Translator: Abdul Hamid Siddiqui
Sahih Muslim is a collection of sayings and deeds of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) (also known as the sunnah). The reports of the Prophet's sayings and deeds are called ahadith. Muslim lived a couple of centuries after the Prophet's death and worked extremely hard to collect his ahadith. Each report in his collection was checked for compatibility with the Qur'an, and the veracity of the chain of reporters had to be painstakingly established. Muslim's collection is recognized by the overwhelming majority of the Muslim world to be one of the most authentic collections of the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh).
Muslim (full name Abul Husain Muslim bin al-Hajjaj al-Nisapuri) was born in 202 A.H. and died in 261 A.H. He travelled widely to gather his collection of ahadith, including to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Egypt. Out of 300,000 ahadith which he evaluated, only 4,000 approximately were extracted for inclusion into his collection based on stringent acceptance criteria. Muslim was a student of Bukhari.
It is important to realize, however, that Muslim's collection is not complete: there are other scholars who worked as Muslim did and collected other authentic reports.
- Book 1: The Book of Faith (Kitab Al-Iman)
- Book 2: The Book of Purification (Kitab Al-Taharah...
- Book 3: The Book of Menstruation (Kitab Al-Haid)
- Book 4: The Book of Prayers (Kitab Al-Salat)
- Book 5: The Book of Zakat (Kitab Al-Zakat)
- Book 6: The Book of Fasting (Kitab Al-Sawm)
- Book 7: The Book of Pilgrimage (Kitab Al-Hajj)
- Book 8: The Book of Marriage (Kitab Al-Nikah)
- Book 9: The Book of Divorce (Kitab Al-Talaq)
- Book 10: The Book of Transactions (Kitab Al-Buyu`)
- Book 11: The Book Pertaining to the Rules of Inher...
- Book 12: The Book of Gifts (Kitab Al-Hibat)
- Book 13: The Book of Bequests (Kitab Al-Wasiyya)
- Book 14: The Book of Vows (Kitab Al-Nadhr)
- Book 15: The Book of Oaths (Kitab Al-Aiman)
- Book 16: The Book Pertaining to the Oath, for Esta...
- Book 17: The Book Pertaining to Punishments Prescr...
- Book 18: The Book Pertaining to Judicial Decisions...
- Book 19: The Book of Jihad and Expedition (Kitab A...
- Book 20: The Book on Government (Kitab Al-Imara)
- Book 21: The Book of Games and the Animals which M...
- Book 22: The Book of Sacrifices (Kitab Al-Adahi)
- Book 23: The Book of Drinks (Kitab Al-Ashriba)
- Book 24: The Book Pertaining to Clothes and Decora...
- Book 25: The Book on General Behaviour (Kitab Al-A...
- Book 26: The Book on Salutations and Greetings (Ki...
- Book 27: The Book Concerning the Use of Correct Wo...
- Book 28: The Book of Poetry (Kitab Al-Sh`ir)
- Book 29: The Book of Vision (Kitab Al-Ruya)
- Book 30: The Book Pertaining to the Excellent Qual...
- Book 31: The Book Pertaining to the Merits of the ...
- Book 32: The Book of Virtue, Good Manners and Join...
- Book 33: The Book of Destiny (Kitab-ul-Qadr)
- Book 34: The Book of Knowledge (Kitab Al-`Ilm)
- Book 35: The Book Pertaining to the Remembrance of...
- Book 36: The Book of Heart-Melting Traditions (Kit...
- Book 37: The Book Pertaining to Repentance and Exh...
- Book 38: Pertaining To The Charateristics Of The H...
- Book 39: The Book Giving Description of the Day of...
- Book 40: The Book Pertaining to Paradise, Its Desc...
- Book 41: The Book Pertaining to the Turmoil and Po...
- Book 42: The Book Pertaining to Piety and Softenin...
- Book 43: The Book of Commentary (Kitab Al-Tafsir)