General works on ʻUlūm al-Ḥadīth

Early works that laid the foundations of a methodology of ḥadīth evaluation:

• Kitāb al-Ḍuʻafāʼ by Imām al-Bukhārī: discussed weak transmitters
• Kitāb al-Ḍuʻafāʼ by Imām al-Nasāʼī: discussed weak transmitters
• Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā by Ibn Saʻd (d 230H): detailed biographical work on transmitters
• Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt by Abū Ḥātim Muḥammad b. Ḥibbān al-Bustī (d 354H/965CE): a more specialized work in which he only mentioned the reliable transmitters

Later works that consolidated earlier ones:

• Al-Muḥdith al-Fāṣil Bayn al-Rāwī waʼl-Wāʻī by al-Qāḍī Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan al-Rāmhurmuzī (d 360H): landmark work that combined and consolidated all aspects of ḥadīth studies for the first time, but still fell short of being a fully comprehensive work
• Maʻrifat ʻUlūm al- Ḥadīth by al-Ḥākim Abū ʻAbd Allāh al-Nīsābūrī(d 450H): another landmark consolidating work that discusses fifty branches of ḥadīth sciences, but remained poorly consolidated and less-than-comprehensive according to Ibn Ḥajar
• Al-Kifāyah fī Maʻrifat Uṣūl ʻIlm al-Riwāyah and al-Jāmiʻ li Ādāb al-Shaykh waʼl-Sāmiʻ by al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (d 463H)
• ʻUlūm al-Ḥadīth by Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ (d 643H): widely acclaimed reference work in the field of ḥadīth studies
• Al-Bāʻith al-Ḥathīth ilā Maʻrifat ʻUlūm al-Ḥadīth by Ibn Kathīr (d 774H): another major reference that built upon the work of Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ

Works on biographies

• Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kabīr by Ibn Saʻd al-Zuhrī (d 230H/845CE): A 15-volume seminal work that was one of the earliest on this topic, containing biographies of more than 4,000 traditionists as well as a rich mine of history and genealogy, including the Seerah.
• Tārīkh al-Kabīr by al-Bukhārī (d 256/871): The next landmark in this field, this was a biographical work arranged alphabetically of over 40,000 traditionists, which exists today in fragments.
• Mashāhīr ʻUlamāʼ al-Amṣār by Abū Ḥātim Muḥammad b. Ḥibbān al-Bustī (d 354H/965CE)
• Tārīkh Baghdād by al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (d 463H): short biographies of 7,831 individuals
• Usd al-Ghābah by Ibn al-Athīr (d 630H/1230CE): Authoritative work on biographies of 7,554 Companions.
• Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥuffāẓ by al-Ḥafiẓ al-Dhahabī (d 748H)
• Al-Iṣābah fī Tamyīz al-Ṣaḥābah by Ibn Ḥajar (d 852H): Comprehensive and authoritative work on the biographies of the Companions
• Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb by Ibn Ḥajar (d 852H): 10-volume biographical work in alphabetical order of 12,415 traditionists.
• Mīzān al-Iʻtidāl by Ibn Ḥajar (d 852H): Another biographical work of 14,443 traditionists.
• ʻAyn al-Iṣābah by al-Ṣuyūṭī (d 911H): summary of Ibn Ḥajar’s work
• Al-Risālah al-Mustaṭrifah by Muḥammad b. Jaʻfar al-Kattānī (d 1345/1927)

Works devoted to Mursal Ḥadīth Works on Weak Narrators

• Kitāb al-Marāsīl by Abū Dāwūd (d 275H)
• Al-Majruḥīn min al-Muḥaddithīn waʼl-Ḍuʻafāʼ waʼl-Matrūkīn by Abū Ḥātim Muḥammad Ibn Ḥibbān al-Bustī (d 354H)
• Marāsīl by Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī (d 277H)

Works on Forgeries in ḥadīth

• Tadhkirat al-Mawḍūʻāt by Abuʼl-Faḍl Muḥammad b. Ṭāḥir al-Maqdisī (d 507H)
• Al-Mawḍūʻāt by Ibn al-Jawzī (d 597H):  renowned work on forgeries, but has been criticized as including many good narrations as forgeries
• Al-Mughnī ʻan al-Ḥifẓ waʼl-Kitāb by Abū Ḥafṣ ʻUmar b. Badr al-Muṣalī (d 622H): identified themes and chapters that had become liable to forgeries
• Al-Taʻaqqubāt ʻalaʼl-Mawḍūʻāt by al-Ṣuyūṭī (d 911H): follow-up work to Ibn al-Jawzī’s work
• Al-Laʼāliʼ al-Maṣnūʻah fiʼl-Aḥādīth al-Mawḍūʻah by al-Ṣuyūṭī (d 911H): summary of Ibn al-Jawzī’s work
• Al-Mawḍūʻāt by Mullā ʻAlī al-Qārī (d 1014H)
• Al-Fawāʼid al-Majmūʻah fiʼl-Aḥādīth al-Mawḍūʻah by al-Shawkānī (d 1250H)

Asānīd works

• Thulāthiyāt al-Bukhārī by Ibn Ḥajar al-ʻAsqalānī (d 852H): work identifying all the trilateral chains in Saḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (those consisting of three links)
• Thulāthiyāt Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal by al-Safārīnī

Works on ʻIlal al-Ḥadīth (Hidden Defects)

• Al-Tārikh wal-ʻIlal by Yaḥyā b. Maʻīn (d 233H)
• ʻIlal al-Ḥadīth by Imām Aḥmad (d 241H)
• Al-ʻIlal by al-Tirmidhī (d 279H)
• ʻIlal al-Ḥadīth by ʻAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Ḥātim al-Rāzī (d 327H)
• Al-ʻIlal al-Wāridah fīʼl-Aḥādīth al-Nabawiyyah by al-Dāruquṭnī (d 385H)

Works on Mukhtalif al-Ḥadīth (Resolving Conflict in Ḥadīth)

• Ikhtilāf al-Ḥadīth by Imām al-Shāfiʻī (d 204H): written on the margins of Kitāb al-Umm to provide a basic set of guidelines for reconciliation and preference
• Taʼwīl Mukhtalif al-Ḥadīth by Muḥammad Ibn Qutaybah al-Daynūrī (d 271H); Extensive work on subject, including defending against criticisms of ḥadīth by Muʻtazilites and others
• Mushkil al-Āthār by Abū Jaʻfar al-Ṭaḥāwī (d 321H):  a 4-volume authoritative work on the subject
• Mushkil al-Ḥadīth wa Bayānuhu by Abubakr al-Iṣfahānī (d 406H)

Works on Gharīb al-Ḥadīth (Rare and Difficult Expressions in Ḥadīth)

• An early small work by Abū ʻUbayd Maʻmar al-Taymī (d 209H)
• Gharīb al-Ḥadīth waʼl Āthār by Abū ʻUbayd al-Qāsim b. al-Sallām (d 224H): a highly acclaimed and comprehensive work that was a result of 40 years of scholarship
• Gharīb al-Ḥadīth by Muḥammad b. al-Qāsim al-Anbārī (d 328H)
• Gharīb al-Ḥadīth by Ibn Qutaybah al-Daynūrī (d 271H): supplemented the earlier work of Abū ʻUbayd al-Qāsim b. al-Sallām
• Al-Nihāyah fī Gharīb al-Ḥadīth waʼl Āthār by Majd al-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr (d 606H): combining and consolidating previous works, it is considered a standard reference in the field, and has susbequently been the subject of numerous commentaries and supplements
• Al-Durr al-Nathīr Talkhīs Nihāyat Ibn al-Athīr by al-Ṣuyūṭī (d 911H): summary of Ibn al-Athīrʼs work
• Al-Kifāyah fī Naẓm al-Nihāyah by Abuʼl Fidā al-Baʻlabakī al-Ḥanbalī (d 785H): Ibn al-Athīrʼs work in prose form
• Al-Fāʼiq li Gharīb al-Ḥadīth by al-Zamakhshari: considered to be another standard reference in the field

Works on al-Nāsikh waʼl-Mansūkh fiʼl-Ḥadīth (Abrogation in Ḥadīth)

• Nāsikh al-Ḥadīth wa Mansūkhuhū by al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. al-Athram (d 261H): written by a friend and contemporary of Imām Aḥmad in 3 small booklets
• Nāsikh al-Ḥadīth wa Mansūkhuhū by al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Ḥafṣ ʻUmar b. Aḥmad al-Baghdādī, also known as Ibn Shāhīn (d 385H)
• Aḥmad b. Isḥāq al-Tānūkhī (d 318/930)
• Muḥammad b. Baḥr al-Iṣfahānī (d 332/934)
• ʻUmar b. Shāhīn al-Baghdādī (d 385/995)
• Al-Iʻtibār fīʼl- Nāsikh waʼl-Mansūkh min al-Āthār by Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. Mūsā al-Ḥamdānī al-Ḥāzimī (d 584H): comprehensive work

Works on Asbāb Wurūd al-Ḥadīth (Study of the Occasions of Occurrence of Ḥadīth)

• Al-Bayān waʼl-Taʻrīf fī Asbāb Wurūd al-Ḥadīth al-Sharīf by the Damascene traditionist Ibrāhīm Muḥammad b. Kamāl al-Dīn, also known as Ibn Ḥamzah al-Ḥusaynī (d 1120H): comprehensive 2-volume work arranged alphabetically according to persons and events

Works on Ziyādat al-Thiqāt (Additional elements added to ḥadīth by reliable narrators)

• Kitāb al-Tamyīz al-Mazīd fī Muttaṣil al-Asānīd by al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (d 463H): work on additions to chains of ḥadīth, that has been criticized by many, including Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, for some its conclusions

compiled from . . .

• Mohammad Hashim Kamali, A Textbook of Ḥadīth Studies. The Islamic Foundation, United Kingdom. 2005.

• Muhammad Mustafa Azami, Studies in Hadith Methodology and Literature. American Trust Publications, Indiana. 1992.