Why Abū Hurayrah Narrated So Much

Abū Hurayrah says of himself: some people were saying, how is it that Abū Hurayrah narrates so much hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), while the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār do not narrate hadith like the hadith of Abū Hurayrah? It is known that Abū Hurayrah was late in becoming Muslim — so how is it that he narrated more hadith than everyone else? Abū Hurayrah is number one in narrating hadith compared to all of the other Companions. How did Abū Hurayrah come to know more hadith than everybody else? He gives the explanation, gives the reason, saying: wa-inna ikhwatī min al-Muhājirīn kāna yashghaluhum ṣafqu al-aswāq, wa-kuntu alzamu Rasūla Allāh — my brothers from the Muhājirūn were busy with business in the markets, while I used to keep close to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) on an empty stomach. I had nothing, I was poor, but I was still following the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) all the time; so I would be present when they were absent, and I would remember when they would forget. And he said: the Anṣār were busy with their farms, and I was a poor man, and I would remember what they would not. Because he devoted his life to studying, he had time to review the hadith he would hear from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). In fact he says of himself: I split the night into three parts — one part I would sleep, one part I would pray, and one part I would review the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) that I would hear during the day. While the other Muhājirūn and the Anṣār were busy — the Muhājirūn had business, and the Anṣār had farms — Abū Hurayrah had nothing to preoccupy him from studying, and so he chose to be among Ahl al-Ṣuffah so that he could go and study with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) full time.