Al-Kutub al-Sittah

Memory, Piety and other Qualities
He was a man full of taqwa, piety and he possessed a photographic memory too. The Sheikh Allamah Zahabi was
once asked who has a better memory, Imam Muslim (author of Sahih Muslim) or this Imam he replied this Imam.
Allamah Zahabi would also say that this Imam possessed more knowledge in Hadeeth than Imam Muslim, Imam
Tirmidhi and Imam Abu Dawood (who was his teacher).
The Scholar and Commentator of the Qur'an would say narrating from his teachers that this Imam was the most
knowledgeable in Egypt .
The Imam would put on good clothing according to the Sunnah of Muhammad and would eat poultry everyday with
nabeeth acting on the Sunnah so that he could worship Allah with ease. In fact it is narrated that the man would fast
every other day which is classified in the Hadeeth as Saum-u-Daoodi (the fast of Daood).he would worship Allah
continuously throughout the nights and teach Hadeeth throughout the day without forgetting that to fulfill the rights
of his four wives and treat his slaves like children. The Imam would also perform Hajj nearly every year and would
also take part in Jihad. He was a straight forward truthful man and nothing or none could stop him from saying the
truth. At the same time he was an extremely beautiful man and the beauty of his face stayed up to his death.
Muqallid or Mujtahid
Imam al-Nasai was a follower of the Shafi Fiqh according to Allamah Subqi, Shah Waliullah, Shah Abdulaziz and
many other scholars. The leader of the Ulama'a Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri is to the opinion that he was a
Hanbali and this has also been stated by ibn Taymiyyah but the truth is that he was a Mujtahid more inclined towards
the Hanbali Fiqh but many a time would differ from the Hanbali scholars.
Children
As mentioned before that the Imam had four wives but the historians only mention one son whose name is Abdul
Kareem, one of the narrators of the Sunan of his father.
Books
The Imam also left behind many beautiful and beneficial works. Many of which unfortunately are not published but
we can without any doubt conclude from what we have understood that his knowledge and excellence is no less than
that of Imam Bukhari and Allamah ibn Hazm.
These are a few of his works:
• Sunan Al-Kubra.
• Sunan Al-Sugra/Al-Mujtana/Al-Mujtaba.
• Amul Yawmi Wallaylah.
• Kitaby Dufai wal Matrookeen
• Khasais Ali.
• Al-Jurhu wa Ta'adeel.
• Sunan Al-Nisai.
His book known as Sunan Al-Nisai which is taught around the globe in every Islamic institute and which possesses a
virtue of being one of the Sihah Sitah (the six books generally taught in hadith).
In reality when the Imam had finished compiling Sunan Al-Kubra he presented to the governor of Ramalah so the
governor asked him “is it all sahih (are all the narrators 100% authentic)?” he replied in the negative, thus the
governor suggested and requested that he compiles another book and gathers in there Sahih Hadeeth. So then he did
this and named his book Sunan Al-Sugra (the small Sunan) and Al-Mujtaba and Al-Mujtana (both mean carefully
chosen) and this is the Sunan which we know as Sunan Al-Nasai.

Al-Nasa'i
17
In this book he follows the footsteps of Imam Muslim and Imam Bukhari. Overall most of the Ahadeeth are Sahih
and where he narrates a weak narration he clearly clarifies the weakness. Thus it is 3rd in number in the Sihah Sittah
after Bukhari and Muslim according to some Ulama'a because of its Sahih narrations. He clearly clarifies the hard
words and brings different narrations for one particular Hadeeth as Imam Muslim does. Many Ulama'a have written
commentaries on this work including Allamah Sindhi, Allamah Suyuti and Hadhrat Sheikhul Hadeeth Moulana
Muhammad Zakaria .
References
[1] http:/
 
/
 
www.
 
uga.
 
edu/
 
islam/
 
hadith.
 
html
[2] Al-Bastawī, ʻAbd al-ʻAlīm ʻAbd al-ʻAẓīm (1990). Al-Imām al-Jūzajānī wa-manhajuhu fi al-jarḥ wa-al-taʻdīl. Maktabat Dār al-Ṭaḥāwī. p. 9.
Sunan Abu Dawood
Sunan Abi Daawud (Arabic: ﺩﻭﺍﺩ ﻲﺑﺃ ﻦﻨﺳ) is one of the Al-Kutub al-Sittah (six major hadiths), collected by Abu
Dawood.
Description
Abu Dawood collected 500,000 hadith, but included only 4,800 in this collection. Sunnis regard this collection as
fourth in strength of their Six major Hadith collections. It took him 20 years for collecting the ahadis. He made series
of journeys to meet most of the foremost traditionists of his time and acquired from them the most reliable ahadis
quoting sources through which it reached him. Since the author collected ahadis which no one ever assembled
together, his sunan has been accepted as standard work by scholars from many parts of the Islamic world.
[1]
.
External links
English translation of Sunan Abu Dawood 
[2]
References
[1] Various Issues About Hadiths (http:/
 
/
 
www.
 
abc.
 
se/
 
~m9783/
 
n/
 
vih_e.
 
html)
[2] http:/
 
/
 
www.
 
cmje.
 
org/
 
religious-texts/
 
hadith/
 
abudawud/

Abu Dawood
18
Abu Dawood
Ḥadīth scholar
Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ashʿath al-Azdi al-Sijistani
Title
Abū Dāwūd
Born
202H 817-18CE
Died
275H 889CE
Ethnicity
Persian
Maddhab
Hanbali
Main interests ḥadīth and (fiqh)
Works
Sunan Abī Dāwūd
Influences
Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub al-Juzajani[1] Ahmad ibn Hanbal Ali ibn al-Madini Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh Yahya ibn Ma'in
Influenced
Tirmidhi Al-Nasa'i
Abu Dawud Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʿath al-Azdi as-Sijistani (Persian/Arabic: ﻲﻧﺎﺘﺴﺠﺴﻟﺍ ﻱﺩﺯﻷﺍ ﺚﻌﺷﻷﺍ ﻦﺑ ﻥﺎﻤﻴﻠﺳ ﺩﻭﺍﺩ ﻮﺑﺃ),
commonly known as Abu Dawud, was a noted Persian collector of prophetic hadith, and compiled the third of the
six "canonical" hadith collections recognized by Sunni Muslims, the Sunan Abī Dāwūd.
Biography
He was born in Sistan, in east of Iran, (then Persia) and died in 889 in Basra. Widely traveled among scholars of
hadith, he went to Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Hijaz, Khurasan, Nishapur, and Marv among other places in order to collect
hadith. He was primarily interested in jurisprudence, and as a result the collection by him focuses largely on legal
hadith. Out of about 500,000 hadith, he chose 4,800 for inclusion in his work.
Works
He wrote some 21 books in total. Some of the most prominent are:
• Sunan Abī Dāwūd, containing some 4,800 hadith, is his principal work. They are usually numbered after the
edition of Muhammad Muhyi al-Din `Abd al-Hamid (Cairo: Matba`at Mustafa Muhammad, 1354/1935), where
5,274 are distinguished. Some of his hadith are not sahih, but he claimed that all hadith listed were sahih unless
specifically indicated otherwise; this has been controversial among Islamic scholars, since some, such as Ibn
Hajar al-Asqalani believe some of the unmarked ones to be ḍaʿīf as well.
• In another work, Kitab al-Marāsīl, he lists 600 mursal hadith which, after extensive background investigation, he
concludes are nonetheless sahih.
• Risālat Abī Dāwūd ilā Ahli Makkah; his letter to the inhabitants of Makkah describing his Sunan Abī Dāwūd.
[2]
References
[1] Al-Bastawī, ʻAbd al-ʻAlīm ʻAbd al-ʻAẓīm (1990). Al-Imām al-Jūzajānī wa-manhajuhu fi al-jarḥ wa-al-taʻdīl. Maktabat Dār al-Ṭaḥāwī. p. 9.
[2] Translation of the Risālah by Abū Dāwūd (http:/
 
/
 
www.
 
dkh-islam.
 
com/
 
Content/
 
Article.
 
aspx?ATID=71)

Sunan al-Tirmidhi
19
Sunan al-Tirmidhi
Jāmi` al-Tirmidhi (Arabic: ﻱﺬﻣﺮﺘﻟﺍ ﻊﻣﺎﺟ), popularly and mistakenly Sunan al-Tirmidhi (Arabic: ﻱﺬﻣﺮﺘﻟﺍ ﻦَﻨـُﺳ), is one
of the Al-Kutub al-Sittah (six major hadiths). It was collected by Abu 'Eesa Muhammad ibn 'Eesa al-Tirmidhi.
Title
Al-Kattani said: "The Jaami' of al-Tirmithi is also named The Sunan, contrary to those thinking them to be two
separate books, and [it is also named] Al-Jaami' al-Kabeer.
[1]
Praise
Al-Hafidh Abu Al-Fadl Al-Maqdisi said: "I heard Al-Imam Abu Isma'il Abdullah bin Muhammad Al-Ansari in
Harrah - when Abu Isa Al-Tirmidhi and his book was mentioned before him - saying: "To me, his book is more
useful than the books of Al-Bukhari and that of Muslim. This is because only an expert can arrive at the benefit of
the books of Al-Bukhari and Muslim, whereas in the case of the book of Abu Isa, every one of the people can attain
its benefit."
[2]
Ibn Al-Athir said: "(It) is the best of books, having the most benefit, the best organization, with the least repetition. It
contain what others do not; like mention of the different views, angles of argument, and clarifying the circumstances
of the hadith as being sahih, da'if, or gharib, as well as disparaging and endorsing remarks (regarding narrators).
Authenticity
Sunnis regard this collection as fifth in strength of their Six major Hadith collections.
[3]
Types of hadith included relating to their authenticity
Of the four Sunan books, al-Tirmidhi's alone is divided into four categories. The first, those hadith definitively
classified as authentic, he is in agreement with Bukhari and Muslim. The second category are those hadith which
conform to the standard of the three scholars, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i and Abu Dawood, at a level less than Bukhari
and Muslim. Third, are the hadith collected due to a contradiction; in this case, he clarifies its flaw. And fourth, those
hadith which some fiqh specialists have acted upon.
[4]
Examples of some Hadith found in Tirmidhi
It is related by Abdullah bin Masud that Muhammad said, “A faithful believer neither attacks with his tongue nor
utters a curse nor speaks ill of anyone nor calls names.” From Tirmidhi
Commentaries
• Aridhat al-Ahwathi bi Sharh Sunan al-Tirmidhi written Ibn al-Arabi d. 543H (1148-49 CE)
• Sharh Jaami' al-Tirmidhi of which only the last portion of remains - Sharh 'Ilal at-Tirmidhi - by Ibn Rajab
• Commentary on al-Tirmidhi's Hadith Collection by al-Zayn al-Iraqi
• Footnotes, including explanation and verification, of approximately the first third of the Sunan by Ahmad
Muhammad Shakir
• al-`Urf al Shadhi Sharh Sunan Al-Tirmidhi by Anwar Shah Kashmiri
• Tuhfat Al-Ahwadhi Bi Sharh Jami` Al-Tirmidhi by 'Abd al-Rahman al-Mubarkafuri, ed. 'Abd al-Rahman
Muhammad 'Uthman, 10 vols., Beirut
.

Sunan al-Tirmidhi
20
References
[1] Al-Risalah al-Mustatrafah, pg. 11.
[2] Shurut al-A'immah al-Sittah, by al-Maqdisi, pg. 101.
[3] Haddad, G. F. "Various Issues About Hadiths" (http:/
 
/
 
www.
 
abc.
 
se/
 
~m9783/
 
n/
 
vih_e.
 
html). .
[4] Shurut al-A'immah al-Sittah, by al-Maqdisi, pg. 92.
External links
• English Translation of Sunan Al Tirmidhi (http:/
 
/
 
ahadith.
 
co.
 
uk/
 
sunanaltirmidhi.
 
php) - View and Search

Tirmidhi
21
Tirmidhi
Hadith scholar
Abū ‛Īsá Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Mūsá ibn
al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Sulamī al-Tirmidhī
Title
Tirmidhī
Born
824 CE (209 AH) Termez, Persia
Died
892 CE (13 Rajab 279 AH) Termez, Persia
Ethnicity
Persian
Region
Iranian muslim Scholar
Maddhab
Sunni
Main interests
hadith
Works
Sunan al-Tirmidhi or Jami at-Tirmidhi
Influences
Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub al-Juzajani[1]
Tirmidhī (Persian: ﯼﺬﻣﺮﺗ), also transliterated as Tirmizi, full name Abū ‛Īsá Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn
Mūsá ibn al Ḍaḥḥāk al-Sulamī al-Sulamī al-Tirmidhī (824–892, i.e. 209 AH – 13 Rajab 279 AH) or 8 October
892 CE was a Persian
[2][3] 
collector of hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad)
Biography
He wrote al-Jāmi‛ al-ṣaḥīḥ, popularly called Sunan al-Tirmidhi, one of the six canonical hadith compilations used in
Sunni Islam, as well as Shamā'il Muḥammadiyyah, known popularly as "Shamaail Tirmidhi", a collection of ahadith
on [[Muhammad] SAAW].
Tirmidhi was born and died in Bâgh (Persian meaning 'Garden'), a suburb of Termez, Greater Khorasan (now in
Uzbekistan), to a family of the widespread Banū Sulaym tribe. Starting at the age of twenty, he travelled widely, to
Kufa, Basra and the Hijaz, seeking out knowledge from, among others, Qutaybah ibn Sa‛id, Muhammad al-Bukhari,
Muslim Nishapuri and Abu Dawud.
Tirmidhī was blind in the last two years of his life, said to have been the consequence of his weeping over the death
of Bukhārī. Tirmidhi is buried in Sherobod, 60 kilometers north of Termez. He is locally known as Isa Termezi or
Termez Baba "Father of Termez".
References
[1] Al-Bastawī, ʻAbd al-ʻAlīm ʻAbd al-ʻAẓīm (1990). Al-Imām al-Jūzajānī wa-manhajuhu fi al-jarḥ wa-al-taʻdīl. Maktabat Dār al-Ṭaḥāwī. p. 9.
[2] Karen G. Ruffle, Gender, Sainthood, & Everyday Practice in South Asian Shi'ism, (University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 40.
[3] The Faith of Islam By Edward SellThe Faith of Islam By Edward Sell (http:/
 
/
 
books.
 
google.
 
com/
 
books?id=DNVpRr-BGu8C&
 
pg=PA96&
dq=sahih+
 
tirmidhi+
 
born+
 
khurasan#v=onepage&
 
q=sahih tirmidhi born khurasan&
 
f=false). . Retrieved 2010-09-11.
External links
• Biography of Imam al-Tirmidhi at Sunnah.org (http:/
 
/
 
www.
 
sunnah.
 
org/
 
history/
 
Scholars/
 
imam_tirmidhi.
 
htm)
• Biography of al-Tirmidhee at theclearpath.com (http:/
 
/
 
replay.
 
waybackmachine.
 
org/
 
20080214101424/
 
http:/
 
/
www.
 
theclearpath.
 
com/
 
viewtopic.
 
php?t=100)

Sunan ibn Majah
22
Sunan ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Mājah (Arabic: ﻪﺟﺎﻣ ﻦﺑﺍ ﻦﻨُﺳ) is one of the Al-Kutub al-Sittah (six major hadiths), collected by Ibn Mājah.
Description
It contains over 4,000 aḥādīth in 32 books (kutub) divided into 1,500 chapters (abwāb). About 20 of the traditions it
contains were later declared to be forged; such as those dealing with the merits of individuals, tribes or towns,
including Ibn Mājah's home town of Qazwin.
Views
Sunni regard this collection as sixth in strength of their Six major Hadith collections 
[1]
. Nonetheless this position
was not settled until the 14th century or later. Scholars such as al-Nawawi (d. 676/1277) and Ibn Khaldun (d.
808/1405) excluded the Sunan from the generally accepted books; others replaced it with either the Muwaṭṭaʾ of
Imām Mālik or with the Sunan ad-Dārimī.
References
[1] Gibril, Haddad (April 4, 2003), Various Issues About Hadiths (http:/
 
/
 
www.
 
abc.
 
se/
 
~m9783/
 
n/
 
vih_e.
 
html), living ISLAM – Islamic
Tradition,
External links
• Sunan ibn Majah (http:/
 
/
 
ahadith.
 
co.
 
uk/
 
ibnmajah.
 
php) - English Translation of Sunan ibn Majah

Ibn Majah
23
Ibn Majah
Muslim scholar
Abū ʻAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Yazīd Ibn Mājah
al-Rabʻī al-Qazwīnī
Title
Ibn Mājah
Born
824 CE
Died
887 or 889
Ethnicity
Persian
Works
Sunan ibn Mājah, Kitāb at-Tafsīr and Kitāb at-Tārīkh
Abū ʻAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Yazīd Ibn Mājah al-Rabʻī al-Qazwīnī (Arabic: ﻪﺟﺎﻣ ﻦﺑ ﺪﻳﺰﻳ ﻦﺑ ﺪﻤﺤﻣ ﻪﻠﻟﺍ ﺪﺒﻋ ﻮﺑﺍ
ﻲﻨﻳﻭﺰﻘﻟﺍ ﻲﻌﺑﺮﻟﺍ
), (824 CE/209 AM—887/273) commonly known as Ibn Mājah, was a medieval scholar of hadith. He
compiled the last of Sunni Islam's six canonical hadith collections, Sunan Ibn Mājah.
[1]
Biography
A map of present-day Iran showing the
location of Qazwin, the place of birth and
death of Ibn Mājah
Ibn Mājah was born in Qazwin, the modern-day Iranian province of Qazvin,
in 824 CE/209 AH
[1] 
to a family who were clients (mawla) of the Rabīʻah
tribe.
[2]
 Mājah was the nickname of his father, and not that of his grandfather
nor was it his mother's name, contrary to those claiming this. The hāʼ at the
end is un-voweled whether in stopping upon its pronunciation or continuing
because it a non-Arabic name.
[2]
He left his hometown to travel the Islamic world visiting Iraq, Makkah, the
Levant and Egypt. He studied under Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah (through
whom came over a quarter of al-Sunan), Muḥammad ibn ʻAbdillāh ibn
Numayr, Jubārah ibn al-Mughallis, Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mundhir al-Ḥizāmī,
ʻAbdullāh ibn Muʻāwiyah, Hishām ibn ʻAmmār, Muḥammad ibn Rumḥ,
Dāwūd ibn Rashīd and others from their era. Abū Yaʻlā al-Khalīlī praised Ibn
Mājah as "reliable (thiqah), prominent, agreed upon, a religious authority, possessing knowledge and the capability
to memorize."
[1]
According to al-Dhahabī, Ibn Mājah died on approximately February 19, 887 CE/with eight days remaining of the
month of Ramadan, 273 AH,
[1] 
or, according to al-Kattānī, in either 887/273 or 889/275.
[2] 
He died in Qazwin.
[2]

Ibn Majah
24
Works
Al-Dhahabī mentioned the following of Ibn Mājah's works:
[1]
• Sunan Ibn Mājah: one of the six canonical collections of hadith
• Kitāb al-Tafsīr: a book of Qur'an exegesis
• Kitāb al-Tārīkh: a book of history or, more likely, a listing of hadith transmitters
The Sunan
The Sunan consists of 1,500 chapters and about 4,000 hadith.
[1] 
Upon completing it, he read it to Abū Zurʻah, a
hadith authority of his time, who commented, "I think that were people to get their hands on this, the other
collections, or most of them, would be rendered obsolete."
[1]
References
[1] al-Dhahabi, Muhammad ibn Ahmad (1957). al-Mu`allimi. ed (in Arabic). Tadhkirat al-Huffaz. 2. Hyderabad: Da`irat al-Ma`arif
al-`Uthmaniyyah. pp. 636.
[2] al-Kattani, Muhammah ibn Ja`far (2007). Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Kattani. ed (in Arabic). al-Risalah al-Mustatrafah (seventh ed.).
Beirut: Dar al-Bashair al-Islamiyyah. pp. 12.
Further reading
• Suhaib Hasan Abdul Ghaffar, Criticism of Hadith among Muslims with reference to Sunan Ibn Maja, Presidency
of Islamic Research, IFTA and Propagation: Riyadh 1984. ISBN 0-907461-56-5
• Robson, James. 'The Transmission of Ibn Majah's "Sunan"', Journal of Semitic studies 3 (1958): 129–41.
External links
• Sunan Ibn Majah (http:/
 
/
 
ahadith.
 
co.
 
uk/
 
ibnmajah.
 
php) - Searchable Sunan Ibn Majah Online
• Biography of Imam Ibn Maajah at theclearpath.com (http:/
 
/
 
replay.
 
waybackmachine.
 
org/
 
20080306081707/
http:/
 
/
 
www.
 
theclearpath.
 
com/
 
viewtopic.
 
php?t=71)
•
(French) 
Biography of Imam Ibn Mâjah by at-tawhid.net (http:/
 
/
 
www.
 
at-tawhid.
 
net/
article-abu-abdi-llah-ibn-majah-al-qazwini-m-273-103181808.
 
html)

Muwatta Imam Malik
25
Muwatta Imam Malik
The Muwaṭṭaʾ (Arabic: ﺄﻃﻮﻤﻟﺍ) is the first written collection of hadith comprising the subjects of Muslim law,
compiled and edited by the Imam, Malik ibn Anas.
[1] 
Malik's best-known work, Al-Muwatta was the first legal work
to incorporate and join hadith and fiqh together. The work was received with wide praise. Abu Bakr ibn al-`Arabi
said: "The Muwatta’ is the first foundation and the core, while al-Bukhari’s book is the second foundation in this
respect. Upon these two all the rest have built, such as Muslim and al-Tirmidhi."
Description
It is considered to be from the earliest extant collections of hadith that form the basis of Islamic jurisprudence
alongside the Qur'an.
[2] 
Nonetheless, is not merely a collection of hadith; many of the legal precepts it contains are
based not on hadith at all. The book covers rituals, rites, customs, traditions, norms and laws of the time of the
Islamic prophet Muhammad.
It is reported that Imam Malik selected only about 1% of authentic Ahadith for inclusion into the Muwatta, from the
corpus of 100,000 narrations available to him. Thus, the book has been compiled with great diligence and
meticulousness. 
[3]
History
Due to increase in juristic differences, the Caliph of the time, Abū Ja‘far Mansūr, requested Imam Malik to produce a
standard book that could be promulgated as law in the country. The Imam refused this in 148 AH, but when the
Caliph again came to the Hijaz in 163 AH, he was more forceful and said:
“O Abū ‘Abd Allāh, take up the reign of the discipline of fiqh in your hands. Compile your understanding of every
issue in different chapters for a systematic book free from the extremism of ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Umar, concessions and
accommodations of ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Abbās and unique views of ‘Abd Allāh b. Mas‘ūd. Your work should exemplify
the following principle of the Prophet: “The best issues are those which are balanced.” It should be a compendium of
the agreed upon views of the Companions and the elder imāms on the religious and legal issues. Once you have
compiled such a work then we would be able to unite the Muslims in following the single fiqh worked by you. We
would then promulgate it in the entire Muslim state. We would order that no body acts contrary to it.” 
[4]
Historical reports attest that another ‘Abbāsī caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd too expressed similar wishes before Imām Mālik
who remained unmoved. He, however, compiled Muwattā, keeping before himself the target of removing the juristic
differences between the scholars.
Examples on certain situations and how they were solved are an important factor of the texts. A famous example:
Muwatta of Malik, Bk. 30, Sect. 2, No. 13
"Yahya related to me from Malik that Abdullah ibn Dinar said, "A man came to Abdullah ibn Umar when I was with
him at the place where judgments were given and asked him about the suckling of an older person. Abdullah ibn
Umar replied, 'A man came to Umar ibn al-Khattab and said, 'I have a slave-girl and I used to have intercourse with
her. My wife went to her and suckled her. When I went to the girl, my wife told me to watch out, because she had
suckled her' Umar told him to beat his wife and to go to his slave-girl because kinship by suckling was only by the
suckling of the young.'"

Muwatta Imam Malik
26