The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume I — Page 35
I - Early Sources of Sīrat & Islāmic History 35 and particulars have been mentioned below in brief: 1 Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī Imām Muḥammad bin Ismā‘īl Bukhārī (194 A. H. to 256 A. H. ) This has been deemed the most authentic of all the books of Ḥadīth. Imām Bukharī selected 4,000 Aḥādīth from a storehouse of 600,000, for his collection. He was greatly vigilant and without a doubt, his standard is second to none and above all the other Muḥaddithīn. 2 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim Imām Muslim bin Al- Ḥajjāj (204 A. H. to 261 A. H. ) The rank of this book is lower than that of Bukharī but supersedes all other books of Ḥadīth. A narration which is supported by both Bukharī and Muslim is referred to as Muttafaq ‘Alaih , and considered the most authentic of Aḥādīth. 3 Jam‘i Tirmidhī Abū ‘Īsā Muḥammad bin ‘Īsā At-Tirmidhī (209 A. H. – 279 A. H. ) Ṣaḥīḥ Bukharī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim along with the next four books inclusively, formulate the Ṣiḥāḥ Sittah. All of these books are consid- ered trustworthy and reputable. The status of these books is more or less equivalent to the order in which they appear in this list. 4 Sunan Abū Dāwūd Abū Dāwūd Sulaimān bin Al-Ash‘ath 5 Sunan Nasaʼī Aḥmad bin Shu‘aib An- Nasaʼī 6 Sunan Ibni Mājah Muḥammad bin Yazīd ibni Mājah Qazwīnī (209 A. H. – 273 A. H. ) 7 Mu’aṭṭā Imām Mālik Imām Mālik ibni Anas (95 A. H. – 179 A. H. ) This book is of a significantly exalted rank. As a matter of fact, some have asserted its rank commensurate to that of Bukharī. Since the majority of its content deals with matters of jurisprudence, it has not been included as a book of Ḥadīth in the Ṣiḥāḥ Sittah. However, it is not less than any other