# What are hadith and sira? > A hadith is a report of what Muhammad said or did. The sira is the biographical tradition of his life. Sunni and Shia Muslims do not treat the same hadith books as their canon. - Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/islam/what-are-hadith-and-sira - Religions: Islam - Denominations: none - Beliefs: none - Tags: islam, muhammad, hadith - Updated: 2026-10-09 - Author: [Paul Ambrose](https://apologetics.wiki/author/hi-its-paul) ([GitHub](https://github.com/hi-its-paul)) A hadith is a report of what Muhammad said or did. The sira is the biographical tradition about his life. Sunni Muslims treat Bukhari and Muslim as the most authoritative hadith collections. Shia Muslims treat four other books as their canon. The sira of Ibn Ishaq is a historical source both use. It is not a book of scripture. ## Key points - Britannica’s [hadith article](https://www.britannica.com/topic/hadith) calls the collections of al-Bukhari (died 870) and Muslim (died 875) the most authoritative Sunni collections. - With Ibn Majah, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, and al-Nasa’i, those two are the Six Books, which Britannica calls generally the most reliable hadith for Sunni Muslims. - The same article names four books Shi‘i Muslims consider most authoritative, beginning with Kitab al-Kafi of al-Kulayni. - [Encyclopaedia Iranica](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kolayni/) calls al-Kafi the oldest of those four and notes that some Imami scholars said it included forged traditions. - Ibn Ishaq’s life, in Guillaume’s translation, is the sira behind pages such as [Who was Muhammad?](/islam/who-was-muhammad). It is history, not a canon. ## Hadith A hadith reports a saying or an action. Sunni Muslims use it, with the Qur’an, to know what Muhammad required. Shafi‘i, in the account Britannica gives, raised hadith to a legal proof second only to the Qur’an. The canon was not fixed on one day. Britannica says judgments of authenticity stayed relative, and that the Six Books came to be generally considered the most reliable for Sunni Muslims. For Shi‘i Muslims, Britannica says a hadith may be a report of the Prophet or of the imams. The four books it names are Kitab al-Kafi of al-Kulayni (died 941), Kitab man la yahduruhu al-faqih of Ibn Babawayh (died 991), and Tahdhib al-ahkam and al-Istibsar, both by al-Tusi (died 1067). Nahj al-Balagha is not one of those four. Britannica calls it a selection of Ali’s sermons and letters, compiled by al-Sharif al-Radi (died 1016), and widely acclaimed among Shi‘is. [Which Muslims accept which hadith?](/islam/which-muslims-accept-which-hadith) is the label this site prints under a quotation. ## Sira The sira is the life. Watt’s [Britannica biography](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad) places that literature in the eighth and ninth centuries. Ibn Ishaq died in 767 or 768. The form we have is Ibn Hisham’s, and Ibn Hisham died in 833 or 834. al-Tabari’s history is later still. Both Sunni and Shia readers use these books to tell the life. Neither community lists them as the scripture beside the Qur’an. [Qur’an 33:21](https://quran.com/33/21) (Saheeh International) is why the life matters to Muslims: > There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allāh an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allāh and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allāh often. The pattern is argued from the reports. Which reports count is the next page. ## If you're talking with a Shia Muslim A quotation from Sahih al-Bukhari on this site is marked Sunni hadith. The siege of [Banu Qurayza](/islam/banu-qurayza), the [death](/islam/how-did-muhammad-die), and [Aisha’s age](/islam/how-old-was-aisha) use those collections. The Qur’an verses on those pages are the sentences a Shia reader and a Sunni reader share. Ibn Ishaq is marked as sira, not as either canon. ## Frequently asked questions ### Are Bukhari and Muslim in the Qur’an? No. They are later collections of reports. The Qur’an is the book both branches recite. ### Does “sound” mean every line in al-Kafi is accepted? No. Kohlberg’s Iranica article says al-Kafi is the oldest of the four canonical books of the Imami Shi‘a, that it holds over 16,000 traditions, and that some Imami scholars, including al-Sharif al-Murtada, said it included forged ones. Canonical is not the same claim as “every report is sound.” ### Where is the Christian assessment? [What do Christians believe about Muhammad?](/islam/what-do-christians-believe-about-muhammad) ## Sources Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site. 1. [Encyclopaedia Britannica, hadith, The collections](https://www.britannica.com/topic/hadith) (Al-Bukhari and Muslim as the most authoritative Sunni collections, the Six Books, and the four books Shi‘i Muslims consider most authoritative.) 2. [Encyclopaedia Iranica, Kolayni, al-Kafi](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kolayni/) (Etan Kohlberg, 2004. Al-Kafi as the oldest of the four canonical books of the Imami Shi‘a.) 3. [Encyclopaedia Britannica, Muhammad, The sources](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad) (W. Montgomery Watt. The sira literature is eighth and ninth century. Ibn Ishaq died in 767 or 768. The extant form is Ibn Hisham, who died in 833 or 834.) 4. [Qur’an, 33:21](https://quran.com/33/21) (Saheeh International.) ## See also - [How Old Was Aisha When She Married Muhammad?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/how-old-was-aisha) — In Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, Aisha says she was married at six and that the marriage was consummated at nine. Those reports also say she remained with him nine years, until his death at sixty-three. - [Which Muslims accept which hadith?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/which-muslims-accept-which-hadith) — Muslims share the Qur’an. Sunni Muslims add the Six Books. Shia Muslims add the Four Books. A reader who accepts only the Qur’an does not treat hadith as scripture. The sira is history, not a canon. - [How did Muhammad die?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/how-did-muhammad-die) — Muslim sources say Muhammad died in Medina in 632, at sixty-three, and that in his last illness he still felt the poison from a sheep he had eaten at Khaybar. - [How many wives did Muhammad have?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/muhammads-wives) — The Qur’an permits Muhammad more wives than the four it allows other men. Muslim historians name Khadijah first, and Sunni hadith name Aisha among those who followed. - [Is Muhammad the Paraclete or Ahmad?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/is-muhammad-the-paraclete) — Some Muslims hear Muhammad in Jesus' promise of the Comforter, and in the name Ahmad in Qur'an 61:6. John 14–16 says who that person is. ## History [View history on GitHub](https://github.com/Apologetics-Wiki/apologetics-wiki/commits/main/src/content/articles/what-are-hadith-and-sira.md)