Quora Answer: Which Book of Ahadits was Written First?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Which book of ahadits was written first?” 

The swahifah are the earliest collections of ahadits, and written by the companions during the lifetime of the Prophet (s.a.w.), or by their followers amongst the tabi’in.  Some of these collections are also considered rasa’il or kutub.  Examples of this include the Swahifah of Sayyidina Abu Hurayrah ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Sakhr ad-Dawsi az-Zahrani al-Azdi (r.a.), which he taught and handed down to his nine known students, one of whom was Shaykh Hammam ibn Munabbih (r.a.).  Shaykh Hammam ibn Munabbih (r.a.‎) was a scholar, from among the tabi’in and one of the narrators of hadits.  Shaykh Abu ‘Abdullah Wahb ibn Munabbih asw-Swana’ani adz-Dzamari (r.a.), the famed transmitter of ahadits as well as Judeo-Christian stories, was his brother.  Swahifah Hammam ibn Munabbih is the only example of this that survived in manuscript form. 

Swahifah asw-Swadiqah was written by Sayyidina ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aasw (r.a.), the son of Sayyidina ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aasw (r.a.).  He was a companion of the Prophet (s.a.w.).  Swahifah asw-Swadiqah, was an ahadits compilation which recorded about one thousand narrations.  He embraced Islam in 7 AH, a year before his father.  The Prophet (s.a.w.) used to show preference to Sayyidina ‘Abdullah (r.a.) due to his knowledge.  He was one of the first companions to write down ahadits, after receiving permission from the Prophet (s.a.w.) to do so.  Sayyidina Abu Hurayrah (r.a.) used to say that Sayyidina ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr (r.a.) was more knowledgeable than he.  Swahifah asw-Swadiqah remained in his family and was used by his grandson, Imam ‘Amr ibn Swuhayb (r.a.).  Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal (r.a.) incorporated the entire work of Sayyidina ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr (r.a.) into his Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal.