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.

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Introduction

The name "Al-Sihah al-Sittah" translates literally to "The Authentic Six".

According to the Cambridge History of Iran1:

“ 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.

 ”

Muslim view

Sunni Muslims view the Six major Hadith collections as their most important. They are, in order of importance 2:

  1. Sahih Bukhari, collected by al-Bukhari (d. 870), included 7275 hadiths
  2. Sahih Muslim, collected by Muslim b. al-Hajjaj (d. 875), included 9200
  3. Sunan al-Sughra, collected by al-Nasa'i (d. 915)
  4. Sunan Abi Da'ud, collected by Abu Da'ud (d. 888)
  5. Sunan al-Tirmidhi, collected by al-Tirmidhi (d. 892)
  6. 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.

See also

References

  1. ^ S. H. Nasr(1975), “The religious sciences”, in R.N.Frye, the Cambridge History of Iran, Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ Various Issues About Hadiths
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