Question
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Who was Hazrat Abu Hurara (ra)?
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When and where was he born?
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How many Hadiths of Prophet (saw) was coded by Hazrat Abu Huraira (ra)?
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How far the Hadiths coded by him are recognized?
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Name the 7 best books of Hathis on which Sunni Muslims believe?
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Was Hazrat Abu Huraira (r.a) the Sahabi of Prophet (saw) and if your answer is ‘yes’ so tell any hadith of Prophit (saw) coded by any other Sahabi (ra) in which Prophet (saw) talked about him?
Answer
Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (ra) was a resident of the Yemenite tribe of ‘Doos’. His real name is not known with any degree of certainty1. “Abu Hurairah”, however, was the more recognized appellation of Umair. The place and time of Abu Hurairah’s birth is not known with much precision, however, it is estimated that he was born around 6 to 8 years before the first revelation. Abu Hurairah accepted Islam around four years before the death of the Prophet (pbuh) – at the age of around 31 years. Abu Hurairah is estimated to have reported around 5,375 narrations (Hadith)2, of these, around 325 have been reported in both Muslim’s as well as Bukhariy’s compilations.
Abu Hurairah (ra). being a recognized and acknowledged companion of the Prophet (pbuh), he is generally recognized to be beyond investigation for honesty and integrity by the Muhaddithin.
The “Seven Best books of Hadith” is not a matter of ‘belief’ for the Sunni Muslims. On the contrary, it is a matter of general acceptance of some of the books of Hadith by the Muslim scholars. Nevertheless, the more recognized among the compilations of Hadith are: Bukhariy’s ‘Sahih’, Muslim’s ‘Sahih’, Abu Dawood’s ‘Sunan’, Tirmidhi’s ‘Sunan’, Nasaiy’s ‘Sunan’, Ibn Maajah’s ‘Sunan’ and Imam Maalik’s ‘Mu’atta’. It should be kept in mind that the Muslims do not ascribe to the belief that, like the Qur’an, every thing entailed in these books of Hadith is correct.
As for your sixth question, I do not have any such narrative in mind at the moment.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Moiz Amjad
June 12, 2002