KHUTAB IX: 22. IMAM AL-BUKHĀRĪ
22. IMAM AL-BUKHĀRĪ
Imam al-Bukhārī
was a famous and respected scholar of Ḥadīth. His name was Abū ‘Abdullah
Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl known as “al-Bukhārī” “the native of Bukhārā” in Uzbekistan
where he was born on Friday 13th Shawwal 194/21st July
810, and died on 30 Ramadan 256/21st
August 870 in Khartank, a village near Samarqand. His father Ismā‘īl was
also a scholar of Ḥadīth who was the student of Imam Mālik ibn Anas (d.
179/795), Ḥammād ibn Zayd (179/795), and Ibn al-Mubārak (d. 181/797. His father
died while he was still quite young.
Al-Bukhārī
had lost his eyes while he was still a child. His mother prayed earnestly to
Allah to restore his eyesight. One night she had a dream where Prophet Abraham a.s.
told her that Allah had answered her prayer. In the morning she found out that
her son had his eyesight restored.
The young and orphan al-Bukhārī began learning
Ḥadīth at early age, before reaching his ten years old. One day a scholar read
the narrators of a ḥadīth to people, saying, “Sufyān from Abū
Zubayr from Ibrāhīm.” Al-Bukhārī corrected him, saying, “Actually, Abū
al-Zubayr did not report from Ibrāhīm.” The man reproved him, so he said to
him: “Go back to the original one if you have it.” The man did, and said: “What
is then the correct one, boy?” So, he said: “It is al-Zubayr ibn ‘Adī from
Ibrāhīm.” The man made the correction and said to him, “You are right.” When he
was asked how old he was at that time, he said that he was eleven years old.
At the age of sixteen he was discredited and
criticized, and this led him to memorize many books of early scholars, such as
of Ibn al-Mubārak and Wakī‘ ibn al-Jarrāḥ (d. 197/812). Besides memorizing the ḥadīths
and books of early scholars, he also learned the biography of all narrators who
took parts in the transmission of any ḥadīth, including their date of
birth, and date and place of death.
Then al-Bukhārī
went to pilgrimage with his mother and elder brother Aḥmad, and after
performing the pilgrimage his brother returned to Bukhara where he died, whereas
he stayed for two years to pursue his study. He was then eighteen years old
when he moved to Madinah, where people also discredited, criticized and defamed
him. So he wrote books and spent his nights next to the Prophet’s grave
compiling the books, Qaḍāya ’l-Ṣaḥābah wa ’l-Tābi‘īn (The Issues Concerning
the Prophet’s Companions and the People of the Following Generation)
which is now non-existent, and al-Tārīkhu ’l-Kabīr ("the
Large Compendium) using the moonlight as lighting.
After staying in Hijaz for six years al-Bukhārī
journeyed to Iraq (Baghdad Kufah, and Basrah), Nishapur,
Balkh, Rayy, Merv, Khorasan, Ascalon, Egypt and Syria, and learned from over 1000
men, and collected over 6,000 ḥadīths (traditions). Among his
teachers were: Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh (d. 238/853), Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241/855),
Ibnu ’l-Madīnī (d. 234/849), and Yaḥyā Ibn Ma‘īn (d. 233/848).
In Baghdad scholars gathered to examine his strong memory.
They appointed ten men, each with ten ḥadīths to read, but with changed isnād
(chain of transmitters) and put in different matns (texts). When all
of these one hundred invented ḥadīths were read to him, he admitted that
he did not recognize any of them, as if he had bad memory. At the end of the
question, he explained to them which isnād belong to which matn
of ḥadīth.
Al-Bukhārī
was extremely careful in choosing the shaykh from whom he could listen
and receive a ḥadīth. There is story that he wanted to receive ḥadīths
from somebody, but he changed his mind when he found that the person was
cheating an animal (probably a horse) with an empty bucket to catch it.
When al-Bukhārī saw a few published books on ḥadīths in
which he found some weak ḥadīths in them, an idea came to him to compile
strong ḥadīths only, namely those with sound isnads. His teacher Ibn
Rāhawayh encouraged him to do so. He also saw in his dream that he had a fan in
his hand to get rid of flies from resting upon the Prophet. He asked several
dream interpreters. They said that in future he would cleanse the Prophet from
lies spoken by people through narrating misunderstood ḥadīths.
Al-Bukhārī started the compilation of ḥadīths
in 217/832, when he was merely 23 years old. It took him a period of 16 years
to finish it after editing it three times. He showed the manuscript to his
teachers for their approval, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Ibn Madīnī and Ibn Ma‘īn. He
called itالْجَامِعُ الْمُسْنَدُ الصَّحِيْحُ
الْمُختَصَرُ مِنْ أَمُوْرِ رَسُوْلِ اللّه وَسُنَنِهِ وَ أَيَّامِهِ which means “The abridged collection of sound reports with
chains of narration going back all the way to the Prophet regarding matters
pertaining to the Prophet, his practices and his times” or simply called صَحِيْحُ الْبُخَارِي Ṣaḥīḥ al-Būkhārī, or al-Bukhārī’s
Ṣaḥīḥ. It is said that he made its framework while he was in the Masjid
al-Ḥarām (the Inviolable Mosque) in Makkah, continually worked on it and
made the final draft in the Mosque of the Prophet in Madinah. Before selecting
a ḥadīth to be put in his Ṣaḥīḥ he used to take a bath and pray
two rak‘ahs recommended prayer, and then made an istikhārah
supplication, asking Allah for proper guidance in selecting the ḥadīth. After
being satisfied he put it in his book. Before he started writing again after a
period of time he wrote Bismillah (“in the name of Allah”), probably following
the ḥadīth “Every important matter not started with In
the name of Allah will have little or no blessing in it.”
The
number of ḥadīths in al-Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ is
7658 (some say 9,082), but without repetition the number is 2,602. This number
does not include the mawqūf (discontinued) ḥadiths, namely, the
sayings of the Prophet’s companions and the successors, not his sayings, which
are about 160 in number.
Al-Bukhārī laid down the strictest conditions for acceptance
of ḥadīths for his Ṣaḥīḥ.
The narrator must have high standard in personal character, memory, literacy
and academy. There must be positive information about the narrators, that each
of them met one another as students and teachers of ḥadīths. Imām Muslim
in this case is more lenient, namely, as long as the two narrators lived in the
same place where there was possibility of meeting and learning from each other,
then their ḥadīths were accepted for him, as long as they did not
practice fraudulence. Al-Bukhārī insisted that there have to be positive
information that they had met, and learned ḥadīths from each other.
People highly
respected al-Bukhārī as a scholar. When
he came to Nishapur four thousand horsemen welcomed him, beside those who were
on donkeys and on foot. Imam Muslim said to him; “I bear witness that there is
no body like you in this world,” and kissed his forehead. He said further to
him: “Let me kiss your legs, O teacher of teachers, and master of scholars of ḥadīths, and O the physician of unsound ḥadīths!”
Al-Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ
was highly appreciated by the Prophet through a dream. Abū Zayd al-Marwazī (d. 371/981) reported that he was once asleep
between the Black Stone and the Maqām Ibrāhīm in Masjid al-Ḥarām
when the Prophet s.a.w. appeared in his dream, he said to him: “O
Abū Zayd! For how long shall you teach Imam Shāfi‘ī’s book? When shall you
start teaching my book?” Abū Zayd asked him: “O Mesengger of Allah, which book
is yours?” He replied: “Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl’s al-Jāmi‘u ’l-Ṣaḥīḥ”.
Imam
al-Nawawī said that all scholars in Islam had agreed that Ṣaḥīḥ of al-Bukhārī
of being the most authentic after the Holy Qur’ān. This does not mean that its
authenticity is equal to that of the Qur’ān. The verses of the Qur’ān were
recorded the moment they were revealed to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. by his
scribes who dictated to them. Their number is between 13 and 48, among whom were
Zayd ibn Thābit and Ubayy ibn Ka‘b. Besides, the verses of the Qur’ān were also
memorized and studied after being revealed. They were also cited in the
prayers. In addition, Allah protects it from corruption and being lost (Q.
15:9). Al-Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ was recorded by human who is not free from
committing error. Yet, al-Bukhārī was the most careful in collecting ḥadīths.
The scholar Abū
Bakr Muḥammad al-Ḥāzimī (d. 584/1188) divided the Ḥadīth into five
categories:
1. Those
who possessed the high quality of accuracy (excellent memory) and a lengthy
companionship with their teachers. Al-Bukhārī’s ḥadīths mostly belong to
this category.
2. Those
who also possessed the high quality of accuracy, but did not spend sufficient
time with their teachers. Some of al-Bukhārī’s ḥadīths belong to this
category.
3. Those
who spent enough time with their teachers, but have been criticized by scholars.
Al-Bukhārī’s ḥadīths do not belong to this category, but Muslim’s does.
4. Those
did not spend enough time with their teachers, and have been criticized by scholars,
so they were considered weak.
5. Those
who were considered weak narrators or unknown to early scholars. They were
rejected narrators.
Al-Bukhārī divided his Ṣaḥīḥ into 98 Books, and
each book is divided into chapters. Book One is the Book of Revelation containing
6 chapters and every chapter contains one ḥadīth. Chapter One: How the
Divine Inspiration started to be revealed to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. mentioning
the well-known ḥadīth on the authority of ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, as follows:
إِنَّمَا الأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّات
، وإَنمَا لكل امْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى...
The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions
and every
person will get the reward
according
to what he has intended…
This
is probably to remind himself and us
that his intention in writing his Ṣaḥīḥ is solely for the sake of Allah.
The last Book, Book 98, the Book of Tawḥīd (Islamic Monotheism) contains
58 chapters. The last chapter, Chapter 58 contains one ḥadīth, no. 7658 which is the last
one, on the authority of Abū Hurayrah, namely,
كَلِمَتَانِ حَبِيبَتَانِ إِلَى الرَّحْمَنِ،
خَفِيفَتَانِ عَلَى اللِّسَانِ، ثَقِيلَتَانِ
فِي
الْمِيزَانِ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ، سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ الْعَظِيمِ .
(There are) two words (or expressions or sayings)
which
are dear to the Most Beneficent (Allah) and very
easy for
the tongue to say, “Subḥānallāhi wa biḥamdihi, Subḥānallāhil ‘Aẓīm” (Glorified
be Allah, and praised
be He, Glorified by Allah, the
Most Great).
The Ṣaḥīḥ
of al-Bukhārī has been translated into many languages, completely or partially.
There are also hundreds of commentaries of it, and some exceeding 25 volumes,
among the best ones are: Fatḥul-Bārī by Ibn Ḥajar (852/1449) and ‘Umdatul-Qāri’
by Abū Muḥammad Maḥmūd al-‘Aynī (d. 855/1451). These commentaries are very
important in order to understand the ḥadīths properly. When a
man found that the Nile and the Euphrates were in Paradise, he threw the Ṣaḥīḥ
away, thinking that it was a grave mistake to have them in Paradise rather than
on the earth. Had he consulted any commentary of it, he would have found that
the names of the two rivers are also in Paradise is to indicate that people in
the areas of these rivers on the earth (Egypt and Iraq) would be blessed with
Islam. (Civic,
18 December, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة الشاملة
ا.د. محمد عمارة, إفْتِرَاءَاتٌ
شِيْعِيَّةٌ عَلَى الْبُخَارِي وَ مُسْلِم. دارالسلام, د.ت.
Azami,
Muhammad M., M.A. Ph.D. Studies in Hadīth Methodology and Literature. Kuala
Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust, 1977.
http://www.al-eman.com/الكتب/صحيح البخاري
المسمى بـ «الجامع المسند الصحيح المختصر من أمور رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وسننه
وأيامه
http://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-en/
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