The six most authentic collections of Hadith by the six famous imams are together called Sihah Sittaor ‘the authentic six’. First among
them is Muhammad bin Ismail al-Bukhari, the author of Sahih Bukhari. He was born on July 19, 810 at Bukhara in Central Asia and died on August 31, 870 at a place known as Khartank, near Samarkhand.
Next among them is Muslim bin Hajjah al-Nishapuri who was born in Nishapur in Iran, in 206 AH/821 CE and died in the same city in 261 AH or 874 CE. His Sahih Muslim is second in authenticity, next to that of Bukhari.
Abu Dawood, Sulaiman bin Al-Ash’ath bin Ishaq Al-Azdi As-Sijistani, who was one of the eminent Imam of Hadeeth, was born in 202 AH. He was a Persian but of Arab descent. He died at Basra on Friday in the month of Shawwal 275 H or 888/9 CE.
Imaam Tirmizi was born in the year 209 AH during the reign of the Abbasid Khalifa Mamoon al Rasheed. He died in the year 279 AH in a village called Bawag at the ripe age of 70. Fifth in line of these compilers is Abu Abd al-Rahman Ahmad ibn Shu’ayb al-Nasa’i. He was
born in Nasa in Nishapur region in 215 AH. He died in Makkah and was buried in a place between the Safa and Marwah. The year of his death was 303 AH.
Sixth of the compilers is Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah al-Rab’i al-Qazwini, commonly known as Imam Ibn Majah who was born in Qazwin in Persia in 209 AH or 824 CE. He was a hafiz of hadith and the author of Kitab as-Sunnah, one of the six most authentic collections of ahadith. He died on 22 Ramadan 273 AH or 887 CE in Qazwin. He is the author of a famous collection of
Hadith Sunan Ibn Majah. Curiously, all these six compilers were Persian. In case you are computer and Internet-user, this information could be just at your fingertips. You can log on to Google and type on Sihah sitta or six compilation of Hadith.