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37-557: Others In terms of Ihsan : Kutub al-Sittah ( Arabic : ٱلْكُتُب ٱلسِّتَّة , romanized :  al-Kutub al-Sitta , lit.   'the Six Books';), also known as al-Sihah al-Sitta ( Arabic : الصحاح الستة , romanized :  al-Ṣiḥāḥ al-Sitta , lit.   'the Authentic Six';) are the six canonical hadith collections of Sunni Islam . They were all compiled in

74-489: A century, modern scholarship has credited Ibn Tahir with the establishment of the foundation for the Sunni Muslim cannon. Ibn Tahir was a Zahirite , or literalist, in terms of Muslim jurisprudence . Having also been a practitioner of Sufism , Ibn Tahir wrote about the subject in both prose and poetry. He was criticized by theologians for his defense of Islamic music and dancing, which his detractors alleged were

111-507: A collection or listing of hadith, as he spends some space discussing issues that are relevant to the hadith at-hand. Sunan ibn Majah was composed by Ibn Majah al-Qazwini (d. 273/886–7). It is divided into 37 books. The collection contains 4,350 hadith. Of these, 1,552 are not found in any of the other collections among the Six. Like most other collections in the Six, his books are divided into sections headed by rubrics. His collection also contains

148-529: A minority of Muslim scholars, Sahih Muslim is placed above Sahih al-Bukhari. In addition, many scholars believe that the criteria used by Al-Nasa'i are, theoretically, the most sound. However, he is ranked below the Sahihayn due to his inclusion of some weak hadith. In the 12th century, Al‐Mayyānishī offered the following ranking of the reliability of hadith especially focusing on the two most reputed collections, those of al-Bukhari and Muslim: Sahih al-Bukhari

185-569: A number of respected works in his chosen field of study and gained wide renown for his scholarship and contributions. During his time in the East, he worked as a paid copyist for his hand-written editions of the collections of al-Bukhari , Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj , Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah . Ibn Tahir died in Baghdad on a Friday while returning from another pilgrimage at Mecca, which he had performed multiple times during his life. Ibn Khallikan records

222-533: A number of weak hadith, including about 30 that are generally agreed to be fabrications by traditional scholars. For this reason, some scholars have only decided to speak of the "Five" canonical collections of hadith, whereas others substitute Sunan ibn Majah with the Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas or the Sunan of al-Daraqutni . A number of Islamic scholars have sought to produce additional collections to supplement

259-435: A prologue. According to his prologue, the hadith contained in his work are the soundest hadith on the issues they describe and allow one to base practice off of them. Abu Dawud states that his work has about 4,800 hadith, although manuscripts of the work typically contain a few hundred more than this figure. The Sunan al-Tirmidhi was composed by Muhammad b. 'Isa al-Tirmidhi , a student of Bukhari who died in 279/892–3. The work

296-549: A righteous person, a doer of good ( muhsin ), but a truly good and righteous person is both a Muslim and a true person of faith. Some Islamic scholars explain ihsan as being the inner dimension of Islam whereas shariah is often described as the outer dimension. Ihsan "constitutes the highest form of worship" ( ibadah ). It is excellence in work and in social interactions. For example, ihsan includes sincerity during Muslim prayers and being grateful to parents, family, and God. Ibn Tahir of Caesarea Ibn Tahir

333-732: A sense of social responsibility borne from religious convictions. In Islam , Ihsan is the Muslim responsibility to obtain perfection, or excellence, in worship, such that Muslims try to worship God as if they see Him, and although they cannot see Him, they undoubtedly believe that He is constantly watching over them. That definition comes from the Hadith of Gabriel in which Muhammad states, "[Ihsan is] to worship God as though you see Him, and if you cannot see Him, then indeed He sees you". ( Al-Bukhari and Al-Muslim ). According to Muhammad's hadith "God has written ihsan on everything". Ihsan

370-452: Is also not subdivided into chapters with headings to guide the reader, as are some other collections like the Sunan al-Tirmidhi, though it is divided into 57 topical books. Muslim specifies that he has listed his hadith in his work according to their order of reliability, although he claims that, while some are more reliable than others, all ultimately met his criteria for being reliable. Each of

407-402: Is below "sound" but above "weak" in judgement on authentication). Ihsan Ihsan ( Arabic : إحسان ʾiḥsān , also romanized ehsan ), is an Arabic term meaning "to do beautiful things", "beautification", "perfection", or "excellence" (Arabic: husn , lit.   ' beauty ' ). Ihsan is a matter of taking one's inner faith ( iman ) and showing it in both deed and action,

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444-412: Is divided into forty books, each of which is also divided into a set of chapters that specify the topic that the located therein cover. For example, one is titled "Chapter regarding wiping a wet hand over leather socks for the person who is traveling or not traveling". For Al-Tirmidhi, many of the hadith he supplies have direct relevance of jurisprudential rulings. Al-Tirmidhi's collection is also not purely

481-561: Is one of the three dimensions of the Islamic religion ( ad-din ): In contrast to the emphases of islam (what one should do) and iman (why one should do), the concept of ihsan is primarily associated with intention. One who "does what is beautiful" is called a muhsin . It is generally held that a person can only achieve true Ihsan with the help and guidance of God , who governs all things. While traditionally Islamic jurists have concentrated on islam and theologians on iman ,

518-498: Is sometimes obscure as to how the hadith listed within these sections related to the section title/heading. Bukhari's rubrics also contain discussions related to the subject matter, followed by hadith listings without any extraneous commentary interspersed between each listed hadith. This principle of separating commentary from hadith listings may be related to comments made by Ahmad ibn Hanbal whereby he suggested that hadith collections should not contain additional words or commentary on

555-487: Is then followed by four hadith that describe the practice specified in the rubric as being reprehensible. The Sunan Abi Dawud was composed by Abu Dawood Sulaiman b. Ash'ath al-Sijistani (d. 275/888–9). The collection is divided into 43 books. The work has rubrics/section headings which topically introduce a group of hadith that appear below them and attempt to explain the implications that the following hadith will have on practical jurisprudence. Abu Dawud begins his work with

592-531: The Sunan of Ibn Majah ( d.  887 or 889 ) as the sixth book, though some (particularly the Malikis and Ibn al-Athir ) instead listed the Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas ( d.  795 ) as the sixth book, and other scholars list Sunan of al-Daraqutni ( d.  995 ) as the sixth book. Sunan ibn Majah largely won out as the sixth canonical book because its content has less overlap with

629-467: The Sufis have focused their attention on ihsan . Those who are muhsin are a subset of those who are mu'min , and those who are mu'min are a subset of muslims : From the preceding discussion it should be clear that not every Muslim is a man or woman of faith ( mu'min ), but every person of faith is a Muslim . Furthermore, a Muslim who believes in all the principles of Islam may not necessarily be

666-511: The 9th and early 10th centuries, roughly from 840 to 912 CE and are thought to embody the Sunnah of Muhammad. The books are the Sahih of al-Bukhari ( d.  870 ), the Sahih of Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj ( d.  875 ), the Sunan of Abu Dawud ( d.  889 ), the Sunan of al-Tirmidhi ( d.  892 ), the Sunan of al-Nasa'i ( d.  915 ), and

703-686: The Islamic prophet Muhammad . He began learning hadith at the age of twelve and moved to Baghdad at the age of nineteen; after spending some time in Iraq , he returned to his hometown briefly before proceeding to perform the Muslim pilgrimage at Mecca . Eventually, he would travel and study throughout the Tihamah , the Hijaz , Syria , Egypt , Mesopotamia , Persia and Khorasan . He spent much of his life in Hamedan , in present-day Iran , where he wrote

740-411: The Muslim faith, no one had undertaken such a task prior to his work, and there was no way to search any of these books based on key words or important terms. Ibn Tahir was also noted for his work in bibliographic indexing and biographical dictionaries , fields in which he is considered an important early figure. It was also due to Ibn Tahir's indexing efforts that Ibn Maja 's collection was allotted

777-422: The basis that some people might confuse the commentary of the author with the hadith itself. While he had an interest in legal matters ( fiqh ), a significant portion of Bukhari's hadith are unconcerned with the subject. For example, one of the books in his collection regards the etiquette of eating. Sahih Muslim was composed by Muslim b. Hajjaj al-Naishapuri (d. 261/874–5). It is most commonly considered to be

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814-459: The books of Muslim's Sahih was originally untitled, but titles were added by later authors. The Al-Sunan al-Sughra (also known as Sunan al-Nasa'i) was composed by Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Nasa'i (d. 303/915–16). The work is divided into 52 books. Each book contains rubrics/headings that topically arrange a group of hadith that appears below them. For example, one rubric is "“Chapter regarding the person who markets his goods by means of false oaths". It

851-508: The criteria of traditional hadith studies ). With less frequency, some of these works may be referred to as a Jami ( jāmiʿ ), meaning "comprehensive book". This is because some of these collections, like al-Tirmidhi's Sunan, contain hadith relating both to the Sunnah of Muhammad and to other topics as well. The ultimate canonization process of the Kutub al-Sittah was not one that occurred as

888-456: The date as 28 Rabi al-awwal in the Hijri year 507, reckoned by de Slane as September 1113 Gregorian. Ibn Tahir is widely regarded as the first person to index the six canonical books of Sunni tradition: Sahih al-Bukhari , Sahih Muslim , Sunan Abi Dawud , Sunan al-Tirmidhi , Sunan al-Nasa'i , and the aforementioned Sunan Ibn Maja . Despite their importance to

925-467: The hadith found in these other notable works but are absent from the Six, alongside a judgement on the reliability of each one. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in the 15th century produced the Fath al-Bari , a commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari that also adds many other hadith related to the topics that al-Bukhari discusses not found in his collection. Ibn Hajar only includes hadith which are at least ḥasan ("good", which

962-606: The list. They were treated as a unit for the first time by Muḥammad ibn Ṭāhir al‐Maqdisi ( d.  1113 ). Sunni Muslims view the six major hadith collections as their most important, though the order of authenticity varies between madhhabs : The first two, commonly referred to as the Two Sahihs (or the Sahihayn ) as an indication of their authenticity, contain approximately seven thousand hadiths altogether if repetitions are not counted, according to Ibn Hajar . Among

999-417: The next few centuries, recognition gradually extended to the other canonical books as well. Authorities, in making legal arguments, gradually ceased citing hadith from their personal narrations or learning and instead increasingly came to rely on hadith documented in pre-recognized collections. They were first formally grouped and defined by Ibn al-Qaisarani in the 11th century, who added Sunan ibn Majah to

1036-410: The other books of the Six. Each of the books ( kutub , sing. kitāb ) of hadith are typically referred to as a "Sunan" or a "Sahih". Some books have been referred to by both; for example, while the compilation of al-Tirmidhi is typically referred to as "Sunan al-Tirmidhi", some have also referred to it as the "Sahih" of Tirmidhi. The term "Sunan" refers to the Islamic concept of Sunnah , which describes

1073-399: The other five compared with its two contenders. The two pre-eminent works among the Six, the collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim (also the only two compilations which aimed to only include ' authenticated ' hadith), are known as the Sahihayn . They were the first to be canonized over the course of the tenth century. Outside of them, little research has been done in modern hadith studies on

1110-536: The result of the decision of a committee, like in the determination of the biblical canon in Christianity . Instead, it began with the gradual emergence of canonical recognition of the Sahihayn (the sahih of Bukhari and Muslim) over the course of the 10th century, largely at the behest of scholars of the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence , as various genres of literature began to emerge around these two texts. Over

1147-610: The same respect as the other five main canonical Sunni works. Prior to Ibn Tahir's inclusion of Ibn Majah's collection in his indexing of the Sunni cannon, major hadith scholars such as Ibn al-Salah didn't actually hold Ibn Majah's work in the high esteem it would later enjoy. Ibn Tahir's index was also the first instance of formally organizing the Sunni cannon based around specific books of hadith. Given that his index predates Ali ibn al-Athir 's The Complete History and Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi 's Al-Kamal fi Asma' al-Rijal by at least

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1184-460: The second most pre-eminent of all hadith collections, although a minority of scholars place it first above Sahih al-Bukhari. Sahih Muslim opens with a prologue that discusses the work itself as well as issues concerning the authentication of hadith. After this, the rest of the work is purely a listing of isnads (chains of transmission) followed by the matn (content of the hadith) with, aside from very rare exception, no additional discussion. Sahih Muslim

1221-523: The six canonical hadith collections with additional useful and/or sound hadith. Many hadith in larger and important works, for example the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal , are not found in the six (along with works of Tabarani, Abu Ya'la, and Bazzar). For this reason, Nur al-Din al-Haythami produced, in the 14th century, a work known as the Majmaʿ al‐zawāʾid . This work collected together, in a single composition,

1258-503: The test of time according to the Muslim tradition. Sahih al-Bukhari is divided into 97 books. Books 2–33 are about the Pillars of Islam . Books 34–55 are about finance. The remaining books are not arranged according to some identifiable theme, although the very first and last books are for opening the collection (with a book on the first revelation) and closing it (with a book on Tawhid ). It also contains chapter/rubric headings, although it

1295-404: The traditions and practices of Muhammad , the final prophet of the religion whose example believers are meant to follow. Hadith in a "Sunan" describe traditions that help understand and continue transmitting the practices of the Sunnah. The prefix "Sahih", meaning "Sound", is used to refer to a collection of hadith whose traditions are considered "sound" (which is to say "authenticated" according to

1332-722: Was born in Jerusalem in about 1057 to an Arab family originally from Caesarea , hence his name. Because of the Arabic name for Jerusalem being "Bait al-Maqdis," he was often nicknamed "Maqdisi" or the man from Jerusalem instead. His birth date is recorded by Ibn Khallikan as 6 Shawwal in 448 on the Islamic calendar , which William McGuckin de Slane reckoned as December 1056 on the Gregorian calendar . Ibn Tahir traveled extensively in search of hadith , or narrations and reports, from

1369-450: Was composed by Muhammad b. Isma'il al- Bukhari over a period of sixteen years. It is most commonly considered to be the pre-eminent of all hadith collections, although a minority of scholars place it below Sahih Muslim. Al-Bukhari's collection is the first one to make the reliability of a hadith an explicit criteria for its inclusion into his collection. Others in the future also attempted this task, but only his, along with Sahih Muslim, stood

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