Evidence of Writing in the Prophetic Era: An Inductive-Analytical Study

Dr. Faraz Ul Haq; Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Yunus

Authors

Dr. Faraz Ul Haq Assistant Professor, Department of Essential Studies, NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5734-2795
Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Yunus Visiting Faculty, NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9820-1676

Keywords:

Evidence, Writing, Hadith, Prophet

Abstract

This study examines the evidence of written documentation during the Prophetic era, with particular attention to its presence and diverse applications in early Islamic society. Using an inductive-analytical approach, the study systematically surveys primary historical sources to classify the various uses of writing under the Prophet’s ﷺ guidance, including judicial rulings and legal verdicts (qada), peace treaties and tribal pacts (ṣulḥ), diplomatic correspondence with foreign rulers, and administrative documents such as property grants, tax instructions, and census records. By synthesizing these records, the study establishes that writing was a recognized and functional means of documentation in the Prophetic era, serving legal, diplomatic, and administrative purposes. The evidence further indicates that writing contributed to the preservation and transmission of Prophetic guidance, providing historical evidence for the written preservation of the Sunnah during his lifetime.

References

Abū ‘Ubayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām. Kitāb al-Amwāl [The book of revenue]. Edited by Khalīl Muḥammad Harrās. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1986.

al-Balādhurī, Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyá ibn Jābir. Futūḥ al-Buldān [Conquests of the lands]. Beirut: Dār wa-Maktabat al-Hilāl, 1988.

al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Supervised by Muḥammad Zuhayr al-Nāṣir. 9 vols. Beirut: Dār Ṭawq al-Najāh, 2001.

Goldziher, Ignaz. Muslim Studies (Muhammedanische Studien). Edited by S. M. Stern. Translated by C. R. Barber and S. M. Stern. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1971.

Ḥamīdullāh, Muḥammad. Majmū‘at al-Wathā’iq al-Siyāsiyyah lil-‘Ahd al-Nabawī wa-al-Khilāfah al-Rāshidah [Collection of political documents of the Prophetic and Rightly Guided Caliphate era]. 6th ed. Beirut: Dār al-Nafā’is, 1987.

al-Ḥamawī, Yāqūt. Mu‘jam al-Buldān [Dictionary of countries]. 5 vols. 2nd ed. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1995.

Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, Yūsuf ibn ‘Abd Allāh. Al-Istī‘āb fī Ma‘rifat al-Aṣḥāb. Edited by ‘Alī Muḥammad al-Bijāwī. 4 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Jīl, 1992.

Ibn Ḥajar al-‘Asqalānī, Aḥmad ibn ‘Alī. Fatḥ al-Bārī bi-Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Edited by Muḥibb al-Dīn al-Khaṭīb and Quṣayy Muḥibb al-Dīn al-Khaṭīb. 13 vols. Cairo: Al-Maṭba‘ah al-Salafiyyah, 1970.

———. Al-Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr. Edited by Muḥammad al-Thānī ibn ‘Umar ibn Mūsá. 7 vols. Riyadh: Dār Aḍwā’ al-Salaf, 2007.

Ibn Ḥanbal, Aḥmad. Musnad Aḥmad. Edited by Shu‘ayb al-Arnā’ūṭ et al. 50 vols. Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Risālah, 2001.

Ibn Ḥibbān, Muḥammad. Al-Thiqāt [The trustworthy transmitters]. 9 vols. Hyderabad: Dā’irat al-Ma‘ārif al-‘Uthmāniyyah, 1973.

Ibn Hishām, ‘Abd al-Malik. Al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah [Biography of the Prophet]. Edited by Muṣṭafá al-Saqqā, Ibrāhīm al-Ibyārī, and ‘Abd al-Ḥafīẓ Shalabī. 2 vols. Cairo: Muṣṭafá al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, 1955.

Ibn Kathīr, Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Umar. Al-Bidāyah wa-al-Nihāyah [The beginning and the end]. Edited by ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Abd al-Muḥsin al-Turkī. 21 vols. Giza: Dār Hajar, 1997–1999.

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr. Tahdhīb Sunan Abī Dāwūd. Edited by ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad al-‘Umrān and Nabīl ibn Naṣṣār al-Sindī. 3 vols. 2nd ed. Riyadh: Dār ‘Aṭā’āt al-‘Ilm; Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2019.

Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān. Muqaddimat Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ [Introduction to Hadith studies]. Edited by Nūr al-Dīn ‘Itr. Damascus: Dār al-Fikr, 1986.

Ibn Sallām al-Jumaḥī, Muḥammad. Ṭabaqāt Fuḥūl al-Shu‘arā’ [Classes of the great poets]. Edited by Maḥmūd Muḥammad Shākir. 2 vols. Jeddah: Dār al-Madanī, 1974.

Ibn al-Ṭallā‘, Muḥammad ibn Faraj al-Andalusī. Aqḍiyat Rasūl Allāh [Judgments of the Messenger of Allah]. Edited by Fāris Fatḥī Aḥmad. Beirut: Dār al-Bashā’ir al-Islāmiyyah, 2006.

al-Jāḥiẓ, ‘Amr ibn Baḥr. Kitāb al-Ḥayawān [The book of animals]. Edited by ‘Abd al-Salām Muḥammad Hārūn. 8 vols. Cairo: Muṣṭafá al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, 1965.

al-Kattānī, ‘Abd al-Ḥayy. Al-Tarātīb al-Idāriyyah [Administrative arrangements]. Edited by ‘Abd Allāh al-Khālidī. 2 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Arqam, n.d.

al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ‘Alī. Taqyīd al-‘Ilm. Edited by Youssef Eche. Beirut: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah, 1974.

al-Maqrīzī, Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ‘Alī. Imtā‘ al-Asmā‘. Edited by Muḥammad ‘Abd al-Ḥamīd al-Numaysī. 15 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1999.

al-Mas‘ūdī, ‘Alī ibn al-Ḥusayn. Al-Tanbīh wa-al-Ishrāf [Notification and inspection]. Beirut: Dār wa-Maktabat al-Hilāl, 1981.

al-Quḍā‘ī, Muḥammad ibn Salāmah. ‘Uyūn al-Ma‘ārif wa-Funūn Akhbār al-Khalā’if [History of al-Quda‘i]. Edited by Jamīl ‘Abd Allāh al-Miṣrī. Master’s thesis, Umm al-Qurá University, Makkah, n.d.

al-Qalqashandī, Aḥmad ibn ‘Alī. Ṣubḥ al-A‘shá fī Ṣinā‘at al-Inshā. Commentary by Muḥammad Ḥusayn Shams al-Dīn. 14 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1987–1989.

Sibt Ibn al-Jawzī, Yūsuf ibn Qiz-oghli. Mir’āt al-Zamān fī Tawārīkh al-A‘yān [Mirror of time]. Edited by Muḥammad Barakāt et al. 23 vols. Damascus: Dār al-Risālah al-‘Ālamiyyah, 2013.

al-Sijistānī, Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān ibn al-Ash‘ath. Sunan Abī Dāwūd. Edited by Muḥammad Muḥyī al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Ḥamīd. Beirut: Al-Maktabah al-‘Aṣriyyah, 1999.

al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān. Al-Shamārīkh fī ‘Ilm al-Tārīkh. Edited by Ibrāhīm al-Sāmarrā’ī. Riyadh: Dār al-Liwā’, 1979.

al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr. Jāmi‘ al-Bayān ‘an Ta’wīl Āy al-Qur’ān (Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī). Edited by ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Abd al-Muḥsin al-Turkī. 26 vols. Giza: Dār Hajar, 2001.

———. Tārīkh al-Rusul wa-al-Mulūk (Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī) [History of the prophets and kings]. Edited by Muḥammad Abū al-Faḍl Ibrāhīm. 11 vols. Cairo: Dār al-Ma‘ārif, 1967–1977.

al-Tilimsānī, Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr (Ibn al-Shaykh). Tārīkh al-Khamīs fī Aḥwāl Anfas Nafīs [History of Thursday]. 2 vols. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, n.d.

al-Tirmidhī, Muḥammad ibn ‘Īsá. Al-Jāmi‘ al-Kabīr (Sunan al-Tirmidhī). Edited by Bashshār ‘Awwād Ma‘rūf. 6 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 1998.

al-Wāqidī, Muḥammad ibn ‘Umar. Kitāb al-Maghāzī. Edited by Marsden Jones. 3 vols. London: Oxford University Press, 1966.

al-Zurqānī, Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Bāqī. Sharḥ al-Zurqānī ‘alā al-Mawāhib al-Laduniyyah. Edited by Muḥammad ‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Khālidī. 12 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1996.

Evidence of Writing in the Prophetic Era: An Inductive-Analytical Study

Authors

Keywords:

Abstract

References

Downloads

Published

Issue

Section

License

Make a Submission