish themselves. Those who didn't have a place to go, they didn't have any family members in Medina, they didn't have any connections, they didn't have any real wealth, they would stay there in a sua. And so those people were referred to as they were known for their patience. They were known for their steadfastness, their unwavering support of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam. And they have a specific virtue with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that others do not have. And that is why the scholars when they mention the the merits of any particular companion this is one of the merits that they will mention. They will say for instance he was from and you know along with he was in for instance or he was in the battle of or what have you and this would be mentioned amongst his merits. And so Abu only spent a little bit over four years with the prophet sallall.aii wasallam in most generous estimates. A little over four years. However, we see that narrates a huge majority or a huge bulk of the narrations and the sunnah of our prophet sallall.aii wasallam and some people they are unclear about this. How is it that a man that only spent four years with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam narrates all of these narrations whilst others from amongst his companions even his own wives such as or others who specialize in collecting his narrations are not even close to the amount that he narrates. This is the question even asked this very same question and said to Abu.
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She said to him, "Oh Abu, all of these narrations that we've never heard of, you have heard of yet we all were sitting with the prophet sallall.aii wasallam." Is there I mean you saw the same things that we saw and you heard the same things that we heard. How is it that you have so much more narrations? Now this is not that she is accusing him of making anything up. This never happened of course and none of the companions ever accused of such a thing. But the question is how did this happen? How is it so disproportionately to your side the amount of narrations that you narrate of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam? And he said to her.
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He said you were to an extent occupied, preoccupied with you know making yourself presentable for the prophet sallall.aii and you know making yourself the best wife that you can for him. And so this preoccupied you to an extent and it has to. As for me, absolutely nothing preoccupied me from him. Not even not even work or poverty or hunger. In other narrations, he mentions. I used to continuously be with the prophet sallall.aii wasam every moment that I could as long as I had something to eat as long as I was able to keep myself nourished enough to follow him saiam. So we see that Abu Huray when when you envision Abu, I want you to envision a man that from the moment that he arrived in Medina until the prophet sallall.aii wasallam passed away, he was literally in the masid. Every single time that he saw the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam leave his house come out lead salah anything go anywhere take a walk anywhere abu would be with him and the prophet sallai wasallam made dua for this exact thing there's a narration in that and two other companions made dua for one for one another. And so they said, "Let us make dua and each of us ask for something and the other two say a mean." And so each of them asked for something and Abu Hur then asked made his dua and as he made his dua the prophet sallall.aii wasallam passed by and joined their gathering. after the first two. And so he said,.
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That Abu said in his turn, "Oh Allah, I ask you for the same thing that my two companions asked you for and I also ask you for knowledge that will never be forgotten." And the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam said along with him. It said that he was born 21 years before the hijra of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam and he later went on to pass away in the year 59 after hijra in the most correct estimates which would place his age at how old? 59 and se 59 and 21 80 years old very old and this also plays a huge part in the amount of narrations that he narrated tomorrow we will conclude our discussion about Abu and continue on yes.
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Called.
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Would this be equated as the hijra from Mecca Now it is it is equal to the hij from Mecca. however he is not ashi but anyone who has made hijra from his land from anywhere to medina is considered to be a muaji. Now, yeah, because there's a general division, right? So, it's muajir and one or the other. Now,.