Sahih Muslim

261 AH (about 875 CE)

Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim are the two most revered and authoritative scholars of Hadith (prophetic traditions) in Sunni Islamic history.

Together, their major works are known as the Sahihayn (The Two Authentic Books). In Islamic scholarship, if a Hadith is verified and recorded in both of their books, it is given the highest possible status of authenticity, labeled as Muttafaqun Alayh (Agreed Upon).

Imam Muslim Background Information

Full Name: Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj al-Naysaburi
Lifespan: 821 – 875 CE (206 – 261 AH)
Origin: Born in Nishapur (modern-day Iran).

Who was he?

Imam Muslim belonged to the Arab tribe of Qushayr and grew up in a prominent center of learning in Persia. He was actually a student and dedicated disciple of Imam al-Bukhari. When al-Bukhari arrived in Nishapur, Muslim attached himself to him, famously kissing his forehead out of profound respect for his methodology.

His Legacy: Sahih Muslim

Imam Muslim’s collection contains roughly 12,000 narrations filtered down from a pool of 300,000. While his book is ranked just slightly below al-Bukhari's in terms of structural strictness (Muslim only required proof that two narrators lived at the same time and could have met, rather than proof they did meet), his book is praised by scholars as far superior in organization.

Unlike al-Bukhari, who broke Hadiths into small fragments scattered across different legal chapters, Imam Muslim kept all thematic variations of a single Hadith grouped together in one clean, uninterrupted section.

A Historian's Perspective: These two scholars, Imam Al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim acted as the foundational "data engineers" of early Islam. Operating in the 9th century, they constructed a highly sophisticated, multi-generational peer-review system that successfully filtered out centuries of political propaganda, fabrications, and human error to preserve the core historical legacy of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

Sahih Muslim

Imam Muslim Background Information

Who was he?

His Legacy: Sahih Muslim

Sahih Muslim Vol. 1

Sahih Muslim Vol. 2

Sahih Muslim Vol. 3

Sahih Muslim Vol. 4

Sahih Muslim Vol. 5

Sahih Muslim Vol. 6

Sahih Muslim Vol. 7