The six canonical collections

Islamic scholarship produced many hadith compilations over centuries. In Sunni Islam, the six most authoritative collections — known as Kutub al-Sittah — are Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abi Dawud, Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Sunan an-Nasa'i, and Sunan Ibn Majah. Beyond these, scholars also compiled works such as Muwatta Malik, Musnad Ahmad, and others for specialized study.

The major hadith books together contain tens of thousands of narrations, though many reports appear in more than one collection. For example, Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim each contain thousands of unique and overlapping entries. The total count depends on whether repeated narrations across books are counted separately or as one report.

The six major Sunni collections are Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abi Dawud, Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Sunan an-Nasa'i, and Sunan Ibn Majah. Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim are held in the highest regard for authenticity. The Sunan works add extensive material on worship, law, and daily practice, each compiled with rigorous standards for narrator reliability.

The six major books were compiled by Imam Muhammad al-Bukhari, Imam Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, Imam Abu Dawud, Imam al-Tirmidhi, Imam an-Nasa'i, and Imam Ibn Majah. These scholars traveled widely, gathered narrations from trusted chains, and applied strict criteria to verify authenticity before including a report in their collections.