•Muhammad Isma'il al-Bukhari, the author of the Sahih Bukhari, which he composed over a period of sixteen years. Traditional sources quote Bukhari as saying that he did not record any hadith before performing ablution and praying. Bukhari died near Samarqand in 256/869-70.
•Muslim Hajjaj al-Naishapuri, who died in Nishapur in 261/ 874-5 and whose Sahih Muslim is second in authenticity only to that of Bukhari.
•Abu Dawood Sulaiman Ash'ath al-Sijistani, a Persian but of Arab descent, who died in 275/888-9.
•Muhammad ‘Isa al-Tirmidhi, the author of the well-known as Sunan al-Tirmidhi, who was a student of Bukhari and died in 279/892-3.
•Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Nasa’i, who was from Khurasan and died in 303/915-16.
•Ibn Majah al-Qazwini, who died in 273/886-7.