The following quotations from the Traditions as to the sayings of Muḥammad on the subject of this oral law, will explain the position which he intended to assign to it.
“That which the Prophet of God hath made unlawful is like that which God himself hath made so.”
“I am no more than a man, but when I enjoin anything respecting religion receive it, and when I order anything about the affairs of the world, then I am nothing more than man.”
“Verily the best word is the word of God, and the best rule of life is that delivered by Muḥammad.”
“I have left you two things, and you will not stray as long as you hold them fast. The one is the book of God, and the other the law (sunnah) of His Prophet.”
“My sayings do not abrogate the word of God, but the word of God can abrogate my sayings.”
“Some of my injunctions abrogate others.” (Mishkāt, book i. ch. vi.)
Muḥammad gave very special injunctions respecting the faithful transmission of his sayings, for, according to at-Tirmiẕī, Ibn ʿAbbās relates that Muḥammad said: “Convey to other persons none of my words, except those ye know of a surety. Verily he who represents my words wrongly shall find a place for himself in the fire.”
But notwithstanding the severe warning given by their Prophet, it is admitted by all Muslim scholars that very many spurious traditions have been handed down. Abū Dāʿūd received only four thousand eight hundred traditions out of five hundred thousand, and even in this careful selection, he states, that he has given “those which seem to be authentic and those which are nearly so.” (Vide Ibn K͟hallikān, vol. i. p. 590.)
Out of forty thousand persons who have been instrumental in handing down traditions, al Buk͟hārī only acknowledges two thousand as reliable authorities.