Following are the collectors of ahadith with there collections. By the will of Allah SWT we will link them with a bit more detail of there life and there work whenever we get a chance to study them more:
1. Sahih al-Bukhari – There are 2623 Hadiths in 9 volumes. Imam al-Bukhari was born in 194 A.H. and he demised in 256 A.H. He never had more than six persons in his Isnad.
2. Sahih Muslim – There are 4,000 Hadiths with the minimum of 4 persons as the Rawee. Hazrat Imam Muslim was born in 204 A.H. and he demised in 260 A.H.
3. Muwatta al-Imam Malik – He was born 103 A.H. and his demise was 178 or 179 A.H.
4. Sulayman bin Asyas Sajistani – whose famous name is Abi Dawud. His book Sunan Abu Dawud or Sahih Abu Dawud. He was born in 202 A.H. and his demise was 275 A.H. Sunan are those Hadith which are similar to Fiqh.
5. Sahih al-Tirmithi – His name was Hazrat Abu Isa Soora. It is also called Jami’a Tirmithi. He was born in 209 A.H. and he was demised in 279 A.H.
6. Sahih an-Nisa’i – His name was Abu Abdur-Rahman Ahmad ibn Shu’aib. He was born 214 A.H. and he was demised 303 A.H. Hazrat An-Nisa’i had four wives and many children.
7. Sahih Ibn Majah – is also called Sunan Ibn Majah. His name was Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Yazid bin Abdullah. He was born 209 A.H. and demised 273 A.H.
From the above mentioned books, there are the 6 books of Hadiths which are called Sahih Sitta which are most famous with the most sound tradition. Some include in the Sahih Sitta the Muwatta of Al-Imam Malik (Radhi Allahu Anh) and others include the Sahih Ibn Majah.
8. Musnad of al-Imam al-A’zam Abu Hanifah (Radhi Allahu Anh), born 80 A.H., deceased 150 A.H., he was the only Imam from the Four Imams who met Sahabi and learned Hadith of Rasulullah SAW and recorded them. Abu Hanifah said, “I was born in the year 80 and in 86 I went on Hajj with my Abi; when I entered Haram Sharif, I saw a group of people sitting before a man as students before a teacher, then I asked my father ‘who is this person,’ and my father answered, ‘this is Abdullah bin Harth. This is a Sahabi of Rasulullah SAW.’ After seeing this man, I wanted to meet him and at that moment he was giving a talk on Hadith and that Hadith was: ‘Whosoever learns knowledge of Shari’ah, Allah will be enough for him and will help him and give him rizq from the ghaib without measure,’ which means that person who seeks knowledge of Al-Islam, for him Allah will be enough, and Allah will grant him rizq from those places he will not even think of. For that person who learns about Islam, Allah will suffice in all his difficulties and he will be helped from unseen places.”
9. The Musnad of al-Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (Radhi Allahu Anh). He was the Imam of Al-Ghawth al-A’zam Sheikh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (Rahmatullah Alayh). His kunya is Abu Abdullah Ahmad bin Hanbal. He was born in 164 A.H. and deceased 241 A.H. His musnad is in 6 volumes.
Others are:
10. Abd bin Hunayd
11. Harath bin Abu Usama
12. Al-Bazri
13. Abi Yala
14. Abu Awana
15. Sahih Isma’il
16. Sahih Ibn-e-Habban
17. Sahih Hateem
18. Mustaj Karaj Abi Nuam
19. Musnad Darmi
20. Sunan Darkutmi
21. Sunan Abi Muslim
22. Musnad of Abdur-Razzaq
23. Musnad of Sa’id bin Mansur
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