What are the four Sunan collections, and how do they complement Bukhari and Muslim?

Alongside Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, four further collections are traditionally grouped together as 'the Sunan': Sunan Abi Dawud, compiled by Abu Dawud al-Sijistani; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, by Muhammad ibn Isa al-Tirmidhi; Sunan al-Nasa'i, by Ahmad ibn Shu'ayb al-Nasa'i; and Sunan Ibn Majah, by Muhammad ibn Yazid Ibn Majah. Together with the two Sahihs, these six works make up what is known as the Kutub al-Sittah, the 'Six Books' most widely relied upon in Sunni hadith scholarship. Unlike Bukhari and Muslim, whose compilers only included hadith they judged sahih, the Sunan authors organized their books strictly by legal topic, worship, transactions, marriage, and so on, to serve as practical references for jurists, and they included a wider range of hadith, some sahih, some hasan, and some weaker ones, often noting the grading themselves or leaving it to later critics. Al-Tirmidhi in particular is known for regularly commenting on a hadith's strength within the text itself. Because of this broader scope, the four Sunan are essential for detailed questions of Islamic law that the two Sahihs do not cover as thoroughly.

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