Was Ibn Khuzaymah lenient in Hadith according to scholars? What have they said about his Saheeh?

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Ibn Khuzaymah was an honorable leading scholar who was held in high esteem among Hadeeth scholars and was known for his efforts in verifying ahaadeeth. Although some Hadeeth scholars judged him as lenient in authenticating ahaadeeth, he was more meticulous than Al-Haakim and Ibn Hibbaan.

Shaykh Ahmad Shaakir said:

"The three books: Saheeh Ibn Khuzaymah, Al-Musnad As-Saheeh ʻala At-Taqaaseem wa Al-Anwaaʻ by Ibn Hibbaan, and Al-Mustadrak ʻala As-Saheehayn by Al-Haakim are the three most important books about Saheeh (sound) ahaadeeth after Saheeh Al-Bukhaari and Saheeh Muslim. Hadeeth scholars and critics highlighted the order of accuracy of these three Hadeeth compilations, whose authors cited only authentic ahaadeeth, as follows: Saheeh Ibn Khuzaymah, Saheeh Ibn Hibbaan, Al-Mustadrak by Al-Haakim. This order reflects the degree of the compiler's adherence to citing only authentic ahaadeeth. This order of accuracy happened to coincide with their chronological order, but this was not intended."

As-Suyooti said, "Saheeh Ibn Khuzaymah ranked higher than Saheeh Ibn Hibbaan, as Ibn Khuzaymah was more meticulous in verifying the authenticity of ahaadeeth, to the extent of refraining from declaring a hadeeth as authentic on account of the slightest criticism about the chain of narration, by using phrases such as: 'If this report proves to be saheeh', 'If this report proves to be authentic' and the like."

Scholars underlined that Saheeh Ibn Khuzaymah is one of the reliable sources of authentic ahaadeeth, as stated by Ibn As-Salaah and Al-ʻIraaqi in the commentary on his poem Alfiyyat Al-ʻIraaqi. Thus, you realize the refined scholarly status of Saheeh Ibn Khuzaymah and that it is a very valuable Hadeeth reference.

Allah knows best.