Editing Sahih Muslim (section)

== Development ==
According to [[Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi]], Muslim began writing the Sahih for Ahmad ibn Salamah an-Naysaburi.<ref>{{Cite book |last=al-Baghdadi |first=Abu Bakr |title=Tārīkh Baghdād |publisher=Dar al-Gharb al-Islami |pages=302 |language=ar |author-link=Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi}}</ref> He was also compelled to write the Sahih for what he observed to be the poor character of his contemporary [[Hadith studies|hadith scholars]], and their lack of reluctance to spread ''[[Hadith terminology#%E1%B8%8Ca%CA%BB%C4%ABf|daʻīf]]'' (weak) narrations.<ref>{{Cite book |last=at-Tawaliba |first=Muhammad Abdurrahman |title=Al Imām Muslim wa Manhajuhu fī as-Sahīh |publisher=Dar Emaar |pages=104 |language=ar}}</ref> Muslim collected 12,000 narrations and chose 4,000 to be included in his book.<ref name=":1"/>

He divided narrators of hadith into three tiers based on their memory and character:<ref name=":1" />

* those who possessed authentic memory and were of perfect character, honest and trustworthy.
* those of slightly weaker memory and perfection, trustworthy, knowledgeable and honest.
* those whose honesty was disputed or was a subject of discussion.

Muslim did not include hadith which were narrated by those who belonged to the last tier. Moreover, Muslim only recorded hadith that were narrated to him by an unbroken ''[[Hadith studies|isnad]]'' (chain) of narrators through two reliable ''[[tabi'un]]'', each of which had to be narrated through two [[Companions of the Prophet|companions]] of [[Muhammad]].<ref name=":1" />