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Fatwa CenterHow Thousands of People Could Hear Scholars of Hadeeth without Microphone
Question
assalamu alaykum. dear sheikh, how can someone answer those critiques of Al-imam Al-bukhari (May Allah guide them) .they said how can it be reported that ninety thousand people listen his lesson before the invention of microphone, similarly they also said that about the khutba of our holy nabiyy during hajjatul-wada'.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, you should know that a Muslim must be careful of the misconceptions that the devils among mankind and jinn cast to the Muslims, as well as making them doubt their religion.
Allah Says (what means): {And indeed do the devils inspire their allies [among men] to dispute with you. And if you were to obey them, indeed, you would be associators [of others with Him].} [Quran 6:121]
Those who try to challenge the Sunnah or the scholars who transmitted it to us, harm but themselves; they are like a bull who hits a rock in order to break it but he only harms himself and breaks his horn.
There is no problem about what they said about Al-Bukhari, indeed Al-Bukhari and other scholars of Hadeeth, had so many students to the extent that their number reached thousands, but they assigned people who transmit their speech to other students.
Ibn as-Salah said in his Muqaddimah (Introduction):
"So many people attended the meetings of the great scholars of Hadeeth, perhaps their number reached thousands and thousands; those who write what the Shaykh says, inform others about whatever they had heard (and written) from the Shaykh….” [End of quote]
Ibn as-Salah stated from Al-A’mash who said:
"We used to sit in the gathering of Ibrahim and the circle gets so big, perhaps he says a Hadeeth and those who are far from him could not hear him; so they ask each other about what the Shaykh had said, and they [the students who heard it] narrate it and whatever they heard from him to them."
It was reported that Ibn 'Uyaynah narrated that Abu Muslim al-Mustamili said to him: "There are so many people who do not hear. Ibn 'Uyaynah said to him: 'Do you not yourself hear?' He said: ‘Yes.’ He [Uyaynah] said to him: 'Transmit whatever you have heard to them.'"
As for the Prophet in the farewell message, he asked some people to ask the people to listen to him so that they can hear him.
Jarir ibn' Abdullah 
said: The Prophet ordered me during the farewell message, saying "Ask the people to listen."
An-Nawawi said in Sharh Muslim:
"It means order them to listen to these important matters, and the rules that I will decide for you and which I will order you to fulfill." [End of quote]
Ibn Abbaas narrated:
"When the Prophet stood in Mount Arafah, he ordered Rabi’ah ibn Umayyah ibn Khalaf to stand under the breast of his camel then the Prophet told him: Shout! O people! Do you know which month it is? They said: 'It is the month of al-Muharram.....'" [Ibn Khuzaymah, and Al-Albani classified it as Hassan]
The point is that he had undertaken some reasons to make his voice heard by the people.
Allah knows best.
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