Compilers of Sihah al Sittah
(The six correct ones)

IMAM BUKHARI : (13th Shawwal 194 AH - 1st Shawwal 256 AH)
Imam Bukhari's full name was Muhammad Isma'il al Bukhari. He was born in Bukhara, a city of Uzbekistan. His father was a good narrator for Hadith. When he was a small child he lost his father. Right from the beginning he was very brilliant , having an astonishing memory. He received his early education from scholars like Muhammad bin Salam Baikondi and Muhammad bin Yusuf Baikondi, in Bukhara itself. Imam Bukhari was having a great power of remembrance. When he was only eleven years of age the corrected Allama Dakhli, a great Islamic scholar for a mistake in the reference of a Sanad. At the age of 16 he learnt by heart some great books on Islamic jurisprudence. In search of Hadith he traveled to Syria, Egypt, Basra Makkah, Madinah, Kufah. He collected Hadith from more than one thousand scholars. He himself had remembered around six lakh Ahadith.

The different compilation of Hadith which exised during the time of Imam
Bukhari was somewhat vague and was difficult for a general student to take help from it because they had strong and weak Ahadith together without any clear distinction. Imam Bukhari decided to compile a book of Ahadith which should contain only authentic Ahadith. His teacher Is-haq bin Rahuya has also appreciated this idea. So accordingly he started his work. He wrote the whole book in the premises of Ka’bah and later indexed the Ahadith near the grave of the Holy Messenger in Madinah. It is said that he used to offer two Rak'ah of Salah (Prayer) before writing any Hadith. Several contemporary Islamic scholar has appreciated and certified his compilation as authentic.

Apart from the great compilation of Sahih Bukhari, he wrote many books like Al-Tarikh al-Kabir, Al-Tarikh al-Saghir, Al-Adabul Mufsad, Al-Tarikhul Awsat and
Kitabul Fawaid, etc.

IMAM MUSLIM (204 AH - 25th Rajab 261 AH) : Imam Muslim's full name was Abul Hasan Muslim Al Hajjaj. He was born in Neeshapur, an old city near Iran. He was having connection from the clan of Qasher, a famous clan of Arab. He received his earlier education in Neeshapur, Imam Yaka Neeshapuri, Harmala and Yahya bin Yaha were his teacher. He traveled Iraq, Hejaz, Egypt, Syria, etc. in search of
Ahadith. For getting broader knowledge of Ahadith he also contacted Imam Bukhari , Imam Shafii and Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal, etc. He had some difference with Imam Bukhari on a few issue, which he had described in the preface of his book. He compiled his great work Sahih Muslim after scanning about three lakh Ahadith. His Sahih Muslim contains 7422 Ahadith. This work was completed in about 15 years. Besides this he wrote books on 'Ilm-al-Hadith and two more books named as Kitabul Iman and Kitabul Tafsir.

IMAM IBN MAJAH (209 - 295 AH) : Imam Ibn Majah's full name was Abu 'Abdullah Muhammad bin Yazid bin 'Abdullah Ibn Majah. He is famous by the name of his grand father i.e. Ibn Majah. He was born in Quzdin, a famous city of Azerbaijan. After the compilation of his education he devoted himself for the collection and compilation of Ahadith. In the process he visited Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Khurasan and Hejaz, etc.

His great compilation of Hadith is known as Sunan Ibn Majah. 302 Ahadith of Sunan Ibn Majah are also mentioned in other five collections of Sihah al Sittah. Some scholars do not include Sunan Ibn Majah in the Sihah al Sittah. Either they consider only Sihah al Khamsa i.e. Five correct ones or they include Imam Malik's Mutah in the Sihah al Sittah instead of Sunan Ibn Majah. Apart from Sunan Ibn Majah, he compiled a book containing the Ahadith related to the explanation of the Qur-an and he also wrote a book on history called as At- Tarikh but nowadays none of these books are available.
   
IMAM ABU DAWUD (202 AH - 275 AH) - Imam Abu Dawud's full name was Abu Dawud Sulayman bin Ash'ath. He was born in Basra. He visited Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Hejaz and Khurasan, etc. for collecting Ahadith and other related information. His great compilation of Ahadith is known as Sunan Abu Dawud. He wrote Sunan Abu Dawud after scanning around five hundred thousand Ahadith. After the compilation of Sunan Abu Dawud he presented it to Imam Ahmad Ibn Hambal, who appreciated his efforts. This book contains Ahadith on Islamic jurisprudence, history, Jihad and other related issues. He mentioned many such Ahadith, which are not mentioned in the Sihah (the correct i.e. the compilation of Imam Bukhari and Muslim). Because he obeyed those narrators too, about whom he found no objectionable thing. He has mentioned in detail the quality of Ahadith in the book according to their authenticity.
   
IMAM TIRMIDHI: Imam Tirmidhi's full name was Abu 'Isa Muhammad al Tirmidhi. He was born in Tirmidh, an old city of Russian Turkistan. According to same sources it is concluded that either he was born blind or lost his eyesight in the old age. To collect Ahadith, he traveled to Iraq, Syria and Khurasan etc. He was lucky to have great Muhaddithin (Scholars of Hadith) like Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim, Imam Abu Dawud and Ali Bin Hajr etc as his teachers. He had an astonishing memory. He was also a great Mujtahid, and numbers of students have received Islamic education from him. Although Imam Bukhari was his teacher but he also had two Ahadith from Imam Tirmidhi.

His great compilation ofAhadithis called as Jame' Tirmidhi which is a very comprehensive book. Apart from narrating Ahadith, this book deals with the science of Ahadith.

'Shama"il Tirmidhi is his another great book and unique of its kind. This book contains only those Ahadith, which are related to the personality of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah. His personality, dress, habits, style of walking and talking etc. Besides this he wrote many other books like, Kitab al-Alaal al Saghir. Kitab al- Zahad and Kitab-al-Tarikh etc. He died at Tirmidh.

IMAM NASA"I (214-303 AH) : His full name was Abu 'Abdul Rahman Nasa"i and his father's name was Shuaib. He was born at Nasa, a place near Khurasan. After receiving his early education he devoted himself for the compilation of Ahadith. In search of Ahadith and related knowledge he traveled Tajikistan, Hejaz, Iraq, and Syria. etc. His great, compilation of Ahadith is called as Sunan Nasa"i.

Exponents of Six Correct Ones

In the later years the Sihah al Sittah has become so popular among the Islamic research and scholars that it necessitated the scholars to write its exponents. Hence a number of scholar took up this task and wrote comprehensive exponents. In the following pages a list of most prominent exponents is being presented.

Exponents of Sahih Bukhari
Around 200 exponents

Exponents of "Sahih Muslim"
Around 50 exponents,

Exponents of "Sunan Ibn Maja".

1.    Jalaluddin Ibrahim bin Muhammad Halbi (D 841 AH)

2.    Jalaluddin Sayufi (D 921 AH)

3.    Shaikh Abul Hassan Muhammad bin Abdul Had! Sindhi (D 1138 AH).

Exponents of 'Sunan Abu Daud"

Exponents of "Jamey Tirmidhi"

Exponents of Nisai

1.    Hafiz Jalauddin Siyati

2.    Abul Mahmmad bin Abdul Hadi Hanafi (Sindhi) (D. 1312 A.H.)