Al-hadith

Collection of the Hadith By Thee Sunni

  1. Collection during the 1st Century H.:

  2. The administration discouraged putting the Hadith in writing, instead, they encouraged committing the Hadith to memory. The general public went along but soon it was discovered that confusion about the authenticity of the Hadith was taking place. For one thing many of the Sahaaba had died, and for another that committing to memory was not reliable at large, especially if you want the Hadith verbatim as the Prophet (pbuh) had said it at the circumstance it was said.

  3. Al-Zuhri, Al-Hazm (both commissioned by Khalifa Omar Ibn Abdul Aziz) but the work was probably not done, due to early death of the Khalifa in 101 H.

  4. Collection during the 2nd Century H.:

  5. Ibn Jarih, Al-Thawri, Ibn Basheer, Malik Ibn Anas in his Mu'watta1.

  6. The necessity of Ilm Al-Rijaal, (Science of Cognizance of Transmitters): Their Background, Intelligence, Authenticity, Reliability, Capacity to Memorize, Manner of living, Reputation, Criticism, etc.

  7. Compiling books about forged Hadiths: To warn the Scholars as well as the public.

  8. Collection during the 3rd Century H.:

The Hadith was collected and categorized in the latter part of the third century of Hijrah resulting in six canonical collections (Al-Sihaah Al-Sittah):

  1. Sahih of Al-Bukhari, d.256 A.H: 7275 (2712 Non-duplicated) out of 600,000.
  2. Sahih of Muslim, d.261 A.H: 9200 (4,000 Non-duplicated) out of 300,000.
  3. Sunan of Abu Dawood, d.276 A.H. 4,800 of 500,000.
  4. Sunan of Ibn Maajeh: d.273 A.H.
  5. Jami' of Tirmidhi, d.279 A.H.
  6. Sunan of al-Nisaa'i, d.303 A.H2.

The number of the Shi'a transmitters of Hadith quoted in the Al-Sihaah Al-Sittah is over 3003.

Al-Bukhari, of Sahih Al-Bukhari, 194-256H

Collected the Hadith over a period of many years, having established certain strict criteria. Political times were very troublesome especially against Ahlul Bayt (during Al-Mutawak'kil's rulership), therefore Bukhari was circumspect, having mentioned less about Ahlul Bayt's narrations than others of the Al-Sihaah Al-Sittah. Of the 2210 Hadiths claimed to have been narrated from A'isha, Bukhari and Muslim accepted only 174 as genuine according to their criteria4.

Muslim, of Sahih Muslim, 204-261H

It is said he was student of Al-Bukhari and 8 years younger. He differed from Bukhari in his methodology and criteria. He collected the Hadith over a number of years, having established his own criteria. Political times were less troublesome against Ahlul Bayt, (after Al-Mutawak'kil was killed by his own son), therefore Muslim narrated a large number of Hadiths about Ahlul Bayt.

Al-Nisaa'i of Sahih Al-Nisaa'i, 215-303H

Good Hadith collection, more credible. He wrote Al-Kha'sa'is book, about the eminence of Ali and Ahlul Bayt and the Hadiths about them. Al-Nisaa'i was 88 years old when in Damascus, answered about Mu'awiya by saying, "All I know is that the Prophet (pbuh) said about him, `May he be the glutton whose devouring food ever become worse'." This infuriated Mu'awiya's sympathizers, they attacked him, trampled upon him, crushed his testicles, after which the infirm Nisaa'i was taken to Mecca where he died. He was buried between Safa and Marwa5.

1 Introduction to Hadith, A. Rahman Doe, Vol. 1, Pages 34-35. 2 Introduction to Hadith, A. Rahman Doe, Vol. 1, Pages 38-40. 3 Al-Saadiq and the Four Madh'habs, Asad Haidar, Vol. 1, Page 619. 4 Mish'kaat Al-Masabeeh, Translation by Fazlul Karim, Vol. 1, Page 63. 5 Al-Shatharaat, Vol. 2, Page 240. Also Al-Saadiq and Four Madh'Habs, Asad Haidar, Vol. 1, Page 560.