Sihah Sitta

Hadees and Seerah - I
Name : Naveera Ahmed
CMS : 21777
Fall 2019
Sihah Sitta - The Six Authentic Hadith Books

The 6 authentic collection of Ahadith referred to in Arabic as "Al-Kutub Al-Sittah", which
translates as"The Authentic Six".These six books are the works of 6 Islamic scholars
who, a few years after Prophet Muhammad's death collected "hadith" (the prophet's
sayings and traditions) and painstakingly compiled the ones that they could attribute
directly to Prophet Muhammad. After the Quran, these 6 books form the cornerstone of
the Muslim (Sunni) faith and traditions as they provide a further elaboration of the
Quran's sayings and commandments. Books that form part of the authentic six
collection are the following:
1. Sahih Bukhari, collected by Imam Bukhari (d. 870), includes

7000+ ahadith
This book is generally considered the most authentic: second only to The
Glorious Quràn. The author selected 9,082 [or excluding the repetitions,
2,062] out of about 600,000 narrations to include in this compilation. The
book is arranged according to topics under separate headings, majority of
which are extracts from the Quràn, and some from different Ahadith. The
book is also unique in the strict conditions that were laid down to include a
Hadith in this book, namely; that each narrator should be of a very high
grade of character, accuracy, trustworthiness, memory, literary and
academic standard; and that there should be positive evidence of the
meetings and learning and teaching between the narrators. The author of
this book is Abu Abdillah Muhammad ibn Ismail ibn Ibrahim ibn al-
Mughirah ibn Bardizbah al-Ju`fi al-Bukhari. He was born on 13th Shawwal
194 AH. in Bukhara and he died on the night of Eid in 256 AH. He was of
Persian origin. He was blind during infancy; however, his eyesight was
restored by the virtue of his mother`s supplication. His mother had brought
him up after his father, a Hadith scholar himself, who died while Imam al-
Bukhari was an infant. He began the study of Hadith even before ten
years of age. The likes of Is`haq bin Rahawayh and Àli ibn al-Madini are
amongst the 1080 Hadith scholars from whom Imam al-Bukhari recorded
Ahadith. His travels included going to Syria, Egypt, Jazirah, Hijaz, Iraq and
Nishapur. He once became penniless and thus had to live for some time
eating the leaves of wild plants.
2. Sahih Muslim, collected by Muslim b. al-Hajjaj (d. 875), includes

9000+ ahadith
This book is generally considered second to Sahih al-Bukhari [while some

even consider it to be its equal or even its superior]. The author tried to
record therein only those Ahadith which were unanimously agreed as
authentic. The focus of the book is not on legal extraction. But, the book is
well known due to its authenticity and careful attention to mutabaàt and
shawahid. The author of this book is Abul Hasayn Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj ibn
Dawud ibn Kaushad al-Qushayri al-Nishaburi. He was born in the famous
Khurasan city of Nishapur in the year 204 AH. (the years 202 AH. and 206
AH. have also been mentioned). He began his studies in Hadith at the age
of about 14 and journeyed to Persia, Iraq, Hijaz, Syria and Egypt. From
amongst his teachers were Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Imam Bukhari and
Is`haq bin Rahawayh. His students included Abu Isa Tirmidhi, Abu Hatim
Razi, Abu Bakr Ibn Khuzaymah etc. The cause of his death illustrates a
glimpse into his engrossment and obsession in knowledge. He was once
asked about a specific Hadith which he could not remember at that time.
He returned home and while searching for the Hadith, he didn’t realise he
consumed a whole bag of dates. This led to his eventual death. He
passed away in 261 AH. and was buried at Nasir Abad, a place outside
Nishapur.
3. Sunan al-Nasa'i, collected by al-Nasa'i (d. 915)
This book is unique in how it records the divergences between various

versions and chains of Hadith and, moreover, how it corrects the mistakes
committed by narrators. The author`s name was Abu Abd al-Rahman
Ahmad ibn Shuàyb al-Khurasani al-Nasaì. He was born in 215 AH. in
Nasa`, a city in Khurasan, and died in 303 AH. He was very accurate in
his retention of Hadith. He began his foreign travels for study when he was
15 years old and travelled to Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Hijaz and other places. His
teachers included Is`haq bin Rahawayh, Imam Abu Dawud, Imam Bukhari
and Qutaybah ibn Saìd.
4. Sunan Abu Dawood, collected by Abu Dawood (d. 888)
This book includes about 4800 Hadiths from a collection of 500,000. The
author sufficed on just one or two Hadiths in every chapter to make it easy
to use. It is apparently one of the best and most comprehensive on the
subject of legal Prophetic traditions. The author`s name was Abu Dawud
Sulayman ibn Ashàth ibn Is`haq al-Sijistani. He was born in Sistan (or
known as Sijistan or Sijz). He was born in 202 AH. and passed away in
275 AH. in Basrah. He began his journeys to acquire Hadith when he was
younger than 20 years in age. He travelled to Khurasan, Persia, Iraq,
Hijaz, Syria, Egypt, Tarsus and Rayy. He lived a major portion of his life in
Baghdad and the last 4 years in Basra. He had more than 300 teachers
which included Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal and Yahya ibn Maìn.
5. Jami al-Tirmidhi, collected by al-Tirmidhi (d. 892)
This book comprises of 50 sub-books (kitab) with altogether, includes

3,956 traditions. It was completed in 270 AH. This book has 3
distinguishing features: 1. The Prophetic traditions are collected
systematically; 2. It mentions the legal opinions of early scholars
concerning the subject of the Hadith mentioned; 3. It discusses the quality,
grading [authentic or good or weak] and defect [if any] of the traditions. It
is the famous work of Abu Isa Muhammad ibn Isa ibn Sawra ibn Musa al-
Tirmidhi. He was born in 209 A.H and died in 279 AH. He most likely
began his foreign travels for study in 235 AH. and returned to his
hometown before 250 AH. His teachers included Imam Bukhari, Imam
Muslim and Imam Abu Dawud. However, he was greatly influenced by
Imam al-Bukhari in particular.
6. Sunan ibn Majah, collected by Ibn Majah (d. 887)
This book comprises of 32 sub-books, 1,500 chapters and 4,341

narrations (3002 of which have been recorded also by the authors of the
other five books). It is of the lowest grade of the six books in its
authenticity. However, it is unique in its beautiful arrangement of sub-
books and chapters and in containing very little repetition. The author`s
name was Abu Abdillah Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Abdillah ibn Majah al-
Ribì al-Qazwini. He was born in 209 AH. in Qazvin, a city in Iran, and died
in 273 AH. His travels for study included journeying to Khurasan, Rayy,
Iraq, Syria, Hijaz, Egypt and other places. His teachers include
Muhammad al-Tanafasi (d. 233 AH.).

Sihah Sitta

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Sihah Sitta

Uploaded by

Hadees and Seerah - I

Name : Naveera Ahmed

Sihah Sitta - The Six Authentic Hadith Books

1. Sahih Bukhari, collected by Imam Bukhari (d. 870), includes

2. Sahih Muslim, collected by Muslim b. al-Hajjaj (d. 875), includes

This book is generally considered second to Sahih al-Bukhari [while some

3. Sunan al-Nasa'i, collected by al-Nasa'i (d. 915)

This book is unique in how it records the divergences between various

5. Jami al-Tirmidhi, collected by al-Tirmidhi (d. 892)

This book comprises of 50 sub-books (kitab) with altogether, includes

6. Sunan ibn Majah, collected by Ibn Majah (d. 887)

This book comprises of 32 sub-books, 1,500 chapters and 4,341

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