Sahih Muslim ( ar, صحيح مسلم, translit=Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim), group=note is a 9th-century ''
hadith'' collection and a book of ''
sunnah'' compiled by the Persian scholar
Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj
Abū al-Ḥusayn ‘Asākir ad-Dīn Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj ibn Muslim ibn Ward ibn Kawshādh al-Qushayrī an-Naysābūrī ( ar, أبو الحسين عساكر الدين مسلم بن الحجاج بن مسلم بن وَرْد بن كوشاذ ...
(815–875). It is one of the most valued books in
Sunni Islam after the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , ...
, alongside ''
Sahih al-Bukhari''. Sahih Muslim is also one of the
Kutub al-Sittah, the six major Sunni collections of ''hadith'' of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...
. The book is also revered by
Zaydi Shias. It consists of approximately 7,500 ''hadith'' narrations across its introduction and 56 books.
Content
Sahih Muslim contains approximately 5,500 - 7,500 ''hadith'' narrations in its introduction and 56 books.
Kâtip Çelebi (d. 1657) and
Siddiq Hasan Khan (d. 1890) both counted 7,275 narrations.
Muhammad Fuad Abdul Baqi
Muḥammad Fu'ād ʿAbd al-Baqī (Mit Helfa, Qalyub, 1882 – Cairo, 1968) was a prolific Egyptian scholar of Islam, a poet and a translator from French and English. He authored and compiled many books related to the Qur'an and the sunnah, includin ...
wrote that there are 3,033 narrations without considering repetitions.
[''Hadith and the Quran'', ]Encyclopedia of the Quran
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ...
, Brill Mashhur ibn Hasan Al Salman, a student of
Al-Albani
Muhammad b. al-Haj Nuh b. Nijati b. Adam al-Ishqudri al-Albani al-Arnauti ( ar, مُحَمَّد نَاصِر ٱلدِّيْن ٱلْأَلْبَانِي الأرنؤوط), better known simply as Al-Albani (August 16, 1914 – October 2, 1999), ...
(d. 1999), built upon this number, counting 7,385 total narrations, which, combined with the ten in the introduction, add up to a total of 7,395.
Muslim wrote an introduction to his collection of ''hadith'', wherein he clarified the reasoning behind choosing the ''hadith'' he chose to include in his Sahih.
Development
According to
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi
Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Thābit ibn Aḥmad ibn Māhdī al-Shāfiʿī, commonly known as al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī ( ar, الخطيب البغدادي) or "the lecturer from Baghdad" (10 May 1002 – 5 September 1071; 392 AH-463 AH), wa ...
, Muslim began writing the Sahih for Ahmad ibn Salamah an-Naysaburi. He was also compelled to write the Sahih for what he observed to be the poor character of his contemporary
''hadith'' scholars, and their lack of reluctance to spread
''daʻīf'' (weak) narrations. Muslim collected 300,000 narrations and chose 4,000 to be included in his book.
He divided narrators of ''hadith'' into three tiers based on their memory and character:
* those who possessed authentic memory and were of perfect character, honest and trustworthy.
* those of slightly weaker memory and perfection, trustworthy, knowledgeable and honest.
* those whose honesty was disputed or was a subject of discussion.
Muslim did not include ''hadith'' which were narrated by those who belonged to the last tier. Moreover, Muslim only recorded hadith that were narrated to him by an unbroken ''
isnad'' (chain) of narrators through two reliable ''
tabi'un'', each of which had to be narrated through two
companions of
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...
.
Reception
Sunni Muslims regard ''Sahih Muslim'' as the second most important book of the ''Kutub al-Sittah.
Sahih Muslim'' and ''
Sahih al-Bukhari'' are together referred to as the Sahihayn'' (The Two ''Sahihs'')'.
In the ''
Introduction to the Science of Hadith'',
Ibn al-Salah wrote: "The first to author a ''Sahih'' was
Bukhari Bukhari or Bokhari () means "from Bukhara (Uzbekistan)" in Persian, Arabic, Urdu and Hebrew, and may refer to:
People
* al-Bukhari (810–870), Islamic hadith scholar and author of the
*Bukhari Daud (1959–2021), Indonesian academician and reg ...
.. followed by
Abū al-Ḥusayn Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj an-Naysābūrī al-Qushayrī, who was his student, sharing many of the same teachers. These two books are the most authentic books after the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , ...
. As for the statement of
Al-Shafi‘i, who said, "I do not know of a book containing knowledge more correct than
Malik's book
Muwatta_Imam_Malik">nowiki/>Muwatta_Imam_Malik.html" ;"title="Muwatta_Imam_Malik.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Muwatta Imam Malik">nowiki/>Muwatta Imam Malik">Muwatta_Imam_Malik.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Muwatta Imam Malik">nowiki/>Muwatta Imam Malik" [...] he said this before the books of Bukhari and Muslim. The book of Bukhari is the more authentic of the two and more useful."
Al-Nawawi wrote about Sahih al-Bukhari, "The scholars, may God have mercy on them, have agreed that the most authentic book after the dear Quran are the two Sahihs of Bukhari and
Muslim."
Siddiq Hasan Khan (d. 1890) wrote, "All of the
Salaf and ''Khalaf'' assert that the most authentic book after the book of Allah is Sahih al-Bukhari and then Sahih Muslim."
This sentiment is echoed by both contemporary and past Islamic scholars, including
Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328),
Al-Maziri (d. 1141), and
Al-Juwayni (d. 1085).
Amin Ahsan Islahi praised the scientific arrangement of the narrations in ''Sahih Muslim''. He also praised Muslim's particularity in highlighting differences in wording between two narrations, even when it came to a single letter that held no semantic significance, or if they differed about any facts relating to a narrator in the ''
isnad''.
Despite the book's reputation and the consensus of scholars that it is the second most authentic collection of ''hadith'' after ''Sahih al-Bukhari'', it is agreed upon that this does not mean that every ''hadith'' in ''Sahih al-Bukhari'' is more valid than every ''hadith'' in ''Sahih Muslim'', but that the total of what is contained in ''Sahih al-Bukhari'' is more valid than the total of what is contained in ''Sahih Muslim.''
Derived works
Commentaries
More than 60 commentaries have been written on ''Sahih Muslim'', some of which are ''Siyānah Sahīh Muslim'' by
Ibn al-Salah, of which only the beginning segment remains, ''Al-Mu'allim bi Fawā'id Muslim'' by Al-Maziri, ''Al Minhāj Sharḥ Sahīḥ Muslim'' by
Al-Nawawi, ''
Fath al-Mulhim'' by
Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, ''
Takmilat Fath al-Mulhim
Takmilat Fath al-Mulhim is arguably the most important work of Muhammad Taqi Usmani in Arabic, in which he completed in six volumes the commentary of Shabbir Ahmad Usmani on Sahih Muslim. Muhammad Zahid Al-Kawthari regarded Allama Shabbir Usmani's ...
'' by
Muhammad Taqi Usmani, and ''Tafsir al-Gharīb mā fi al-Sahīhayn'' by
Al-Humaydī. Translations of commentaries of Sahih Muslims are available in numerous languages.
See also
*
Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, author of ''Sahih Muslim''
* ''
Sahih al-Bukhari'', another Sahih collection of ''hadith'' narrations and the other of the 'Sahihayn'
*
Muhammad al-Bukhari, another ''hadith'' scholar, one of Muslim's teachers, and the author of ''Sahih al-Bukhari''
*
Kutub al-Sittah, six most highly-regarded collections of ''hadith'' in Sunni Islam, including ''Sahih al-Bukhari'', ''Sahih Muslim'', and:
** ''
Sahih at-Tirmidhi
Jami at-Tirmidhi ( ar, جامع الترمذي), also known as Sunan at-Tirmidhi, is one of "the six books" ('' Kutub al-Sittah'' - the six major hadith collections). It was collected by Al-Tirmidhi. He began compiling it after the year 250 A.H. ...
'', compiled by
Al-Tirmidhi (824–892)
** ''
Sunan ibn Majah'', compiled by
Ibn Majah (824–887)
** ''
Sunan Abu Dawood
''Sunan Abu Dawood'' ( ar-at, سنن أبي داود, Sunan Abī Dāwūd) is one of the '' Kutub al-Sittah'' (six major hadith collections), collected by Abu Dawud al-Sijistani (d.889).
Introduction
Abu Dawood compiled twenty-one books related ...
'', compiled by
Abu Dawud al-Sijistani (d. 889)
** ''
Al-Sunan al-Sughra'', also known as ''Sunan an-Nasa'i'', compiled by
Al-Nasa'i
Al-Nasāʾī (214 – 303 AH; 829 – 915 CE), full name Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb ibn ʿAlī ibn Sīnān al-Nasāʾī, (variant: Abu Abdel-rahman Ahmed ibn Shua'ib ibn Ali ibn Sinan ibn Bahr ibn Dinar Al-Khurasani ...
(829–915)
Notes
References
External links
English translation with Arabic text
{{Authority control
Hadith
Hadith studies
Sunni literature
Hadith collections
Sunni hadith collections
9th-century Arabic books