The Sahifah of Hammam ibn Munabbih: Muhammad Hamidullah’s Edition

About this book

“The Sahifah of Hammam ibn Munabbih: The Earliest Written Hadith Collection,” edited by Dr Muhammad Hamidullah al-Haydarabadi (d. 1423 AH), was published by the Arab Scientific Academy in Damascus in 1372 AH/1953 CE. It is an edition of an early hadith collection transmitted by the Successor Hammam ibn Munabbih from Abu Hurayrah. It contains 138 Prophetic hadiths. The editor used two manuscripts, one in Berlin and one in Damascus, and compared them. His scholarly introduction surveys hadith writing and compilation in the Prophetic era and the periods of the Companions and Successors, addresses claims that Sunnah compilation began late, and cites historical evidence and early hadith notebooks to explain the Sahifah’s place in the history of transmission and writing. The work matters both as an edition of an early hadith text and as a study of the history of recording the Sunnah. Calling the Sahifah “the earliest written collection” does not mean it was the first hadith material ever written, since other hadith notebooks existed in the time of the Companions.