Hadhrat Abu Hurairah's (Radhiyallaho anho) Memory for Hadith

Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (Radhiyallaho anho) is another eminent Sahabi. No other person has narrated as many Ahadith as he has done. He embraced Islam in 7 A.H. and, as the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) died in 11 A.H., he had been with him for four years only. People used to marvel how he could remember so many Ahadith in such a short period. He explains this himself, saying:

"People wonder how I narrate so many Ahadith. The fact is that my Muhajir brothers remained busy in trade and my Ansar brothers did their farming, while I was always with the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam). I was among the people of Suffah. I never cared to earn my living; I was contented with the little food that the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) could give me. I would be with the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) at times when no one else was there. I once complained to the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) about my poor memory. He said, 'Spread your shawl!' I did so. He made some signs on the shawl with his own hands and said, 'Now wrap this shawl around you.' I wrapped it around my breast. Since then, I never have forgotten anything that I have wished to remember."

The people of Suffah were residents in the Prophet's mosque. They had no regular source of income. They were the guests of the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam), who transferred to them the Sadaqah and shared with them the gifts that he received. Abu Hurairah (Radhiyallaho anho) was one of them. He would, sometimes, go without food for days together and sometimes would behave like a lunatic, due to excessive hunger, as we have already seen in Chapter III. In spite of such difficulties, he was all the time occupied in memorising the sayings of the Prophet.

This enabled him to narrate such a large number of Ahadith Imaam Ibn Jauzi (Rahmatullahi alaih) has attribu-ted as many as 5374 Ahadith to him. Once he narrated the, following Hadith:—

"A person participating in a funeral gets one Qeeraat of reward if he returns after the funeral service, but gets two Qeeraats of reward if he remains there till the burial is over, and one Qeeraat is weightier than mount Uhud."

Hadhrat Abdullah bin `Umar (Radhiyallaho anho) heard this and doubted authenticity of the Hadith, saying:

"O, Abu Hurairah! Think before you speak."

Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (Radhiyallaho anho) got upset over this and took Hadhrat Abdullah bin Umar (Radhiyallaho anho) to Hadhrat 'Aishah (Radhiyallaho anha), and said to her:

"O, Ummul-Mo'minin, I request you to say by Allah if you have heard from the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) the Hadith regarding Qeeraats of reward?"

She said: "Yes. I have heard this Hadith."

Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (Radhiyallaho anho) then said to Hadhrat Abdullah bin Umar (Radhiyallaho anho):

"During the Prophet's time, I had no tree to plant in the orchard and no merchandise to sell in the market. I was always with the Prophet. My only job was to memories what the Prophet said, and to eat only what he gave me."

Hadhrat Abdullah bin Umar (Radhiyallaho anho) said:

"No doubt. Of us all, you were the most constant in attendance to him and therefore most informed about the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam)."

With all these achievements, Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (Radhiyallaho anho) says:

"I recite Istighfar 12000 times daily."

He had a piece of thread with 1000 knots. He would not go to sleep until he had said Subhanallah on all of these knots.