Al-Nawawī writes in the introduction to his commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: “Whoever studies Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim with a discerning eye and observes what its author has placed in its chains of transmission, its arrangement, the beauty of its flow, and the remarkable artistry of his method—from the priceless gems of verification and the brilliant jewels of precision, to the varieties of scrupulous piety, caution, exactitude in narration, the way he summarizes and abridges the routes of transmission, connects what is scattered, expands what is widespread, the breadth of his learning and the vastness of what he transmitted, along with the many other manifest and subtle virtues, marvels, and fine points—will know that he is an Imam whom those far removed from his age cannot overtake, and that few equal him; indeed, scarcely anyone of his own time or era even approaches him. That is the grace of Allah; He bestows it upon whom He wills, and Allah is the Lord of boundless favor.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar says in Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb: “I maintain that Muslim gained through his book an extraordinarily great share of distinction that no one else has matched. Some people even preferred it to the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl because of the special qualities it enjoys: gathering multiple chains, the excellence of its narrative flow, and his careful preservation of the exact wording without fragmentation or paraphrasing. A number of scholars from Nīshāpūr tried to follow his pattern, yet none reached his rank. I have recorded more than twenty imams who produced a mustakhraj on Muslim. Glory be to the Bestower, the All-Giving.”