To compile a musnad is to write whatever narrated orally from every Companion, i.

To compile a musnad is to write whatever narrated orally from every Companion, i.e. whatever is ascribed to him, in a bab (chapter) privately, whatever be the subject of the hadith, or its degree of veracity. That was due to the fact that up to that time it was unrealized yet how to discern the sahih from other than the sahih in time of compilation.

And as said before, these masanid contained the sahih and fabricated traditions together, the method that was followed till the coming of al-Bukhari and his tabaqah (class), when tadwin shifted to the fourth phase. It was — as mentioned before — the phase of revision and selection. In this phase they compiled abridged books on hadith selecting for them those traditions they believed to be sahih according to their way of research, as done by al-Bukhari and Muslim and those who followed them.

About these books more elaboration will be given when talking in respect of hadith books. That was the last phase of compilation, as these books became reliable and dependable among Ahl al-Sunnah, while the Shi'ah have their own books of hadith upon which they depend and in which they trust alone, since every people have their own sunnah and leader.

That which can be gleamed from the above-mentioned is that the tadwin trusted by Ahl al-Sunnah was only made during about the middle of the 3rd century up to the 4th century. Previous…