The authors

194–256 AH

Al-Bukhārī

محمد بن إسماعيل البخاري

Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī came from Bukhara. He travelled to centres of learning to collect prophetic traditions from their transmitters. His work paid particular attention to chains of transmission and the reliability of narrators.

206–261 AH

Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj

مسلم بن الحجاج النيسابوري

Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj was a scholar from Nishapur. He travelled through Arabia, Iraq, Syria and Egypt to study hadith. He met al-Bukhari and paid close attention to the precise wording of transmitted reports.

202–275 AH

Abū Dāwūd

سليمان بن الأشعث السجستاني

Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʿath, known as Abu Dawud, came from Sijistan. He studied with Ahmad ibn Hanbal. His travels and research brought together the study of hadith and Islamic law.

209–279 AH

At-Tirmidhī

محمد بن عيسى الترمذي

Abū ʿĪsā Muhammad ibn ʿĪsā at-Tirmidhī devoted himself to studying and transmitting hadith. Al-Bukhari was among his teachers, and he travelled to meet scholars of his time.

214–303 AH

An-Nasāʾī

أحمد بن شعيب النسائي

Ahmad ibn Shuʿayb an-Nasa’i was born in Nasa, in Khurasan. He travelled in search of knowledge before settling in Egypt, where he taught hadith to many students.

209–273 AH

Ibn Mājah

محمد بن يزيد القزويني

Muhammad ibn Yazīd Ibn Majah came from Qazvin. After studying in his hometown, he travelled to Iraq, the Hijaz, Egypt and Syria to learn from hadith scholars.

Al-Khaṭīb al-Tabrīzī

محمد بن عبد الله الخطيب التبريزي

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Khaṭīb al-Tabrīzī was a transmitter and compiler whose life remains sparsely documented. His name connects him with Tabriz, and his work belongs to the eighth century AH.

773–852 AH

Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī

أحمد بن علي بن حجر العسقلاني

Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī was born in Cairo in 773 AH. He became one of the leading hadith scholars of his age, taught, served as a judge and wrote numerous works. He died in 852 AH.