The Five Categories of Abundant Hadith Narrators (Mukthirun)

First Category:

Those who possess both strong accuracy (itqan) and long companionship (mulazamah) with their teacher. They remained with their teacher for extended periods, both during travel and at home, and had exceptional precision in narration.

Among Imam al-Zuhri’s students, examples include: Yunus ibn Yazid al-Ayli, ‘Aqil ibn Khalid al-Ayli, Imam Malik ibn Anas al-Asbahi, Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah, and Shu‘ayb ibn Abi Hamzah. These students of al-Zuhri were both highly accurate and closely associated with him.

Second Category:

Those with strong accuracy and precision but with less companionship with the teacher. They did not remain long with their teacher.

Examples from Imam al-Zuhri’s students: Abu ‘Amr ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Amr al-Awza‘i (al-Shami), Layth ibn Sa‘d (al-Misri), ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Khalid ibn Musafir, and Ibn Abi Dhi’b. These students had high accuracy but less time with al-Zuhri.

Third Category:

Those who had less accuracy but longer companionship with their teacher.

Examples among Imam al-Zuhri’s students: Ja‘far ibn Burqan, Sufyan ibn Husayn, and Ishaq ibn Yahya al-Kalbi. They spent a long time with al-Zuhri but lacked strong precision.

Fourth Category:

Those with both low accuracy and short companionship.

Examples: Zam‘ah ibn Salih, Mu‘awiyah ibn Yahya al-Sadafi, and Mathna ibn Sabah. They neither had strong precision nor long-term companionship with al-Zuhri.

Fifth Category:

Those with low accuracy, little companionship, and also subject to criticism (jarh).

Examples: ‘Abd al-Quddus ibn Habib and Muhammad ibn Sa‘id al-Maslub. They are weak narrators, had little companionship, and were criticized—some even labeled them liars.

For example, in **Sunan Abi Dawud**, there's a hadith from Mu‘adh ibn Jabal (Radiyallahu ‘anhu) in which the Prophet ﷺ, while appointing Mu‘adh as a governor, asked: “O Mu‘adh! How will you judge?” He replied: “According to the Book of Allah.” The Prophet ﷺ asked: “And if you do not find it there?” Mu‘adh said: “Then by the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” The Prophet ﷺ asked: “And if not in the Sunnah?” Mu‘adh replied: “Then I will exert my reasoning (ijtihad).” (Sunan Abi Dawud: 3592)

This hadith contains unknown narrators (majhool). A similar version exists in **Ibn Majah** (Hadith No. 55).

Hafiz Ibn al-Qayyim mentions that the version in Ibn Majah is authentic according to Abu Dawud, and Hafiz Ibn Kathir even deemed it strong. However, this is not correct because **Muhammad ibn Sa‘id al-Maslub** appears in the isnad of Ibn Majah, who is a weak narrator.

Application of the Categories in Hadith Compilation

Just as there are five categories among the students of Imam al-Zuhri, the same classification applies to the students of all mukthirun (narrators with many ahadith).

**Imam al-Bukhari** only includes narrations from the **first category** in his book. Narrators in this category appear in both the core chain (usul) and other places in the book. From the **second category**, Imam Bukhari selectively chooses hadiths and avoids placing them in the core chains. Instead, he includes them in supporting narrations (shawahid and mutaba‘at).

**Imam Muslim** includes narrations from both the **first and second categories** in full and selectively includes from the **third category**.

This indicates that in terms of hadith authenticity, **Sahih al-Bukhari is superior to Sahih Muslim**.

**Imam Abu Dawud** includes narrations from the **first**, **second**, **third**, and **fourth categories**. **Imam al-Tirmidhi** includes even those from the **fifth category**.

Imam al-Hakim's View and Clarification

Imam al-Hakim claimed that Imam Bukhari only accepted “aziz” (narrated by at least two) hadiths and avoided “gharib” (single-chain) narrations. But this claim is incorrect.

The **first and last hadith** in Sahih al-Bukhari are both gharib. In fact, several gharib hadiths appear in the middle as well. Thus, avoiding gharib narrations is not part of Imam Bukhari's condition.

Regarding Non-Mukthirun Narrators

The method of the two Imams (Bukhari and Muslim) regarding **non-mukthirun** (those with few narrations) is that they examine the narrator’s reliability (thiqqah), justice (‘adala), and frequency of mistakes.

If a narrator is deemed highly trustworthy, their unique (mutafarrid) narrations are accepted. If not, only those narrations are accepted in which others also share the chain with them.