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.
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