Ash-Shafi said, "After the Book of Allah, there is no book on the face of the earth sounder than the book of Malik." 'Ala ad-Din Maghla?ay al-?anafi said, "The first person to compile the ?a?i? was Malik." Ibn ?ajar said, "The book of Malik is sound by all the criteria that are demanded as proofs in the mursal, munqa?i' and other types of transmission." As-Suyu?i followed Ibn ?ajar's judgement and said, "It is absolutely correct to say that the Muwatta' is sound (?a?i?) without exception." Al-Bukhari and Muslim transmitted most of its ?adiths and included them in their ?a?i? collections. The authors of the rest of the six books, the Imam of the ?adith scholars, A?mad ibn ?anbal, and others did the same. But, in addition, the Muwa??a' contains a record of the practice of the people of Madinah of the first generations, a transmission of the ethos that permeated the city and Imam Malik's painstaking clarification of the Sunna, the ?adiths, the practice and legal judgements.