The Hadiths of the Four Collections

Within these four collections one finds several classes of reports—sound, fair, and weak. Their being jointly referred to as “the Six Sound Collections” is simply a conventional shorthand based on predominance (taghlīb).

Al-Baghawi’s Terminology

The compiler of al-Maṣābīḥ called every report that is not recorded by the two Shaykhs (al-Bukhārī and Muslim) “fair” (ḥasan). This usage is close to the explanation just given and to the word’s basic linguistic meaning, although it may equally constitute a new technical term introduced by him.