Hadith collections
The six canonical books that Sunni scholarship treats as the foundational hadith corpus, plus the Muwaṭṭaʾ of Imām Mālik, the earliest of them all. Each compiler had a different method, audience, and bar of authenticity.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī
صحيح البخاريImām Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī · 194–256 AH
The most authentic book after the Qurʾān in the consensus of Sunni scholarship. Imām al-Bukhārī sifted some 600,000 narrations down to 7,563 numbered hadiths (with repetitions). Each chain meets his strict criteria of continuous transmission and reliable narrators.
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim
صحيح مسلمImām Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj an-Naysābūrī · 204–261 AH
Forms with Bukhārī the two most authentic collections (the Ṣaḥīḥayn). Muslim grouped variants of the same hadith together, making it the easier of the two to study. 3,033 numbered hadiths in the Abd al-Bāqī edition, about 7,500 narrations in all.
Sunan Abī Dāwūd
سنن أبي داودImām Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān al-Sijistānī · 202–275 AH
One of the four Sunan, focused on hadiths used to derive law (aḥkām). Abū Dāwūd flagged weak narrations explicitly so jurists could weigh each one. 5,274 hadiths.
Jāmiʿ at-Tirmidhī
جامع الترمذيImām Abū ʿĪsā Muhammad at-Tirmidhī · 209–279 AH
Distinctive for its grading commentary on each hadith, ṣaḥīḥ, ḥasan, gharīb. Tirmidhī also notes which schools used which narration in their fiqh. 3,956 hadiths.
Sunan an-Nasāʾī
سنن النسائيImām Aḥmad an-Nasāʾī · 215–303 AH
An-Nasāʾī's al-Mujtabā (selected version), the strictest of the four Sunan in chain criteria. He intentionally narrowed his master collection down to these for use in legal rulings. 5,758 hadiths.
Sunan Ibn Mājah
سنن ابن ماجهImām Muhammad ibn Yazīd Ibn Mājah · 209–273 AH
The sixth book of the Six. Adds roughly 1,300 hadiths not found in the previous five, with mixed authenticity that scholars later graded individually. 4,341 hadiths.
Muwaṭṭaʾ of Mālik
موطأ مالكImām Mālik ibn Anas · 93–179 AH
The earliest of these collections, predating the Six by about a century. A compact work blending hadiths with the practice of the people of Madīnah and Mālik's own legal opinions. 1,858 entries, cited by book and hadith.