The Six major Hadith collections are the works of some individuals Islamic scholars who by their own initiative started collecting sayings that people attributed to Muhammad approximately 200 years after his death. Islamic scholars are Muslim and non-Muslim scholars who work in one or more fields of Islamic studies. ...

Incidentally, all the collectors of these ahadith were Iranian — none of them was Arab. [1] [2] The Arabs (Arabic: عرب Ê»arab) are a large and heterogeneous ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa, originating in the Arabian Peninsula of southwest Asia. ...

Muslim view

Sunni view

Sunni Muslims view the Six major Hadith collections as their most improtant, refering to them as the "Six Authentic" (Arabic: "sihah sitah"). Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ...

The "Six Authentic" are, in order of strength [3]:

1. Sahih Bukhari, collected by al-Bukhari (d. 870), included 7275 hadiths
2. Sahih Muslim, collected by Muslim b. al-Hajjaj (d. 875), included 9200
3. Sunan al-Sughra, collected by al-Nasa'i (d. 915)
4. Sunan Abi Da'ud, collected by Abu Da'ud (d. 888)
5. Sunan al-Tirmidhi, collected by al-Tirmidhi (d. 892)
6. Sunan Ibn Maja, collected by Ibn Maja (d. 886).

The two first are refered to as the Two Sahihs. Sahih Bukhari is one of the Sunni Six Major Hadith collections, collected by Muhammad al-Bukhari who spent 16 years writing it. ... Muhammad Ibn Ismail Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Mughirah Ibn Bardizbah al-Bukhari محمد بن اسماعيل بن ابراهيم بن المغيرة بن بردزبه البخاري (born 810 - died 870), Arabic author of the most generally accepted collection of traditions (Hadith) from Muhammad, was born at Bokhara (Bukharä), of an Iranian family, in AH... Sahih Muslim is a collection of sayings and deeds of Prophet Muhammad (also known as the sunnah). ... Abul Husayn Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj Qushayri al-Nisaburi (Arabic: أبو الحسين مسلم بن الحجاج القشيري النيسابوري) (born 204 A.H. - 261 (or 268?) A.H/ 875), Muslim Author of the second most widely recognized collection of Hadith in Sunni Islam. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Al-Nasāī, full name Aḥmad ibn Shu`ayb ibn Alī ibn Sīnān Abū `Abd ar-Raḥmān al-Nasāī, was a noted collector of hadith (sayings of Muhammad), and wrote one of the six canonical hadith collections recognized by Sunni Muslims, al-Sunan al-ṣughrā, as well as 15... Sunan Abi Daud is the one of Sunni Islams six canonical hadith collections, compiled by Abu Daud. ... Abu Daud or Abu Dawod, full name Abu Daud Sulayman ibn Ash`ath al-Azadi al-Sijistani, was a noted collector of hadith (sayings of Muhammad), and wrote the third of the six canonical hadith collections recognized by Sunni Muslims, Sunan Abi Daud. ... Sunan al-Tirmidhi is one of the six most authentic canonical hadith collections of the Sunnis, collected by al-Tirmidhi. ... Al-Tirmidhi, full name Abu Isa Muhammad ibn Isa ibn Musa ibn al-Dahhak al-Sulami al-Tirmidhi (824-892, ie 209 AH - 13 Rajab 279 AH) was a medieval collector of hadith (sayings of Muhammad), who wrote the Sunan al-Tirmidhi, one of the six canonical hadith compilations used... Sunan Ibn Maja is the last compiled of Sunni Islams six canonical hadith collections, compiled by Ibn Maja. ... Ibn Maja, full name Abu `Abdallah Muhammad ibn Yazid Ibn Maja al-Rab`i al-Qazwini, was a medieval scholar of hadith (the sayings of Muhammad). ...

Shi'a view

Shia’s have their own collections and reject the six Sunni collections [4].