ALL THE PRAISE IS TO ALLAH AND MAY THE PEACE AND BLESSINGS BE UPON THE BELOVED PROPHET MUHAMMAD

[SALLALAHU ALAIHI WAS SALLAM] Hadith is the sayings or statements , actions,approvals and characteristics of the prophet[sallallahu alaihi wassalam] ALLAH SAYS IN THE QURAN: O YOU WHO BELIEVE ! OBEY ALLAH AND OBEY THE MESSENGER [MUHAMMAD (SALLALLAHU ALAIHI WASSALLAM)+ surah nisa verse -59
THE HISTORY OF THE COMPILATION OF THE HADITHS

ERA OF THE PROPHET[SALLALAHU ALAHI WASSALLAM] During this era recording of the hadiths was not needed as the prophet[sallahu alaihi wassallam] was with them to consult any matter in the religion. However there were some authentic narration that proves that hadith were recorded in writing on the other side there are some narrations which proves writing was not allowed at this era As a conclusion we can know that compilation started during this era itself.
ERA OF THECOMPANIONS OF THE PROPHET [SALLALAHU ALAIHI WASSALLAM]

After the death of the prophet [sallallahu alaihi wassallam] hadiths took more importance as he [sallallahu alaihi wassallam] was no more there for consultation
ERA OF THE TABIOON

After Islam had spread into other countries the recording of the hadiths became widespread due to : Emergence of innovations and false hood Death of many companions who memorized hadiths by heart

Weakness of ability of memorization In this era the hadith was compiled comprehensively by imam as zuhri
ERA OF THE TABA TABIOON

This era is known as ERA OF FOUNDING SCIENCES OF HADITHS In this era scholars wrote down the saying and legal opinions of companions and tabieen along with the hadith a planned organized compilation of hadith while in the past century it was not .Different kinds of topic was introduced such as musnad musannaf
Compilation of the hadith in 3 rd century

This era is considered in the history of the compilation of hadith as a GOLDEN CENTURY in this era they wrote down only the hadith of the prophet*sallahu alaihi wassallam] without mixing it up with the legal opinions of companions and tabieen and mentioned the authenticity of the hadiths . new methods such as saheeh and sunan were introduced along with the old methods. In this era six books of hadiths were introduced.

Earliest collections of the hadith

During the era of the prophet [sallalahu alaihi wassallam] Saheefah sadiqah by Abdullah bin amr bin ass Saheefah of ali bin abu talib e.t.c; During the era of the shahabas Saheefa saheeha of abu hurairah Saheefah of anas bin malik e.t.c; During the era of the tabioon Saheefah of sayeed bin jubair Saheefah of basheer bin nuhaik e.t.c;

During the era of taba tabioon Muatta by imam malik bin anas Musnad by abi dawood tayalasi e.t.c; During the third century Musnad by ahmad bin hanbal As saheeh by imam bukhari e.t.c;
The main musnad and musannaf collections

Musnad by abi dawood tayalasi (204) Musnad by abu bakr ibne abi shaibah(235) Musnad by ahmad bin hanbal(241) Musannaf by abu bakr ibne abi shaibah Musannaf by abdur razzaq as sanaani(211)
The main compilers and their activities

Mohammed bin muslim ibne shihab al zuhri [123,124,125] is considered as the first compiler of the hadith even though there were other compilers before him he was the first one to record the biographies of narrator with particular reference to their character and honesty. He was the first one to compile the hadith comprehensively. Imam malik bin anas [179] he is very famous for his work of muatta which is classified and chapterised according to the topics Ahmad bin hanbal [241] well known for his work on musnad in which hadiths are arranged according to the name of the companions Imam bukhari[256] and imam muslim[261] whose work on saheeh were considered as most authentic and special work on hadiths.

Imam abu dawood[275] , imam tirmidhi[279],imam an nisai[303],imam ibne majah[273] these were the compilers of four sunans and e.t.c;
Hadith can be classified in to four categories according to the reliability of narrators: 1 .saheeh 2.Hasan 3.dhaif 4.maudoo

A hadith to be saheeh should fulfill five conditions: a. Continuity of the chain of narrators b. All of its narrators should be trustworthy, muslim, reached the age of maturity, sane, must not be an open sinner and does not have bad manners and habits. c. All of its narrator must be precise in memorizing and in writing d. He should be free of irregularities e. And free of defect. A hadith is considered hasan if it fulfills all the requirements of saheeh except the precision A hadith is considered dhaif if it does not fulfill the one or more of the five condition of saheeh A hadit which is maudoo is a lie, invented and attributed to the prophet [sallahu alaihi wassallam]
Saheeh hadith should be accepted in the matters of creed and law unless it is not abrogated. A saheeh hadith can be superseded only by a another saheeh hadith. Hasan hadith should not be rejected unless it is abrogated or superseded by a saheeh hadith. Scholars differed regarding the usage hadith dhaif however majority of the scholar permitted its application for meritorious deeds not pertaining to theology of legal rulings if three conditions are met: a. The hadith must not be excessively weak b. It must fall under some thing which is already established in shariah c. One does not suppose that by its application its strength is established. Maudoo hadith is totally rejected it cannot be accepted at any cause.

THE MAIN FEATURES OF SIX SUNNI BOOKS 1. AS SAHIH AL BUKHARI BY IMAM BUKHARI [194A.H.-256A.H]

it is considered the most authentic book after the Qur'an

MOTIVATION TO WRITE BUKHARI

Bukhari states, "There was once a time during one of our sessions when my teacher Ishaaq Ibn Rahway remarked it would be appreciated if someone could collect ahadith which held strong and reliable testimonials and write them in the form of a book." This inspired Bukhari which was later strengthened by a dream in which Bukhari met the Prophet (SAW). Upon waking, he visited several interpreters for an appropriate interpretation. They all answered that it meant he would in future cleanse the Prophet (SAW) of all lies spoken by the people through narrating misunderstood ahadith. This gave Bukhari great comfort and strength once he started the writing of his book Al-Jame-ul-Sahih. The complete name of the book is Al-Jame-ul-Sahih-al-Musnad-min-ahaadeethe-Rasulillah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam-wa-sunanihi-wa-Ayyaamihi, which means a collected version of ahadith in the form of a book which relates to us the sayings, actions and the life of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam (SAW).

Sahih al-Bukhari is the work of over 16 years by Bukhari, who before writing any Hadith in this book performed ablution and two units of prayer asking guidance from Allah. It is said that al-Bukhari collected over 300,000 hadith and included only 2,602 traditions in his Sahih 2.AS SAHIH AL MUSLIM BY IMAM MUSLIM[204A.H.-261A.H] Sahih Muslim (Arabic: , a Muslim, full title Al-Musnadu Al-Sahihu bi Naklil Adli) is second of the Six major collections of the hadith in Sunni Islam It contains 4000 hadiths 3.Sunan al-Sughra, collected by al-Nasa'i[215A.H.-303A.H] Sunnis regard this collection as third in strength of their Six major Hadith collections [1]. it has about 5270 hadith, including repeated narrations, which the author selected from his larger work, As-Sunan al-Kubra. 4. Sunan Abu Dawood, collected by Abu Dawood[202A.H.-275A.H.]

Abu Dawood collected 500,000 hadith, but included only 4,800 in this collection. Sunnis regard this collection as fourth in strength of their Six major Hadith collections 5. Jami al-Tirmidhi, collected by al-Tirmidhi[209A.H.-270A.H] "The Jaami' of al-Tirmithi is also named The Sunan, Sunnis regard this collection as fifth in strength of their Six major Hadith collections. 6. Sunan ibn Majah, collected by Ibn Majah[207A.H.-273A.H.] It contains over 4,000 hadith in 32 books divided into 1,500 chapters. Sunni regard this collection as sixth in strength of their Six major Hadith collections