Imam al-Shāfiʿī said, “Of all those who transmitted hadith in his era, Abu Hurayrah possessed the strongest memory.” (1)
Al-Walīd narrated to us—Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, from Makḥūl—who said: “The people agreed to assemble one night beneath one of Muʿāwiyah’s domes. When they had gathered there, Abu Hurayrah rose and kept relating to them reports from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ until daybreak.” (2)
Kahmas ibn al-Ḥasan reported—from ʿAbd Allah ibn Shaqīq—who said: Abu Hurayrah stated, “I do not know anyone among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who preserves his hadith better than I do.” (3)
Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah narrated—from ʿAmr, from Wahb ibn Munabbih, from his brother Hammām: “I heard Abu Hurayrah say, ‘No Companion of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has transmitted from him more than I have—except for ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr, for he used to write, whereas I did not write.’” (4)
(1) Tarikh Dimashq, 19/117/1.
(2) Ibid.
(3) Ibid.
(4) Related by al-Bukhari, 1/184, Book of Knowledge, chapter: Writing down knowledge. The transmitter Amr is Amr ibn Dinar al-Makki. The same report appears in Ibn Asakir’s Tarikh Dimashq, 19/117/1.
This hadith shows that Abu Hurayra was certain that, among the Companions, only Abd Allah (ibn Amr) might have narrated more hadith from the Prophet ﷺ than he did. Yet the material currently preserved from Abd Allah ibn Amr is many times less than what is preserved from Abu Hurayra. Scholars offer several explanations:
1. Abd Allah devoted himself to worship more than to teaching, so fewer narrations were transmitted from him.
2. After the conquests he resided mostly in Egypt or at al-Taif; students did not travel to these places for knowledge as they did to Madinah, whereas Abu Hurayra remained there issuing legal opinions and teaching until his death. This is evident in the sheer number of transmitters from him: al-Bukhari notes that eight hundred members of the second generation (tabiun) narrated from Abu Hurayra.
3. Abu Hurayra benefited from the Prophet’s ﷺ special supplication that he would never forget what he heard from him.
4. Abd Allah acquired in Syria a camel-load of the People of the Book’s writings; he studied and sometimes quoted them, so many leading tabiun avoided taking hadith from him for that reason.