from the Seerah of Muhammad

The Preservation of Sunnah
“Verily, it is We who have sent down the Dhikr, (i.e. the Qu’ran) and surely, We will guard it (from
corruption).” (Al-Hijr 15:9)
In this verse, Allah (swt) has assured the preservation of the Qur’an. This implies that the Qur’an
will remain uninterpolated and that it shall always be transferred from one generation to the other in
its real and original form, undistorted by any foreign element. The question before us is whether
protection is restricted to the words of the Qur’an or does it extend to its meanings. If the Prophetic
explanation is necessary to understand the Qur’an correctly, then the preservation of the Qur’anic
words alone cannot serve the purpose unless the Prophetic explanations are also preserved.
“And We have also sent down unto you the Reminder and the Advice (the Qur’an) that you may
explain clearly to the people what has been sent down for them” (An-NahI 16:44)
The word ‘Dhikr’ has been used here to mean the Qur’an and it has been made clear that the people
can only benefit from its guidance when they are led by the explanations of the Prophet (saaw).
Again the words “to the people” in the ayah indicate that the Prophet’s explanation is always
needed by everyone.
If everyone in every age is in need of the Prophetic explanation, with out which they CANNOT
fully comprehend the Qur’an, how would it be useful for them to preserve the Qur’anic text and
leave its Prophetic explanation at the mercy of distorters, extending to it no type of protection
whatsoever.
Therefore, once the necessity of the Prophetic explanations of the Qur’an is accepted, it will be selfcontradictory
to claim that these explanations are unavailable today. It will amount to negating the
protection, because it is in no way a wise policy to establish the necessity of the Sunnah on the one
hand, and to make its discovery (preservation) impossible on the other. Such a deficiency cannot be
attributed to Allah, the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.
What follows is a brief account of the measures taken by the Ummah to preserve the Sunnah of the
Prophet (saaw).
Different Ways of Preserving the Ahadith.
As we shall see, the Sahabah (raa) of the Prophet (saaw) committed a large number of Ahadith to
writing. Yet, the ink and paper was not the sole means of their preservation. There were many other
ways.
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