Hadith is the great wealth of Islamic literature. This is the collection of pearls of wisdom from orations and actions of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).

There are hundreds of companions of the Prophet who preserved this knowledge through oral transmission. Later tens of scholars spent their lives in searching, recording and refining this treasure. There are more than 14 famous compilations of Hadith out of which six books called Al-Sihah Al-Sittah are on the top of authenticity and popularity. These are: Jame Al Sahih by Imam Bukhari, covering 7274 Hadiths; Jame Al Sahih by Imam Muslim covering 7190 Hadiths; Sunan Abi Dawood by Sulaiman bin Ash'ath covering 4,800 Hadiths; Sunan Abi Majah by Ibn Maajah Rubaii covering 4,000 Hadiths; Jame Al Tirmizi by Abu Eisa Tirmizi and Sunan Al Nasaii by Ahmad bin Shoeb.

Muhammad ibn Idris ibn al-`Abbas, al-Imam al-Shafi`i, Abu `Abd Allah al-Shafi`i al-Hijazi al-Qurashi al-Hashimi al-Muttalibi (d. 204), the offspring of the House of the Prophet, the peerless one of the great mujtahid imams and jurisprudent par excellence, the scrupulously pious ascetic and Friend of Allah, he laid down the foundations of fiqh in his Risala, which he said he revised and re-read four hundred times, then said: "Only Allah’s Book is perfect and free from error."

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "When a person dies, the opportunity of gaining more reward ends with his death except for three things: A continuous charity; knowledge by which people derive benefit and a pious son who prays to Allah for the deceased."(Muslim).

Imam Abu Hurairah stands high on this position.

 Al-Hasan ibn Abi ‘l Hasan al-Basri was born at Medina in 21 (642), the son of a slave captured in Maisan who afterwards became a client of the Prophet Mohammad’s secretary Zaid ibn Thabet. Brought up in Basra, he met many Companions of the Prophet including, it is said, seventy of those who fought at the Battle of Badr. He grew up to become one of the most prominent figures of his generation, being famous for his uncompromising piety and outspoken condemnation of worldliness in high places.

Abu Yazid Taifur ibn ‘Isa ibn Sorushan al-Bestami was born in Bestam in north-eastern Persia, the grandson of a Zoroastrian; there he died in 261(874) or 264(877), and his mausoleum still stands. The founder of the ecstatic (“drunken”) school of Sufism, he is famous for the boldness of his expression of the mystic’s complete absorption into the Godhead. In particular his description of a journey into Heaven (in imitation of the Prophet Mohammad’s “ascension”), greatly elaborated by later writers, exercised a powerful influence on the imagination of all who came after him.

 Abu Eshaq Ebrahim ibn Adham

Abu Eshaq Ebrahim ibn Adham, born in Balkh of pure Arab descent, is described in Sufi legend as a prince who renounced his kingdom (somewhat after the fashion of the Buddha) and wandered westwards to live a life of complete asceticism, earning his bread in Syria by honest manual toil until his death in c. 165 (782). Some accounts state that he was killed on a naval expedition against Byzantium. The story of his conversion is a classic of Muslim hagiography.

The legend of Ebrahim ibn Adham

The most controversial figure in the history of Islamic mysticism.

 Abu ‘l-Moghith al-Hosain ibn Mansur al-Hallaj was born C. 244 (858) near al-Baiza’ in the province of Fars. He travelled very widely, first to Tostar and Baghdad, then to Mecca, and afterwards to Khuzestan, Khorasan, Transoxiana, Sistan, India and Turkestan. Eventually he returned to Baghdad, where his bold preaching of union with God caused him to be arrested on a charge of incarnationism.

He was condemned to death and cruelly executed on 29 Dhu ‘l-Qa’da 309 (28 March 9I3). Author of a number of books and a considerable volume of poetry, he passed into Muslim legend as the prototype of the intoxicated lover of God.