Imaam Al-Bukhari (rahmatullahi alaih) said, ‘I have memorized one hundred thousand authentic ahadith.' [Tazkiratul Huffaz – vol.2 pg.556]

Interestingly, he only included nine thousand and eighty two of them (including repetitions) in his Al-Saheeh (Refer: Hadyu Saari, pg.653)

‘’Imam Al-Ismaeeli (rahmatullahi alaih) has quoted Imam Al-Bukhari (rahmatullahi alaih) as saying: ‘’I have only included saheeh (authentic) ahadeeth in this book (i.e. Saheeh Al-Bukhari) However, the amount of saheeh ahadeeth that are not included in it are much more.’’ [Hadyu Saari pg.9]

Imaam Ibrahim ibn Ma’qal Al-Nasafi (rahmatullahi alaih) reports that Imaam Bukhari (rahmatullahi alaih) said ‘’I have only quoted authentic ahadith in my book. Furthermore, I excluded many other authentic narrations for the fear of monotony.’’
[ibid pg.9; Tarikh Dimashq vol.55 pg.54]

These are quotations from Imaam Al-Bukhari (rahmatullahi alaih) himself, which clearly explain the reality.

Imam Abu Bakr al Hazimi (rahmatullahi alaih) states, ‘Imam Al-Bukhari (rahmatullahi alaih) never intended to encompass every authentic narration.’ [Shurutul A-immah]

Imaam Muslim (rahmatullahi alaih) has made a similar statement in his book Sahih Muslim, “Chapter on Tashahhud”, ‘I haven’t included every single authentic narration in this book.’ i.e, there are many authentic narrations that are not included therein.

Imam Muslim (rahmatullahi alaih) is also reported to have said, ‘I haven’t ever claimed that those narrations that are excluded from my Saheeh are weak. My only claim is that the ahadeeth contained in my book are authentic.’
[Tarikh Baghdad and Al-Imaam Ibn Majah wa kitaabu Al-Sunan, pg.107]

In the fourth century; there existed a deviated sect who claimed that besides the ahadith of Sahihain, there does not exist any other authentic narration. This false accusation was the reason for which Imaam Abu Abdillah Muhammad ibn Abdillah Al-Haakim Al-Naisaburi (rahmatullahi alaih) compiled his famous work ‘Al-Mustadrak ‘alas Sahihain’’, in which he endeavored to compile those ahadith that fulfill the criteria of Sahih Al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim but where not included therein.

In his introduction, Imaam Al-Haakim (rahmatullahi alaih) says: “Neither of them (i.e. Imaam Bukhari (rahmatullahi alaih) or Imaam Muslim (rahmatullahi alaih) have stated that there exists no other authentic narrations besides what they have chose.”
[Al Mustadrak, vol.1 pg.2]

Furthermore, Hafiz Ibn Salaah (rahmatullahi alaih) and others have divided the Saheeh ahadith into seven types:

1) Those ahadith that appear in both, Sahih al Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.

2) Those ahadith that appear only in Sahih al Bukhari.

3) Those ahadith that appear only in Sahih Muslim.

4) Those ahadith that match the criteria of both, Sahih al Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.

5) Those ahadith that match the criteria of Sahih al Bukhari only.

6) Those ahadith that match the criteria of Sahih Muslim only.

7) Those that do not fit the description of any one of the above, but were classified authentic by some reliable Muhadditheen.

[Muqaddimah ibn Salaah pg.27; Tadribur Rawi pg.73 and Sarh Nukhbah pg.64]

In the light of the above, the last four types of authentic ahadith do not appear in the Sahihain. Despite that, they are still considered as authentic.

Added to this is the fact that Al-Hakim (rahmatullahi alaih) cited ten types of Saheeh ahadith, many of which are not included in the Saheehain.
[Tadribur Rawi pgs.85-86]

Lastly, the practice of all the Muhadditheen throughout time also confirms the prevalence of authentic ahadith outside of the Sahihain. Since many Muhadditheen have compiled books which, they ensured, only contained authentic narrations.

Undoubtedly many of their narrations are not found in the Sahihain.

Some of these compilations are:

a) Sahih ibn Khuzaimah (rahmatullahi alaih)
b) Sahih ibn Hibban (rahmatullahi alaih)
c) Al-Muwatta of Imam Malik (rahmatullahi alaih)
d) Al Mukhtaarah of Diyaaudeen al Maqdisi (rahmatullahi alaih) etc.

In this regard, countless Muhadditheen have classified various ahadeeth (that do not appear in Saheehain) as Saheeh. Books such as:

1) Al-Targheeb wa Tarheeb of Haafidh Al-Mundhiri (rahmatullahi alaih)
2) Riyaad us Saliheen of Imaam Al-Nawawi (rahmatullahi alaih)
3) Majma’uz Zawaaid of ‘Allamah Al-Haithami (rahmatullahi alaih) etc.
clearly substantiate this.

These five points are sufficient to prove the fallacy of the claim that there exists no Saheh ahadeeth outside of the Saheehain (Saheeh al Bukhari and Saheeh Muslim).

And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

[Muhammad Ibn Haroon]

» Posted by Seifeddine-M on 2nd December 2010

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