The six books were not proclaimed a canon by anyone; the collection of collections grew by use, and its final seat was contested. Five members were fixed early: the Sahihs of al-Bukhari and Muslim and the Sunan works of Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi and an-Nasa'i. For the sixth place three candidates stood. The Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas was the oldest and most venerated, but its traditions were already absorbed into the later literature; the Sunan of al-Darimi had partisans for its soundness; and Ibn Majah's Sunan offered what the others could not, several hundred traditions, the zawaid, recorded in none of the other five books. It was this supplementary value that decided the matter.
When Ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi in the twelfth century and Ibn al-Salah after him listed the books a scholar must command, Ibn Majah stood sixth, and the reference works built on the six, the rijal dictionaries and concordances, cemented the choice by including it. The cost was acknowledged from the start: critics observed that among its unique traditions the proportion of weak reports is the highest in the canon, and a famous, probably exaggerated, judgment of al-Dhahabi's era put the clearly rejected among them at several dozen. The book therefore carries a double reputation, canonical in rank, and read with the most critical care of the six.