Answered by Shaykh Gibril F Haddad
Is it acceptable to solely abide by the hadith of Imam Bukhari? What is the status of the other five hadith collections?
Wa `alaykum as-Salam
If it is a despicable heresy to abide only by the Qur’an and reject the Sunna – which the Qur’an itself orders us to follow – then you can be sure that it is also a despicable heresy to try and limit the Sunna to a single book on the same pretext of purported magnification. There are many more main hadith collections and not just five but these six are the principal ones that contain all that one needs for the obligatory basics. Furthermore, we do not abide by the Qur’an and the Sunna in a vacuum nor do we make up our Religion as we go, but rather we follow the path of the Believers in imitation of the Imams of the Law and forerunners among the authorities back to the Companions of the Prophet, upon him and them blessings and peace, and take from them our understanding of the Qur’an and Sunna – not from books.
Hajj Gibril