tain Matthews, and published in Calcutta in 1809. The English translation has been long since out of print, but efforts are being made by the author of these notes for its republication. The popular collection of Shíaʾh traditions arranged in the form of an historical narrative is the Hyát-ul-Qulub, a Persian work which has been translated by the Rev. J. L. Merrick (Phillips, Sampson & Co., Boston, U.S., 1850).
The most trustworthy of the various collections of Sunni traditions is the one usually called Bokhárí. It was compiled by Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn-i-Ismaíl a native of Bokhára. In obedience to instructions he is said to have received in a vision, he set himself to commence the collection of all the current traditions relating to Muhammad. He succeeded in collecting not fewer than six hundred thousand traditions, of which he selected only 7275 as trustworthy! These he recorded in his work; but it is said that he repeated a two rikʾat prayer before he wrote down any one of the 7275 traditions which he recorded. There is, therefore, every reason to believe that the compilers of the books of tradition
