or paraphrasing, while scrupulously preserving the transmitters’ exact wording, identifying whose very words they are, and noting who among them used the formula “ḥaddathanā” (“he narrated to us”) and who used “akhbarnā” (“he informed us”).

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar, in his biographical notice on Imam Muslim in Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, praised the meticulous care with which he compiled his Ṣaḥīḥ, saying:

“I say: Muslim attained in his book an exceedingly great distinction that no one else achieved. Some people even preferred it to the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl, because of its unique features: assembling the variant chains, the excellence of its narrative flow, and his steadfast preservation of the wording exactly as it is, without fragmentation or paraphrase. A number of scholars from Nīshāpūr followed his path, yet none reached his rank; I have counted more than twenty eminent imams who produced a mustakhraj on Muslim. Glory be to the One who bestows and grants.”

And Shaykh Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī—may Allah have mercy on him—