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Collections Sunni1 Kutub Al-Sittah ("The Six Books") Sahih al-Bukhari صحيح البخاري Sahih Muslim صحيح مسلم Sahih al-Tirmidhi صحيح الترمذي Sunan Abu Dawood سنن أبي داود Sunan al-Nasa'i سنن النسائي Sunan ibn Majah سنن ابن ماجه Others Al-Adab al-Mufrad Kanz al-Ummal Kitab al-Athar Mu'jam al-Kabeer Mu'jam al-Awsat Mu'jam al-Saghir Mustadrak ala al-Sahihayn At-Targhib wat-Tarhib Majma al-Zawa'id Musnad Abu Hanifa Musnad_al-Bazzar Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal Musnad al-Shafi'i Musnad al-Siraj Musnad al-Firdous Musnad Abu Ya'la Musnad al-Tayalisi Musnad Abu Awanah Musnad Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh Musnad Humaidi Musannaf of Abd al-Razzaq Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah Muwatta Imam Malik Sahih Ibn Hibban Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah Sahifah Hammam ibn Munabbih Shama'il al-Muhammadiyya Sunan al-Kubra Bayhaqi Sunan al-Wusta Bayhaqi Sunan al-Daraqutni Sunan al-Darimi Sunan Nasa'i al-Kubra Sunan Sa'id ibn Mansur Shu'ab al-Iman Tahdhib al-Athar Jami ul Kamil Shia Al-Kutub Al-Arb'ah ("The Four Books") Kitab al-Kafi الكتاب الكافي Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih من لا يحضره الفقيه Tahdhib al-Ahkam تهذیب الاحکام Al-Istibsar الاستبصار Others Al-Wafi Wasa'il al-Shia Mustadrak al-wasa'il Bihar al-Anwar Nahj al-Balagha The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya Risalah al-Huquq Sahifah of al-Ridha Al-Risalah al-Dhahabiah Da'a'im al-Islam Uyoun Akhbar Al-Ridha Haqq al-Yaqeen Ain Al-Hayat Al-Ghadir Ibadi Jami Sahih Tartib al-Musnad 1 - Books also revered by Ahmadiyya
Related topics Ahl al-Hadith Criticism Sheikh al-Hadith
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The Kutub al-Sitta (Arabic: الكُتُب ٱلسِّتَّة, romanized: al-Kutub as-Sitta, lit. 'the six books') are six books containing collections of hadith (sayings or acts of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) compiled by six Sunni Muslim scholars in the ninth century CE, approximately two centuries after the death of Muhammad. They are sometimes referred to as al-Sihah al-Sittah, which translates as "The Authentic Six".

The sixth book is disputed in Sunni Muslim jurisprudence. They were first formally grouped and defined by Ibn al-Qaisarani in the 11th century, who added Sunan ibn Majah to the list.^[1][2][3] In particular, the Malikis and Ibn al-Athir consider al-Muwatta' to be the sixth book.^[4] Some scholars considered Sunan al-Daraqutni to be the sixth book.^[5]

The reason for the addition of Ibn Majah's Sunan is that it contains many Hadiths which do not figure in the other five, whereas all the Hadiths in the Muwatta' figure in the other Sahih books.^[4]

Significance

Sunni Muslims view the six major hadith collections as their most important, though the order of authenticity varies between madhhabs:^[6]

1. Sahih Bukhari, collected by Imam Bukhari (died 256 AH, 870 CE), includes^α 7,563 ahadith (including repetitions, around 2,600 without repetitions)^[7][8]
2. Sahih Muslim, collected by Muslim b. al-Hajjaj (died 261 AH, 875 CE), includes 7,500 ahadith (including repetitions, around 3,033 without repetitions)^[9][10]
3. Sunan al-Sughra, collected by al-Nasa'i (died 303 AH, 915 CE), includes 5,270 ahadith (including repetitions)^[11]
4. Sunan Abu Dawood, collected by Abu Dawood (died 275 AH, 888 CE), includes 5,274 ahadith (including repetitions)^[12]
5. Sahih al-Tirmidhi, collected by al-Tirmidhi (died 279 AH, 892 CE), includes 4,400 ahadith (including repetitions, only 83 are repeated)^[13][14]
6. Sunan ibn Majah, collected by Ibn Majah (died 273 AH, 887 CE), includes 4,341 ahadith (including repetitions)^[15]

The first two, commonly referred to as the Two Sahihs as an indication of their authenticity, contain approximately seven thousand hadiths altogether if repetitions are not counted, according to Ibn Hajar.^α[16]

Authors

The authors of the six collections are as follows:

1. Muhammad b. Isma'il al-Bukhari, the author of the Sahih Bukhari, which he composed over a period of sixteen years. Traditional sources quote Bukhari as saying that he did not record any hadith before performing ablution 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 Muslim is second in authenticity only to that of Bukhari. Some Muslim hadith scholars rate the authenticity of Sahih Muslim more than Sahih Bukhari
3. Abu Dawood Sulaiman b. Ash'ath al-Sijistani, a Persian but of Arab descent, who died in 275/888–9.
4. Muhammad b. 'Isa al-Tirmidhi, the author of the well-known as Sunan al-Tirmidhi, who was a student of Bukhari and died in 279/892–3.
5. Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Nasa'i, who was from Khurasan and died in 303/915–16.
6. Ibn Majah al-Qazwini, who died in 273/886–7.