Kutub al-Sittah

"Six Books" redirects here. Not to be confused with Six Arts.

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 compiled in the 9th-century CE.

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) and the Sunan of al-Nasa'i (d. 915). The canonical version includes the Sunan of Ibn Majah (d. 887 or 889) as the sixth book, though some instead listed the Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas (d. 795) or Sunan of al-Daraqutni (d. 995).

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] The sixth book is disputed in Sunni Muslim jurisprudence; 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 al-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. Al-Sunan al-Sughra, collected by al-Nasa'i (died 303 AH, 915 CE), includes 5,270 ahadith (including repetitions)^[11]
4. Sunan Abi Dawud, collected by Abu Dawood (died 275 AH, 888 CE), includes 5,274 ahadith (including repetitions)^[12]
5. Sunan 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 al-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 al-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.

See also

• Alqamah ibn Waqqas
• The Four Books

References

Notes

^α Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim contain many of the same Hadith with different chains, and Bukhari in particular also simply repeats the same Hadith with the same chain in multiple chapters. There is disagreement on the amount of unique hadith in the collections due to the disagreements over what Hadith to include as a repeat (chain/text variations) and whether to include same chain repeats in the total number etc.

Citations

1. Goldziher, Ignác (1889–1890). Muslim Studies. Vol. 2. Halle. p. 240. ISBN 0-202-30778-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
2. Lucas, Scott C. (2004). Constructive Critics, Ḥadīth Literature, and the Articulation of Sunnī Islam. Leiden: Brill Publishers. p. 106.
3. Ibn Khallikan. Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary. Vol. 3. Translated by William McGuckin de Slane. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. p. 5.
4. Tahir al-Jazairi. توجيه النظر. p. 153.
5. Jonathan A.C. Brown (2007), The Canonization of al-Bukhārī and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunnī Ḥadīth Canon, p.10. Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-9004158399. Quote: "We can discern three strata of the Sunni hadith canon. The perennial core has been the Sahihayn. Beyond these two foundational classics, some fourth/tenth-century scholars refer to a four-book selection that adds the two Sunans of Abu Dawud (d. 275/889) and al-Nasa'i (d. 303/915). The Five Book canon, which is first noted in the sixth/twelfth century, incorporates the Jami' of al-Tirmidhi (d. 279/892). Finally the Six Book canon, which hails from the same period, adds either the Sunan of Ibn Majah (d. 273/887), the Sunan of al-Daraqutni (d. 385/995) or the Muwatta' of Malik b. Anas (d. 179/796). Later hadith compendia often included other collections as well.' None of these books, however, has enjoyed the esteem of al-Bukhari's and Muslim's works." 2018-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
6. . Abc.se. Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
7. "About Bukhari". Sunnah.com. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
8. Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah, pg. 160-9 Dar al-Ma’aarif edition
9. Abamasoor, Muhammad; Abamasoor, Haroon (27 February 2015). "Question regarding Hadith numbers in Sahih Muslim". Hadith Answers. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
10. "About Muslim". Sunnah.com. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
11. "About Sunan an-Nasa'i". Sunnah.com. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
12. "About Sunan Abi Dawud". Sunnah.com. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
13. "About Jami' at-Tirmidhi". Sunnah.com. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
14. Haddad, Gibril. . Sunnah.org. Archived from the original on 22 February 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
15. "About Sunan Ibn Majah". Sunnah.com. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
16. Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani (2003). al-Nukat 'Ala Kitab ibn al-Salah. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Ajman, U.A.E.: Maktabah al-Furqan. p. 153.

Sources

• A comprehensive Biography of Imam Malik 2011-06-09 at the Wayback Machine