Sahih Ibn Hibban is a collection of hadith

Hadith

The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....

 by Sunni scholar Ibn Hibban. It has the distinction of being one of small number of collections intended by the respective authors to contain only authentic hadith

Hadith

The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....

. The author of this Sahih is Abu Hatim Muhammad ibn Hibban ibn Ahmad al-Tamimi al-Busti, from Bust in Khorasan. He was a prominent Shafi'i

Shafi'i

The Shafi'i madhhab is one of the schools of fiqh, or religious law, within the Sunni branch of Islam. The Shafi'i school of fiqh is named after Imām ash-Shafi'i.-Principles:...

 hadith

Hadith

The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....

 specialist and prolific author who died in the year 965 C.E.

Overview

The actual name of this collection is al-Taqasim wa al-Anwa`, however, it is commonly referred to as Sahih ibn Hibban. The author utilized an innovative method in the arrangement of this work as it is not arranged in topical chapters nor is it based upon a musnad arrangement and is therefore difficult to navigate. Instead, it was arranged first by bab, or chapter, and then under each chapter, by naw`, or type. The book opens with a lengthy introduction.

The Sahih remains in its entirety as of the late Nineteenth Century or early Twentieth Century, according to al-Kattani, who died in the year 1926.

Authenticity

According to al-Kattani, "it has been said that Ibn Hibban, after ibn Khuzaymah, authored the most authentic hadith collection, after Sahih Bukhari

Sahih Bukhari

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī , as it is commonly referred to, is one of the six canonical hadith collections of Islam. These prophetic traditions, or hadith, were collected by the Persian Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, after being transmitted orally for generations. Muslims view this as one of...

and Sahih Muslim

Sahih Muslim

Sahih Muslim is one of the Six major collections of the hadith in Sunni Islam, oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. It is the second most authentic hadith collection after Sahih Al-Bukhari, and is highly acclaimed by Sunni Muslims...

". However, al-Suyuti spoke more definitively when saying that Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah

Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah

Mukhtasar al-Mukhtasar min al-Musnad al-Sahih, in short Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah, is a collection of hadith by Ibn Khuzaymah-Views:Among the Sahih collections after Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, it is regarded highly along with Sahih Ibn Hibbaan and Sahih Abi 'Awana.-Published edition:It has been...

was the most authentic collection after Sahih Bukhari

Sahih Bukhari

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī , as it is commonly referred to, is one of the six canonical hadith collections of Islam. These prophetic traditions, or hadith, were collected by the Persian Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, after being transmitted orally for generations. Muslims view this as one of...

and Sahih Muslim

Sahih Muslim

Sahih Muslim is one of the Six major collections of the hadith in Sunni Islam, oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. It is the second most authentic hadith collection after Sahih Al-Bukhari, and is highly acclaimed by Sunni Muslims...

, followed by Sahih Ibn Hibban which, in turn, was more authentic than Al-Mustadrak alaa al-Sahihain

Al-Mustadrak alaa al-Sahihain

Al-Mustadrak alaa al-Sahihain is a five volume hadith collection written by Hakim al-Nishaburi d. 405H.-History:He wrote it in the year 393 AH , when he was 72 years old. It contains 9045 hadith...

. This means that Sahih Ibn Hibban is the fourth most authentic hadith collection.

al-Ihsan

Ali ibn Balban (d. 739/1339) rearranged the hadith chapters of Sahih Ibn Hibban according to the topics of jurisprudence

Fiqh

Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....

 and published them as al-Ihsan fi Taqrib Sahih Ibn Hibban.

Mawarid al-Zam'an

The unique hadith it contains, those not found in either Sahih Bukhari

Sahih Bukhari

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī , as it is commonly referred to, is one of the six canonical hadith collections of Islam. These prophetic traditions, or hadith, were collected by the Persian Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, after being transmitted orally for generations. Muslims view this as one of...

or Sahih Muslim

Sahih Muslim

Sahih Muslim is one of the Six major collections of the hadith in Sunni Islam, oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. It is the second most authentic hadith collection after Sahih Al-Bukhari, and is highly acclaimed by Sunni Muslims...

, are arranged in the order of jurisprudence

Fiqh

Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....

 headings in the book Mawarid al-Zam'an ila Zawa'id Ibn Hibban by Ali ibn Abu Bakr al-Haythami

Ali ibn Abu Bakr al-Haythami

Nur al-Din `Ali ibn Abi Bakr ibn Sulayman, Abu al-Hasan al-Haythami was a Sunni Shafi`i Islamic scholar from Cairo, whose father had a shop on a desert road. He was born in the month of Rajab in 735 H. corresponding to 1335 CE...

(d. 807/1405).