and Abū Yazīd al-Bistāmī, one of the leading Sufi masters (1); ʿAlī ibn Ishkāb (2) and his brother Muḥammad (3); and Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj, the author of the Ṣaḥīḥ—may Allah Most High have mercy on them all.
Here follows a brief account of Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj (4), presented in summary form—may Allah have mercy on him and honor his resting place:
Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj ibn Muslim, Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Qushayrī al-Naysābūrī, was one of the eminent imams among the ḥuffāẓ of ḥadith. He is the author of the Ṣaḥīḥ, which, according to most scholars, ranks directly after the Ṣaḥīḥ of al-Bukhārī.
The scholars of the Maghreb, together with Abū ʿAlī al-Naysābūrī—the teacher of al-Ḥākim al-Naysābūrī from among the easterners—preferred Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim to Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. If what they mean by this preference is that Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim contains almost no muʿallaqāt (suspended chains) except for a very few, and that Muslim records each ḥadith in its entirety in one place without breaking it up the way al-Bukhārī does across different chapters, then such an advantage is not comparable to the superior strength of al-Bukhārī’s isnāds and to his policy in the Ṣaḥīḥ (5) of including only those narrations in which the transmitter was a contemporary of his shaykh and had, in general, actually heard from him. Muslim, for his part, does not stipulate this second condition in his book, as is well established in the sciences of ḥadith (6). I have explained this in detail at the beginning of my commentary on al-Bukhārī, in the biography of Imām al-Bukhārī—may Allah have mercy on him; and all praise and bounty belong to Allah.
(1) Taifur ibn ʿIsa was one of the zuhhad (ascetics), noted for his shtahat (ecstatic utterances). He bore the nisba al-Bustami after Bustam, a town between Khurasan and Iraq where he was originally from and where he died. He related many reports and used to say: “If you see someone granted so many karamat (miracles) that he seems to levitate, do not be deceived until you observe his stance on command and prohibition and his adherence to the shariʿah.” His followers are known as Taifuriyya or Bustamiyya. References: Hilyat al-Awliya (vol. 10, p. 33); Sifa al-Safwa (vol. 4, p. 107); al-Ibar (vol. 2, p. 29); Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubala (vol. 13, p. 86).
(2) Abu al-Hasan was a distinguished, exacting muhaddith (hadith scholar). He enjoyed a long life and attracted numerous students. al-Nasaʾi and others regarded him as reliable. He died at about eighty. Source: Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubala (vol. 12, p. 352).
(3) Muhammad ibn Ishkab (Abu Jaʿfar), brother of ʿAli ibn Ishkab, was the younger sibling and possessed superior memorization. He was an imam, a hafiz, trustworthy, and truthful. Source: Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubala (vol. 12, p. 352).
(4) His biography appears in: Tarikh Baghdad (vol. 13, p. 100); Tabaqat al-Hanabila (vol. 1, p. 337); Wafayat al-Aʿyan (vol. 5, p. 194); Tadhkirat al-Huffaz (vol. 2, p. 588); al-Ibar (vol. 2, p. 23); Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubala (vol. 12, p. 557); Shadharat al-Dhahab (vol. 2, p. 144).
(5) In the B edition: tas-hih (“correction”).
(6) Imam al-Nawawi states in the introduction to his Sharh (Commentary) on Sahih Muslim (p. 14): The scholars (may Allah be pleased with them) agreed that after the Glorious Qur’an the two most authentic books are the Sahihs of al-Bukhari and Muslim, which the ummah received with acceptance. Of the two, al-Bukhari’s collection is the most authentic and encompasses the greatest number of benefits and knowledges, both apparent and esoteric. It is established that Muslim benefited from al-Bukhari and acknowledged that none equaled him in the science of hadith. This preference for al-Bukhari’s work is the chosen view.