Translation of Sahih Bukhari Volume 6, Book 61, Number 537:
Narrated 'Abdul ‘Aziz bin Rufai’:
Shaddad bin Ma’qil and I entered upon Ibn 'Abbas. Shaddad bin Ma’qil asked him, “Did the Prophet leave anything (besides the Qur’an)?” He replied. “He did not leave anything except what is Between the two bindings (of the Qur’an).” Then we visited Muhammad bin Al-Hanafiyya and asked him (the same question). He replied, **“The Prophet did not leave except what is between the bindings (of the Qur’an).” **
My Questions:
Has there been any scrutiny of this narration and is itl still held to be true by those who believe the collection of Bukhari to be ‘Sahih’.
Are the words in the brackets correctly elaborating or are they putting words in the mouth of the narrators?
Hopefully this is not another attempt to use one established hadith to show that other authentic hadith were not meant to have been recorded or followed. That would surely be the height of absurdity.
The meaning of the statement "He did not leave anything except what is between the two bindings" is that whatever the Prophet (s) left of the recited Qur'an is contained within the covers of the two bindings. There's nothing of the Qur'an that Allah intended to be recorded except that it has been preserved through what the Prophet (s) left behind. This is explained by Hafidh ibn Hajar (d. 852H) in his commentary of this hadith in Fath al-Bari. So the statement could be translated to mean:
"He did not leave anything (of the recited Qur'an) except what is between the two bindings."
To perhaps use this hadith to show that none of the Prophet's (s) own words remained recorded after his death would be nothing short of selective quoting from Sahih al-Bukhari. The same work, Sahih al-Bukhari, mentions the Prophet (s) allowing one of his sermons to be written down, also that 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (r) had a parchment containing some religious instructions of the Prophet (s), as well as Abu Huraira's (r) statement that 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-As recorded the Prophet's (s) hadith in writing etc.
Iqbal thanks for responding..I was hoping to hear from you to tap on your knowledge of the subject.
My question remains unanswered partially.
So there were no later criticism on the hadith. That's good. Now what about the statement in the brackets which says "Did the Prophet leave anything (besides the Qur'an)?"
Are the words in the brackets correct??
and btw relax, I know better than to use the same source to cast doubts on the same... I was more interested in the 'historical' aspect and also if from the narrators a safe 'time period' can be traced for when this conversation took place.
Of course, the bracketed words are the insertion of the translator. It is worth looking at why al-Bukhari recorded this particular hadith in the first place. The various chapter titles he places before most of his hadith usually gives us a good indication as to what al-Bukhari himself understood from each report. In this case he places the hadith in question under the chapter title: “Whoever said that the Prophet (s) did not leave anything except what is between the two binders.” He records just the one hadith under this heading.
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d. 852H) explained in Fath al-Bari, the most famous commentary to Sahih al-Bukhari, that al-Bukhari’s intent behind this chapter heading and the report under it was to refute those who held the errenous view that some of the Qur’an has not been preserved or that the earlier generations deliberately withheld some verses that should have been retained. So al-Bukhari understood from the hadith that the replies given by ibn Abbas (r) and Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya were to be taken to mean that, “He (the Prophet [s]) did not leave anything (of the recited Qur’an) except what is between the two bindings.” In other words, nothing of the recited Qur’an is missing.
If this understanding is retained, then the question, “Did the Prophet (s) leave anything?” would be better explained to mean, "“Did the Prophet (s) leave anything (out of the Qur’an)?” rather than, “Did the Prophet (s) leave anything (besides the Qur’an)?”
What also lends evidence for this understanding is that, as has previously been mentioned, there are other reports elsewhere in Sahih al-Bukhari which mention that the Prophet (s) did leave other religious instruction behind in writing other than the Qur’an.
However, it is possible that Dr. Muhsin Khan, the translator of the English edition of Sahih al-Bukhari, phrased the question in the way that he did on the basis of a variant wording of this report. A scholar who was born a couple of decades after al-Bukhari’s death by the name of Abu Bakr al-Ismaili (277-371H) authored an important work titled al-Mustakhraj 'ala Sahih al-Bukhari in which he repeated all the hadith initially collected by al-Bukhari but with the aim of providing additional chains of transmission for them. In his collection, the question under discussion is worded, “Did the Prophet (s) leave anything besides the Qur’an?” (as mentioned by ibn Hajar)
Here are the dates of death for three of the individuals mentioned in your quote:
The narrator, 'Abdul ‘Aziz bin Rufai’ d. 130H
Ibn 'Abbas d. 68H
Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya d. circa. 80H
On this basis, the narrative recorded by al-Bukhari would have had to have taken place no later than 68H prior to the death of ibn Abbas (r). However, it is important to note that by this time ibn Abbas (r) himself, according to other reports, had already put hadith and religious instruction down in writing or at least allowed his students to record them. For example, ibn Abbas (r) referred to one of the Prophet’s (s) hadith in a letter that he wrote as mentioned in Sahih al-Bukhari itself: “Ibn Abu Mulaika said: I wrote a letter to Ibn 'Abbas and he wrote to me that the Prophet had given the verdict that the defendant had to take an oath.” (Bukhari, 3:691). When his eyesight failed in later life ibn Abbas (r) would have others read his books back to him (al-Dhahabi, Siyar al-'Alam, 3:238); he had a copy of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib’s (r) legal judgements (Sahih Muslim, Introduction); 'Ali ibn 'Abdullah ibn Abbas had derived hadith from him in writing (Tabaqat ibn Sa’d, 5:216), as had al-Hakam ibn Miqsam (al-Shawkani, Fath al-Mughith, 2:138) and Sa’id ibn Jubair (al-Khatib, Taqyid al-'Ilm, #102) etc.
Thanks for the info Iqbal. It clears things up.. i'm no fan of 'brackets' myself, but then again it's Al-Bukhari so for all I care the translators can knock themself out.