Authenticity of Major Religious Books

Based on the Sunni hadith authentication method.

Group/Sect	Book	Weak Hadith Level	Fabricated Hadith Level	Notes (Using Sunni Hadith Authentication)
Mainstream Sunni	Sahih Bukhari	Very Low	Virtually None	Gold standard authentication
Mainstream Sunni	Sahih Muslim	Very Low	Virtually None	Second highest authentication level
Mainstream Sunni	Sunan Abu Dawud	Low-Moderate	Very Low	Includes some weak but author notes them
Mainstream Sunni	Jami' al-Tirmidhi	Moderate	Low	Author grades many narrations
Mainstream Sunni	Sunan al-Nasa'i	Low	Very Low	High authentication standards
Mainstream Sunni	Sunan Ibn Majah	Moderate	Low-Moderate	Weakest of the six canonical books
Mainstream Sunni	Riyad al-Salihin	Low-Moderate	Very Low	Al-Nawawi selected from authenticated sources
Mainstream Sunni	Al-Du'afa (various authors)	Very High	Very High	Collections of weak/fabricated narrators - reference work
Salafi/Wahhabi	Musnad Ahmad (authenticated)	Low	Very Low	Only authenticated portions accepted
Deobandi	Fadail al-A'mal	Very High	Moderate	Explicitly uses weak narrations
Deobandi	Hayat al-Sahaba	High	Low-Moderate	Many unverified historical accounts
Barelvi	Sufi hadith collections	High	Moderate-High	Various popular but unauthentic collections
Sufi Orders	Ihya Ulum al-Din	High	Moderate-High	Al-Ghazali used many weak narrations
Sufi Orders	Hilyat al-Awliya	High	High	Biographical work with poor authentication
Tabligh Jamaat	Fadail al-A'mal	Very High	Moderate	Primary text despite authentication issues
Twelver Shia	Al-Kafi	Very High	High	Most narrators rejected by Sunni standards
Twelver Shia	Man la Yahduruhu al-Faqih	Very High	High	Different authentication methodology
Twelver Shia	Tahdhib al-Ahkam	Very High	High	Shia-specific transmission chains
Twelver Shia	Al-Istibsar	Very High	High	Jurisprudential focus, weak chains
Ismaili	Esoteric collections	Very High	Very High	Chains often untraceable
Zaydi	Zaydi-specific narrations	Moderate-High	Moderate	Mix of accepted and rejected narrators
Christianity	Gospel of Matthew	Very High	High	Anonymous authorship, 70+ year gap from events
Christianity	Gospel of Mark	Very High	High	Anonymous, earliest ~40 years after events
Christianity	Gospel of Luke	Very High	High	Anonymous, admits secondhand compilation
Christianity	Gospel of John	Very High	Very High	Anonymous, 60+ years after, theological overlay
Christianity	Gospel of Thomas	Very High	Very High	2nd century Gnostic text, no chain
Christianity	Infancy Gospel of James	Very High	Very High	2nd century, pseudepigraphic
Judaism	Mishnah	Very High	Moderate-High	Oral traditions, 200+ years compilation gap
Judaism	Babylonian Talmud	Very High	High	Multi-generational discussions, no direct chains
Judaism	Midrash Rabbah	Very High	High	Late compilation of diverse sources
Hinduism	Bhagavata Purana	Very High	Very High	Mythological content, unclear authorship
Hinduism	Vishnu Purana	Very High	Very High	Anonymous compilation over centuries
Hinduism	Ramayana	Very High	Very High	Epic poetry, attributed to mythical Valmiki