What is the meaning of "al-mathnāt" mentioned in the noble Prophetic Hadith: "Among the signs—and in another narration, portents—of the Hour is that the wicked will be elevated, and the good will be debased; speech will be abundant, and deeds will be scarce; and 'al-mathnāt' will be recited among the people, with no one among them condemning it," which was interpreted as "whatever was written down other than the Book of Allah, the Mighty and Exalted"?

The aforementioned Hadith — whether mawquf (attributed to a Companion) or marfu' (attributed to the Prophet) — indicates that "al-Mathna" refers to what was written down from sources other than the Book of Allah. Scholars have interpreted it as referring to the books of the People of the Book that were corrupted, and not to the books of the Prophetic Hadith. This is further supported by the fact that the Companion Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-Aas, the narrator of the Hadith, used to write down the Hadith of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with his permission, and therefore he could not have been forbidden from doing so.