The Four Sunan Collections: Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasai, and Ibn Majah

The Four Sunan

After the two Sahihs, the most important hadith collections are four works known as the Sunan: the Sunan of Abu Dawud, the Sunan of al-Tirmidhi, the Sunan of al-Nasa'i, and the Sunan of Ibn Majah. Together with the two Sahihs, they form the Kutub al-Sittah — the Six Books — which are the canonical reference point for hadith scholarship in the Sunni tradition.

Sunan Abi Dawud

Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ash'ath al-Azdi (d. 275 AH) of Sijistan was a leading student of Imam Ahmad. His Sunan is explicitly a fiqh collection — he focused on narrations relevant to Islamic law and reportedly selected 4,800 hadiths from 500,000 examined. Abu Dawud himself noted in a letter to the people of Makkah that he only remained silent about a hadith when he found no stronger narration on the topic, and that his weak hadiths were superior to scholars' opinions. His Sunan is the primary reference for the Hanbali, Shafi'i, and Maliki schools in many legal questions.

Sunan al-Tirmidhi

Muhammad ibn Isa al-Tirmidhi (d. 279 AH) studied under Abu Dawud and al-Bukhari. His Sunan — also called Al-Jami' — is unique in that he grades virtually every hadith he includes and regularly records the opinions of legal scholars on each topic. This makes it an invaluable reference not only for hadith but for comparative fiqh. Al-Tirmidhi invented or systematized the grade of hasan, making his work foundational for hadith grading terminology.

Sunan al-Nasa'i

Ahmad ibn Shu'ayb al-Nasa'i (d. 303 AH) is considered by many scholars to have the strictest conditions of the four Sunan authors. His larger work, Al-Sunan al-Kubra, was condensed into Al-Sunan al-Sughra (also called Al-Mujtaba), which is the version commonly studied. Al-Nasa'i was particularly expert in identifying narrator defects and was notably cautious about narrators whom other scholars had passed.

Sunan Ibn Majah

Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah al-Qazwini (d. 273 AH) compiled the sixth book of the canonical Six. Some early scholars placed al-Darimi's Sunan in its position, but Ibn Majah's collection was later established in the canon. His Sunan contains around 4,341 hadiths, a significant portion of which are not found in the other five books. This makes it valuable but also means it contains more weak and even problematic narrations than the others. Scholars such as al-Busiri catalogued the unique narrations in Ibn Majah and assessed their grades in his Misbah al-Zujajah.

Using the Four Sunan Together

Legal scholars typically consult the Six Books as a unit. When a hadith is found in all six, or in five of them, its strength is reinforced. When found only in Ibn Majah, additional scrutiny is applied. The four Sunan collectively contain a much wider range of legal topics than the two Sahihs and are indispensable for any serious engagement with fiqh derived from hadith.