six major hadith collections

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the six major hadith collections (arabic: al-sihah al-sittah) are the works of
some individuals from islamic scholars who by their own initiative started
collecting sayings that people attributed to muhammad approximately 200 years
after his death.
contents [hide]

1 introduction

2 muslim view

3 see also

4 references

[edit] introduction

the name "al-sihah al-sittah" translates literally to "the authentic six", even
though they are not all considered authentic (sahih), except for the first two
collections.

according to the cambridge history of iran[1]:

“ after this period commences the age of the authors of the six canonical
collections of sunni hadith (al-sihah al-sitta), all of whom were persian. the
authors of the six collections are as follows: 1. muhammad b. isma'il al-bukhari,
the author of the best known of the sahih, which he composed over a period of
sixteen years. traditional sources quote bukhari as saying that he did not
record any hadith before performing his ablutions and praying. bukhari died near
samarqand in 256/869-70.

2. muslim b. hajjaj al-naishapuri, who died in nishapur in 261/ 874-5 and whose
sahih is second in fame only to that of bukhari.

3. abu da'ud sulaiman b. ash'ath al-sijistani, a persian but of arab descent,

who died in 275/888-9.

4. muhammad b. 'isa al-tirmidhi, author of the well-known jdmi’ al-tirmidhi, who

was a student of bukhari and died in 279/892-3.

5. abu 'abd al-rahman al-nisa'i, who was from khurasan and died in 303/915-16.

6. ibn maja al-qazwini, who died in 273/886-7.

”

[edit] muslim view

sunni muslims view the six major hadith collections as their most important.
they are, in order of importance [2]:

sahih bukhari, collected by al-bukhari (d. 870), included 7275 hadiths

sahih muslim, collected by muslim b. al-hajjaj (d. 875), included 9200

sunan al-sughra, collected by al-nasa'i (d. 915)

sunan abi da'ud, collected by abu da'ud (d. 888)

sunan al-tirmidhi, collected by al-tirmidhi (d. 892)

this one is disputed. sometimes its referred to al-muwatta, collected by imam

malik (d. 796) and sometimes it is referred to sunan ibn majah, collected by ibn
majah (d. 886). some people even consider sunan al-darami to be the sixth one.

the two first are referred to as the two sahihs which indicates that they are
authentic.

[edit] see also

list of sunni books

hadith of persians and knowledge

[edit] references

^ s. h. nasr(1975), “the religious sciences”, in r.n.frye, the cambridge history

of iran, cambridge university press

^ various issues about hadiths

categories: hadith | sunni islam

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