Criticism leveled by the ḥadīth masters against certain narrations in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and the reply to it:
Ibn Ḥajar states in the introduction to Fatḥ al-Bārī that al-Dāraqutnī and other ḥuffāẓ (hadith masters) criticized two hundred and ten narrations contained in the two Ṣaḥīḥs. Of these, thirty-two are shared by both collections; seventy-eight are found only in al-Bukhārī; and one hundred appear only in Muslim. In that same introduction, Ibn Ḥajar undertook to answer the criticisms directed at the narrations common to the two books as well as those unique to al-Bukhārī, a total of one hundred and ten narrations.

With regard to the narrations found exclusively in Muslim, al-Nawawī answered the objections in their respective places within his commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. In most instances the criticisms are unfounded and the objections do not hold. Those for which no convincing reply exists are very few indeed and amount to nothing when set beside the thousands of authentic narrations contained in his compilation.

These few criticisms, which the foremost critical scholars managed to raise—most of which are, in fact, untenable—only underscore the greatness of this blessed book, its position at the highest level of authenticity, and the lofty stature, meticulousness, and scrupulous care of its compiler. They prove that he was aided in his aim of gathering a collection that is pure and uncontaminated; for when Imām al-Dāraqutnī and others among