vast number of manifestly false Traditions becoming current; so
men set themselves to the work of collecting and sifting the great mass of
Tradition that in the second century of Islam had begun to work untold
evil. These men are called "Muhadisin," or "collectors of Tradition." The
Sunnis and the Wahhabis recognise six such men, and their collections are
known as the "Sihah-Sittah," or six correct books. They are the
following:--

(1). The _Sahih-i-Bukhari_, called after Abu Abdullah Muhammad
Ibn-i-Isma'il, a native of Bukhara. He was born A.H. 194. He was a man of
middle height, spare in frame, and as a boy totally blind. The grief of his
father was on this account intense; but one day in a dream he saw the
Patriarch Abraham, who said to him: "God on account of thy grief and sorrow
has granted sight to thy son." The sight being thus restored, at the age of
ten he went to school, and began to learn the Traditions by heart. After
his education was finished, a famous Muhadis named Dakhli came to Bukhara.
One day the youthful Bukhari ventured to correct the famous man. It was an
astounding piece of audacity, but the youth was proved to be in the right.
This set him on the work of collecting and sifting the Traditions. At the
early age of sixteen he was able to remember fifteen thousand. In course of
time he collected 600,000 Traditions. The result of his examination and
selection was that he approved of seven thousand two hundred and
seventy-five. These are now recorded in his great work, the
Sahih-i-Bukhari. It {68} is said that he never sat down to examine a
Tradition without first performing a legal ablution, and repeating two
rak'at prayers. He then said: "O Lord, let me not make a mistake." For
sixteen years he lived in a mosque and died much respected at the age of
sixty-four.

(2). _Sahih-i-Muslim._ Muslim Ibn-i-Hajjaj was born at Nishapur, a city of
Khorasan. He collected about 300,000 Traditions, from which he made his
collection. He is said to have been a very just man, and willing to oblige
all who sought his advice. In fact, this willingness to oblige was the
indirect cause of his death. One day he was sitting as usual in the mosque
when some people came to ask him about a Tradition. As he could not
discover it in the books he had with him, he went to his house to search
there. The people brought him a basket of dates. He went on eating and
searching, but unfortunately he ate so many dates that he died. (A.H.