Compiled by Islamic scholar Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj (d. 875) in the musannaf format, the work is valued by Sunnis, alongside Sahih al-Bukhari, as the most important source for Islamic religion after the Qur'an.

Sahih Muslim contains approximately 5,500 - 7,500 hadith narrations in its introduction and 56 books.

According to Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Muslim began writing the Sahih for Ahmad ibn Salamah an-Naysaburi.

[3] He was also compelled to write the Sahih for what he observed to be the poor character of his contemporary hadith scholars, and their lack of reluctance to spread daʻīf (weak) narrations.

Amin Ahsan Islahi praised the scientific arrangement of the narrations in Sahih Muslim.