History of Hadith Compilation

“Abu Bakr, when Caliph, was concerned to learn hadiths, but was careful not to accept the words of those who reported them without an independent witness. He also asked Muslims not to relate traditions which might cause discord among them [see reference below].” – p. 23

Note: There was no formal effort to compile and preserve the Hadith like there was for the Quran during the reign of the four Caliphs. Not only that, but it looks like an active effort was made by them to reduce the spreading of Hadith.

“Bukhari mentions a hadith related from the ‘book’ of Abd Allah ibn Abi Awfa, while Abu Bakr, the first Caliph, is reported to have collected five hundred hadiths, which he later destroyed because he suspected that it contained some hadiths related by unreliable people.” – p. 24

“Umar ibn al-Khattab meant the hadith of the Prophet when he asked his companions not to narrate too many hadiths.” – p.1

Narrated ‘Ubaidullah bin `Abdullah: Ibn `Abbas said, “When the ailment of the Prophet (ﷺ) became worse, he said, ‘Bring for me (writing) paper and I will write for you a statement after which you will not go astray.’ But `Umar said, ‘The Prophet is seriously ill, and we have got Allah’s Book with us, and that is sufficient for us.’ But the companions of the Prophet (ﷺ) differed about this, and there was a hue and cry. On that, the Prophet (ﷺ) said to them, ‘Go away (and leave me alone). It is not right that you should quarrel in front of me.” Ibn `Abbas came out saying, “It was most unfortunate (a great disaster) that Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) was prevented from writing that statement for them because of their disagreement and noise.

حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ سُلَيْمَانَ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي ابْنُ وَهْبٍ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي يُونُسُ، عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، عَنْ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ لَمَّا اشْتَدَّ بِالنَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَجَعُهُ قَالَ ‏”‏ ائْتُونِي بِكِتَابٍ أَكْتُبُ لَكُمْ كِتَابًا لاَ تَضِلُّوا بَعْدَهُ ‏”‏‏.‏ قَالَ عُمَرُ إِنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم غَلَبَهُ الْوَجَعُ وَعِنْدَنَا كِتَابُ اللَّهِ حَسْبُنَا فَاخْتَلَفُوا وَكَثُرَ اللَّغَطُ‏.‏ قَالَ ‏”‏ قُومُوا عَنِّي، وَلاَ يَنْبَغِي عِنْدِي التَّنَازُعُ ‏”‏‏.‏ فَخَرَجَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ يَقُولُ إِنَّ الرَّزِيَّةَ كُلَّ الرَّزِيَّةِ مَا حَالَ بَيْنَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَبَيْنَ كِتَابِهِ‏.‏

Sahih al-Bukhari 114 https://sunnah.com/bukhari:114

Umar, the second Caliph, carefully followed the example set by his predecessor; for instance, he obliged al-Mughira ibn Shu’ba, Abu Musa al-Ash’ari, Amir ibn Umayya, and Ubayy ibn Ka’b to produce witnesses to corroborate the traditions they narrated, despite the great esteem in which they were held. He is even said to have briefly imprisoned Ibn Mas’ud, Abu’l-Darda and Abu Mas’ud al-Ansari because they related too many traditions.” – p. 23

“Not all these Companions related the hadiths of their teacher [the prophet]. The Musnad of Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman referred to previously, which is said to have been the largest collection of hadiths, was said to contain traditions related by only 1,300 companions. Ibn al-Jawzi, who provides a list of all the Companions who related traditions, gives the names of about 1,060 together with the number of hadiths related by each. Five hundred of them are said to have related one hadith a piece; a hundred and thirty-two are stated to have handed down two traditions each, thirty-two, five each, twenty-six, search each, twenty-seven, seven each, eighteen, eight each, and eleven, nine traditions each,” Sixty Companions are credited with having related 10-20 hadiths a piece; the remainder [123], listed in the table below, have all related twenty or more each.” – p. 15