The four most well-known Sunnan and their characteristics

Sunnan are Hadith collections recognizable by Hadiths classified according to the Shari’ah legal issues. Actually, they represent a fortunate synthesis of Hadith and Shari’ah law, so they have been especially useful for Shari’ah lawyers in making decisions according to legal principles of Shari’ah. These Hadith collections were the characteristic of the third Hijrah century, but in the course of time Tirmiziy’s, Ebu Dawud’s, Nesaiya’s and Ibn Majj’s Sunnan stood apart and, together with Bukhari’s and Muslim’s Sahih and became the most well-known and read Hadith collections in general. Each of the four famous collections has its specific characteristics. Tirmiziy’s Sunnan are characteristic for the evaluation of every Hadith; Ebu Dawud’s Sunnan give almost all Hadiths in the field of Shari’ah law; Nesaiya’s Sunnan are characteristic for the least number of weak Hadiths and Ibn Majj’s Sunnan are characteristic for 1 339 Hadiths mentioned by none of the six authors of the most famous Hadith collections – El-Kutubu-s-sitte.