al-Mawārīth fī al-Dalālah ʿalā Mawāḍiʿ al-Ḥadīth by Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī, for this work quotes the opening words of the report, lists which of the compilers of the Six Books have recorded it—together with Imam Mālik in the Muwaṭṭaʾ—and even states the author’s own teacher for that narration.

A further way to locate a ḥadīth in the Six Books is to know one or two of its key words and consult al-Muʿjam al-Mufahras li-Alfāẓ al-Ḥadīth al-Nabawī. This index is built on the Six Books, the Muwaṭṭaʾ, Sunan al-Dārimī, and the Musnad of Imam Aḥmad. One searches for the desired word; if the ḥadīth is present in those sources, the index indicates its whereabouts by citing the name of the book and the chapter number—except in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and the Muwaṭṭaʾ of Imam Mālik, where it gives the book title and the ḥadīth number, and in the Musnad of Imam Aḥmad, where the reference is to the volume and page of the standard six-volume edition.