IMAM BUKHARI

IMAM AL-BUKHARI
by Ustad Maulana Shah on Friday, September 3, 2010 at 11:39am
MUHAMMAD KUSHAIRY BIN MASDI -- 092377

Imam Bukhari
HIS EARLY YEARS

Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ismail ibn Ibrahim al-Bukhari al-Jufi was born in 194 A.H. in the city of Bukhara.[1][i] His father Ismail was a well-respected scholar and was one of the students of Hammad ibn Zaid, and Imam Malik. Unfortunately, he died when his son Muhammad was quite young. He did, though, leave his son a good fortune such that he was able to spend most of his time in learning and did not have to worry about financial matters.

He began his studies at a very young age, studying the Qur’an and other essential topics, as was the practice of his day. But from his youth, he was especially attracted to the study of hadith. By the age of ten, he was reading the available works; by the age of sixteen, he had memorized the works of Waki and Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak and he was familiar with the opinions of the Iraqi jurists. According to ibn Katheer, he could look at a book just once and memorize its contents.[2] In order to help him memorize the chains of the hadith; he used to research the narrators, discovering when exactly they lived, where they lived, who they studied from and so on. In this way, the names in the chains were no longer simply names of strangers, but became the names of people whom al-Bukhari was intimately familiar with. Abu Bakr al-Madini said, “I was in Naisaboor with Ishaq ibn Rahawaih and Muhammad ibn Ismail [al-Bukhari] was in the gathering. Ishaq passed by a hadith that mentioned Ata al-Kaikharani instead of a Companion. Ishaq said, ‘O Abu Abdullah [al-Bukhari], what was Kaikharan?’ He said, ‘A city in Yemen. Muawiya sent a Companion to Yemen and Ata heard two hadith from him.’ Ishaq said to him, ‘It is as if you actually witnessed these people.’”

According to his own narrative, he began to attend the lectures of the local scholars around the age of ten. He attended al-Daakhili’s lectures in Bukhara. One time he heard al-Daakhili read a hadith with the chain, “Sufyan from Abu al-Zubair from Ibrahim.” He told the lecturer that that was a mistake. Obviously, al-Daakhili was taken by surprise by being refuted by such a youngster. Al-Bukhari stated that the correct chain was al-Zubair ibn Adi from Ibrahim because al-Zubair had never recorded hadith from Ibrahim. He told al-Daakhili to check his original if it was available to him. Al-Daakhili admitted his mistake. Al-Bukhari was eleven years of age when that incident took place.

At the age of sixteen he left Bukhara with his mother and brother to perform the pilgrimage to Makkah. After the pilgrimage, he stayed in Makkah and this became his first real journey in search of knowledge. This occurred after he had gained whatever knowledge he could in his homeland.

He stayed for some time in either Makkah or Madina. It was at this time that he began his writing career. In Makkah, he wrote his Tarikh al-Kabeer which is a biographical work concerning the narrators of hadith.

Concerning his travels, al-Bukhari himself once said, “I visited al-Sham [Syrian-Palestine region], Egypt and al-Jazira [between Syria, Iraq and Turkey] twice. Four times I went to Basra. I stayed in the Hijaz for six years. And I do not know how many times I visited Kufa and Baghdad along with the scholars of hadith.”

It was in Baghdad that al-Bukhari met Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Ahmad ibn Hanbal was always very pleased with al-Bukhari and he was disappointed whenever he left Baghdad to return to Bukhara. Ahmad had great praise for the scholarship and exactitude of the somewhat younger al-Bukhari.

AL-BUKHARI’S TEACHERS

Al-Bukhari recorded hadith from 1,080 scholars. Ibn Hajr wrote that al-Bukhari’s teachers are divided into five categories:

The first category is those scholars who narrated hadith from the Tabieen (Followers, one generation removed from the Companions), these included Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Ansar who recorded hadith from Humaid al-Taweel, Makki ibn Ibrahim and Abu Asim al-Nabil both who heard from Yazid ibn Abu Ubaid, and Nuaim who heard hadith from al-Amash.

The second category of scholars is those people of the same generation as the first category but who did not have the fortune of receiving hadith from trustworthy Followers. This category includes the following of al-Bukhari’s teachers: Adam ibn Abu Iyas, Saeed ibn Abu Maryam and Ayyub ibn Sulaiman ibn Bilal.

The third category is the “intermediate” category. These scholars did not meet any of the Followers but they received hadith from the leading scholars of the generation immediately following that of the Followers. These teachers include Sulaiman ibn Harb, Qutaiba ibn Saeed, Ali ibn al-Madini, Yahya ibn Maeen, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishaq ibn Rahawaih, Abu Bakr, and Uthman ibn Abu Shaiba and so on. Imam Muslim also met many of these scholars and recorded hadith from them.

The fourth category is really al-Bukhari’s colleagues in learning hadith although they started studying just prior to al-Bukhari. Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhuhli, Abu Hatim al-Razi, Abd ibn Humaid and Muhammad ibn Abdul Rahim Saaiqa would fall into this category. From these people, he used to record hadith that he did not hear directly from their teachers (who were also al-Bukhari’s teachers) or the hadith that he did not find with anybody else.

The fifth category is those people who were younger in stature or age than al-Bukhari whom he recorded from due to some benefit in their narrations. This category includes Abdullah ibn Hammad al-Amali and Abdullah ibn Abu al-Aas al-Khawarizmi. By narrating from those scholars, al-Bukhari was applying the statement of Waki; “A person does not become a real scholar until he records from those older than him, those of the same age and those younger than him.” In Sahih al-Bukhari, there is one hadith from al-Bukhari’s student al-Tirmidhi (who is famous for his own collection of Sunan). Al-Tirmidhi was very proud of this fact and he boasted about it.

Those who learned from al-Bukhari include al-Tirmidhi (of Sunan fame), al-Nisai (of Sunan fame), Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (of Sahih fame), ibn Khuzaima (of Sahih fame), Abu Zara al-Razi (an expert in illah) and Abu Hatim al-Razi (the author of al-Jarh wa al-Tadeel).

AL-BUKHARI’S SCHOLARSHIP

From the time of his youth, al-Bukhari demonstrated an amazing memory and encyclopedic mastery of hadith.

Hashid ibn Ismail and others narrated that al-Bukhari used to attend hadith lectures with them but he never recorded anything. The others chided him for wasting his time. After fifteen days, al-Bukhari proceeded to read all of those hadith from memory. At that time, they knew that he had not wasted his time and they also realized al-Bukhari’s scholastic ability. It was his habit to memorize the hadith and then to record it later. He said, “Perhaps I hear a hadith in Basra and record it in al-Sham. Or I hear it in al-Sham and record it in Egypt.”

One time a scholar by the name of al-Faryabi (d.212 A.H.) narrated a hadith with the following chain to his students: Sufyan from Abu Urwa from Abu al-Khitab from Abu Hamza. Al-Faryabi was testing his students by committing tadlis al-shuyukh.[3] The students had no clue as to who these narrators were until al-Bukhari correctly identified them for the students.

On a number of occasions his colleagues tested al-Bukhari. In Samarqand, four hundred students of hadith gathered for seven days trying to stump al-Bukhari. They would mix the chains of the hadith with different hadith in an attempt to confuse al-Bukhari but he was never daunted. One of al-Bukhari’s most famous examinations came in Baghdad. Al-Bukhari was still young at that time but his reputation had preceded him. The people of Baghdad were very anxious to meet this young and gifted scholar of hadith. The scholars of Baghdad, though, had prepared to test al-Bukhari as soon as he arrived. They met with al-Bukhari and began to read hadith to him. Each scholar, they were ten in number, read ten hadith to al-Bukhari and yet after every hadith the scholar read, al-Bukhari was forced to reply, “I do not know [that hadith].” Those in the audience who were unaware of what was going on began to look at each other and doubt this young scholar’s ability. After the ten scholars were finished, al-Bukhari reread all one hundred hadith but he read them correctly. The scholars had mixed the hadith with the wrong chains. Al-Bukhari stated all of the hadith with the correct chains. Commenting on this incident ibn Hajr stated, “It is not surprising that al-Bukhari corrected their [intentional] mistakes since he was a scholar of hadith. What is more amazing than his knowing the mistakes is that he was able to recant the hadith back to them in order after hearing them just once.”

By the time al-Bukhari reached Basra, the scholars of the town were looking forward to his arrival. They asked him to narrate hadith to them. Thousands of scholars gathered to hear al-Bukhari lecture. He began by saying, “O people of Basra, I am a young man and you have asked me to narrate to you. I will narrate to you hadith that you will benefit from [although they are hadith] from the people of your town.” His statement surprised the people. He began to lecture, “Haddathana Abdullah ibn Uthman al-Utaki who said: Akhbarana my father from Shuba from Mansur and others from Slim ibn Abu al-Jad from Anas who narrated that a Bedouin came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, a person loves his people…’ You do not have that hadith from Mansur [who was from Basra]. You have it from people from other than Mansur.” And the whole lecture was of that nature.

SCHOLARS’ STATEMENTS CONCERNING AL-BUKHARI

Al-Bukhari received the praise and admiration of almost all of the scholars of his time and afterwards. Ibn Hajr once wrote, “If we were to open the door [to recording] the words of praise for him from those who came after his time, the pages would be exhausted… It is an ocean that no seashore can contain.”

From his contemporaries, the following statements are noteworthy: His colleague and scholar of hadith, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, “Khurasan has never produced anyone like Muhammad ibn Ismail [al-Bukhari].” Al-Bukhari once said about himself that he never discounted himself in front of anyone save his teacher Ali ibn al-Madini. When this was told to Ali ibn al-Madini, he stated, “Disregard his statement. Al-Bukhari never saw anyone who was similar to himself.” And his student Imam Muslim, famous for his own collection of Sahih, stated, “No one could be mad with you except an envious person. I bear witness that there is no one in the world similar to you.” Imam Muslim once came to al-Bukhari and kissed him between his eyes and said, “Allow me to kiss your feet, o teacher of teachers, master of the scholars of hadith, and doctor or defects in hadith.” Ibn Khuzaima said, “There is no one under the skies more knowledgeable in hadith than Muhammad ibn Ismail.” Abu Amr al-Khifaf al-Naisaboori stated, “I have never seen anyone like him. He is more knowledgeable in hadith than Ahmad and Ishaq (ibn Rahawaih) and others by twenty degrees. Upon anyone who says anything about him one thousand curses.” He also said, “If he enters the door and I am narrating hadith, I am filled with fear of him.”

Fadlak al-Razi was asked which scholar was greater, al-Bukhari or Abu Zara. He replied that he had traveled with al-Bukhari and changed his travel plans in order to stay with him. He said, “All the time I was trying to narrate some hadith that he did not know, but I was not able to do so. As for Abu Zarah, I can recite several hadith that he does not know, although no one can deny his excellence as a scholar of hadith, especially since he was the teacher of al-Tirmidhi, ibn Majah, and al-Nisai.”

The science of illah (spotting hidden defects) in hadith is considered one of the most difficult sciences to master. It is state that very few of the scholars of hadith ever really mastered it. It is agreed upon that al-Bukhari, though, is one of those who did master this science. Al-Tirmidhi said, “I have never seen anyone more knowledgeable concerning illah and narrators than al-Bukhari.” He even admitted that much of the information that he included in his work on illah came from al-Bukhari.

AL-BUKHARI’S CHARACTER

Al-Bukhari was known to be a very pious person. He did not care for the pleasures of this world. He would give a lot in charity and would eat very little. He was also willing to sacrifice for the sake of hadith. He once stated that he went to visit Adam ibn Abu Iyas and his money was late in arriving. He was forced to eat grass until someone whom he did not know gave him a pouch full of money.

With respect to speaking about others, al-Bukhari was very careful. He once stated, “I have not backbitten anyone since I learned that backbiting is forbidden.” He was soft when it came to the terms he used in jarh or the “discrediting of narrators”. He would not call others liars or words similar to that. The most he would say about somebody is that the person’s narration is to be avoided. He stated that if he says that about somebody, it means that it is not allowed to narrate that person’s hadith.

He demonstrated his honesty and dedication to hadith on many occasions. Uthmani mentions the following incident, “Bukhari was very careful in respect of his works and loaned them only to the people he could trust. Once a person happened to mention a hadith that gave rise to the suspicion of tadlis upon al-Bukhari, which is he had concealed one weak link in the transmitted chain. Bukhari replied that, in order to obviate such suspicion, he had relinquished more than ten thousand hadith reported by a particular [scholar of hadith].”[4] He also recorded the following incident;

During his studentship al-Bukhari had to sail in a boat on a river. He had a thousand ashrafis (golden coins) in his possession. He was joined by someone who also boarded the boat and met him reverentially, and gradually developed cordial relations so that al-Bukhari happened to mention to him about the money he had with him. One morning the man began to raise hue and cry, saying that his bag containing one thousand ashrafis was missing. The passengers began to be searched and al-Bukhari, appraising the situation, threw the bag into the river. The Imam’s belongings were also searched but the money could not be found… When the journey was over the man asked al-Bukhari about the bag of money. Al-Bukhari replied that he had thrown it away into the river. When the man asked him why he thought it necessary to jettison it into the river and sustain such a big loss, al-Bukhari said, “All my life I have spent in collecting and compiling the hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and my integrity has assumed proverbial proportions. How could I afford to lose the far greater wealth that I have acquired against my life’s blood by acquiring the taint of a theft?”

One time he was cheated out of 25,000 dirhams. He was told that he should go to the governor of the area to have the dispute settled. He replied, “If I do that for a worldly purpose, the governor might request a legal ruling from me on a religious matter, and I am not going to barter away my faith for money and the Hereafter for this world.” The person finally agreed to pay al-Bukhari ten dirhams a month as payment for the 25,000 dirhams that he took.

On another occasion al-Bukhari had received some gifts. A trader came to him and offered him 5,000 dirhams for them. He said that he would think about it and give him the answer on the following day. He made up his mind to sell the goods to that trader. Before telling that trader his decision, another trader came and offered him 10,000 dirhams for the same goods. Al-Bukhari declined the offer stating that he had already made the intention to sell it to the first trader and he did not wish to go against what he had intended in his heart.

THE FIQH OF AL-BUKHARI

Some narrators of hadith were known for simply passing on hadith without having any idea as to the meaning of the hadith they disseminate. Such was not the case with al-Bukhari (and most, if not all, of the early scholars of hadith). Besides being a premier scholar of hadith, he was also known as a great jurist. His contemporaries praised his knowledge of fiqh. Naeem ibn Hammad al-Khuzai called him the faqih (jurist) of this nation. And Bandar (Muhammad ibn Bishr) said that he was the most knowledgeable in fiqh of his time.[5] In Fadl al-Bari, it states, “Abu Musab has claimed that Bukhari enjoys a rank higher than Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal in jurisprudence. One of his pupils, when he heard this statement, could not but express his amazement. Abu Musab’s rejoinder to this was: ‘Why do you express your surprise over this? I should go rather further and say that, if you compare al-Bukhari and Malik, you would find theme bearing considerable resemblance.’”[6] Al-Bukhari himself stated that he did not begin to narrate hadith until he had studied the books of the ahl al-ra’i (or the jurists of, in particular, Iraq).

In fact, his al-Jami al-Sahih is not simply a collection of authentic hadith but is also a classic work of fiqh. It is for this reason that al-Bukhari did not record the entire hadith each time he mentions a particular hadith. It was his practice (though not always) to record only that portion of the hadith that was relevant to the chapter. This is why he repeats many hadith throughout his work (many times without mentioning their chains).

Al-Bukhari’s fiqh is clearly seen in his Chapter Titles (tarajim) of Sahih. In those chapter titles, he states fiqh conclusions that he derived from the hadith and verses of the Qur’an of the chapter. This is what led Abdul Rauf to write:

Readers of Sahih with a deep insight will realize that the author had two objectives of writing his book – not one. On the one hand, being himself a great scholar and a leading jurist in his own right, al-Bukhari sought to make his work a rich fountain of knowledge in all areas of the Islamic religion. Apparently he used the tarajim [chapter headings] as a convenient and relevant place for expounding his own views or the opinions of others that he supported and wanted to advocate.

In many cases, his chapter titles or fiqh conclusions can be easily derived from the hadith but in other cases his chapter titles demonstrate a keen perception and true scholarship of fiqh. These chapter titles have been the topic of study for a number of scholars, since they show both the fiqh and fiqh methodology of Imam al-Bukhari. There have been at least nine books written solely on the chapter titles,[7] not to mention the discussion of these chapter titles in the different commentaries on Sahih al-Bukhari.

Unfortunately, in the later years, there was a great deal of envy and competition between some jurists and some scholars of hadith. Some of these jurists began to attack al-Bukhari and belittle his knowledge of fiqh. Indeed the following story was fabricated concerning a supposed ruling from al-Bukhari. They claim that he gave a ruling that the infant who drinks milk from a sheep will be forever “forbidden” with respect to that sheep, that is, he can never marry that sheep and all of the bonds of kinship will apply to them. There is no truth to that story and it is obvious that it was fabricated simply to show that al-Bukhari, the scholar of hadith, was completely ignorant when it came to matters of fiqh. It seems that the people who made such attacks on al-Bukhari had neither seen nor read Sahih al-Bukhari or at least, they did not understand it.

Some of the attacks on al-Bukhari, such as the one quoted above, came from the Hanafis because they felt that al-Bukhari showed some disrespect to Abu Hanifa. Al-Bukhari did refute Abu Hanifa on a number of occasions in his Sahih. But he would never mention Abu Hanifa by name. Whenever he refuted one of Abu Hanifa’s opinions, he would always preface the discussion by saying, “Some people say…” instead of saying, “Abu Hanifa says…”He did this either out of respect to Abu Hanifa, thereby not refuting him directly, or to show that Abu Hanifa was not isolated in the opinions that he held and that al-Bukhari refuted. The following passage from Fadl al-Bari, written by a Hanafi, is quite perceptive:

In the Jami al-Sahih, al-Bukhari has criticized Imam Abu Hanifah at different places, particularly in the Kitab al-Hiyal (The Book of Stratagems[8] and the Kitab al-Ikrah (The Book of Indictment)[9]. It is likewise true that there was some intellectual disputation between the famous Hanafite of his time, Abu Hafs Kabir and al-Bukhari, but it would be questioning al-Bukhari’s intellectual integrity to hold it to be at the heart of these criticisms. What probably is nearer the truth is that al-Bukhari has criticized the Hanafite approach as it reached him on the basis of nothing but what he thought was the best. For us, both the Imams are worthy of respect.

SOME OF AL-BUKHARI’S FIQH OPINIONS

Abdul Khaliq is of the opinion that the chapter titles in the Sahih are not all indicative of al-Bukhari’s first priority to collect together the most authentic hadith even if he felt that those hadith have been made conditional, particularized, or abrogated by other hadith or rulings.[10] Abdul Khaliq’s thesis is questionable though as al-Bukhari was free to write any chapter heading he wished. If he recorded a chapter title or hadith that he only partially agreed with, he could have easily noted that point in the chapter title by writing, “The proof that such and such was valid but was later abrogated [or particularized],” or something of that nature. For example, in one chapter heading he wrote, “While urinating or defecating, never face the Qibla except when you are screened by a building or a wall or something like that.’” It is clear from this chapter heading that al-Bukhari felt free to state particularizations or state certain conditions for specific hadith. This goes against Abdul Khaliq’s thesis. Hence, one has to conclude that al-Bukhari’s chapter headings do convey his fiqh opinions unless there is some strong proof to believe otherwise. (Allah knows best.)

Abdul Khaliq lists some of al-Bukhari’s fiqh opinions that may be derived from his chapter headings. Here are some examples: (1) It is not obligatory for a couple to make ghusl (the complete washing after sexual intercourse) simply due to contact of the genitals, although it is better to do so. (2) It is permissible to recite the Qur’an in the bathroom. (3) Water does not become impure if something falls into it unless the impurity changes its color or taste, regardless of the amount of the water. (4) It is permissible for men to sleep in the mosques and for women to do so also if they have a tent set up for them. (5) It is permissible to delay the prayer for specific necessities, such as fighting or protecting one’s self from the enemy. (6) It is acceptable to perform the qunut (the saying of supplications) before or after the ruku (bowing) in prayer.[11]

As-Subki gave an example of al-Bukhari’s clever reasoning in fiqh. According to al-Bukhari, it is permissible for a man to see a woman that he might marry; his evidence is the hadith in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) was presented his wife in a dream and he uncovered her face and saw that it was Aisha. Al-Bukhari did not mention exactly how that could be a proof for his position but Taqi al-Din al-Subki understood him and stated that the proof was that what the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did either while awake or asleep (such as his dreams which were also inspirations) are both hujja or proofs from a legal theory point of view.

WAS AL-BUKHARI A MUJTAHID?

There is no question that al-Bukhari was a Mujtahid in the field of hadith but there is some question whether al-Bukhari was a Mujtahid in the field of fiqh. According to Abdul Khaliq, the early scholars did not discuss this question with respect to al-Bukhari. Some of the later scholars, such as al-Qasimi and Tahir al-Jazairi, call him an “absolute Mujtahid” (Mujtahid mutlaq). Abdul Khaliq hesitates in calling him such although he also states that al-Bukhari may have more than a mujtahid of a specific school of fiqh.[12]

Al-Bukhari did not write a work of usul al-fiqh or legal theory (although he did touch on a few points related to usul al-fiqh in his Sahih) nor does it seem that people took him as the leader of a new school of fiqh. For example, it was al-Tirmidhi’s custom to record the opinions of the different jurists yet he only quoted al-Bukhari’s fiqh opinion once. Furthermore, many of the early scholars of hadith were so engrossed in the narration and compilation of hadith that they did not have the time to also try to disseminate principles of legal theory or jurisprudence and, therefore, some of them followed the leading Imams of fiqh of their time.

For these reasons, scholars have tried to determine what school of fiqh Imam al-Bukhari belonged to. Due to al-Bukhari’s fame and reputation, different scholars have claimed him for their own school of fiqh. For example, ibn al-Qayyim and Abu Yala include him as one of the followers of Ahmad; some even said that he was a Hanafi since he was a student of ibn Rahawaih.[13] The most popular opinion of the later scholars, who were the ones who discussed this question, is that he was a Shafi. Al-Subki and Sadiq Hassan Khan both consider him a Shafi.[14]

HIS TRIALS

Near the end of his life, al-Bukhari had decided to move to Naisaboor. By this time, obviously, he was a well-known scholar. All the people of Naisaboor came to greet him; some even setting up tents outside of Naisaboor was Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhuhli. Al-Dhuhli was also anxious to meet al-Bukhari and encouraged the people to give him a good greeting.

But things changed drastically after al-Bukhari had spent some time there. Al-Dhuhli and the other scholars of Naisaboor’s popularity were greatly reduced while al¬Bukhari’s lectures were always full. Finally, they conspired against al-Bukhari by claiming that he believed that a “person’s wording of the Qur’an is created.” Someone went to al-Bukhari’s lectures to confront him on this matter. When al-Bukhari was asked about the matter, he declined to answer but the questioner insisted. Eventually, al-Bukhari answered by saying, “The Qur’an is the speech of Allah and is not created. But the actions of the slaves are created. And to ask about such matters is an innovation.” The person immediately misinterpreted al-Bukhari’s position and stated that al-Bukhari said that the wording of the Qur’an is created. Al-Dhuhli took this opportunity to oppose al-Bukhari and stated that no one should sit in al-Bukhari’s lectures anymore since he is an innovator. Everyone except Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj and Ahmad ibn Salama listened to al-Dhuhli and left al-Bukhari. When these two left al¬Dhuhli’s lecture, al-Dhuhli finally declared, “That person should not be allowed to live in this land.” Al-Dhuhli’s influence was great and al-Bukhari took this as a warning that he must leave Naisaboor. Al-Bukhari stated that he had no desire of fame or fortune or power in Naisaboor and that it was just envy that led his expulsion from that city.

Due to this incident, Imam Muslim refused to record any of the hadith that he had heard from al-Dhuhli. In fact, he sent all of his books from al-Dhuhli back to him. Al-Bukhari had a different approach. He knew that al-Dhuhli was wrong but at the same time he knew him to be an honest person and a trustworthy narrator and, therefore, he recorded some of al-Dhuhli’s hadith in his Sahih. But he did not record them with the name Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhuhli but he just called him Muhammad. He did this, some say, so people would not think that he admitted to the accusations of al-Dhuhli.[15] (Unfortunately, both Abu Hatim al-Razi and Abu Zarah al-Razi were affected by the propaganda against Imam al-Bukhari and they stopped narrating his hadith.[16])

Al-Bukhari left Naisaboor to go to his home of Bukhara. Again he was greeted with a grand reception and he began to lecture there. But troubles soon began again in Bukhara. The governor of the area, Khalid ibn Ahmad al-Dhuhli wanted al-Bukhari to come to the governor’s mansion and lecture privately to his children. Al-Bukhari refused saying that it would be unacceptable for him to lecture privately to some people only and not allow others to listen. He also told the governor’s messenger, “Tell your master that I shall never humiliate knowledge, and shall never carry it to the doors of the people. If he needs me, let him come to my mosque or to my house.”

The governor became upset and began to rouse the people against al-Bukhari and he was finally expelled from Bukhara also.[17]

After leaving Bukhara, al-Bukhari was then invited to Samarqand to lecture to the people there. When he reached a town called Khartank, he heard that there was some commotion in Samarqand and some of the people there did not want al-Bukhari to move there. At that time, al-Bukhari made what seems to be his farewell supplication, saying, “Oh Allah, your earth has become too straitened for me despite its vastness. I beseech you to call me to yourself.” He received the news that the people of Samarqand had reconsidered and wanted him to come. Just as he was about to start his journey, he fell ill and finally died on the night of Eid al-Fitr, 256 A.H. He was buried the next day in Khartank.

IMAM AL-BUKHARI’S WRITINGS

(1) Al-Adab al-Mufrad– This is a collection of hadith that are mostly concerned with the manners and ethics of the Prophet (peace be upon him). This work has been published a number of times and there are also some commentaries on it.

(2) Al-Tarikh (“The History”) – These are a collection of biographies in the style of the scholars of hadith. Actually, al-Bukhari wrote three such works: al-Kabeer (“The Large”), al-Sagheer (“the small”) and al-Ausat (“the intermediate”). The most important of these is al-Kabeer.

(2a) Al-Tarikh al-Kabeer – This is one of the first works that al-Bukhari compiled. He wrote it while in Madina. It contains biographical information on some 40,000 narrators. He said that for each narrator in the book he could reproduce an incident concerning his life but he did not do so as that would make the book too long. Al-Bukhari’s teacher Ishaq ibn Rahawaih praised the book immensely. In fact, it has been passed on to posterity and stands as one of the classic biographical works. Abu Ahmad al-Hakim stated that no compiler of any biographical work who came after al-Bukhari could do without referring to this work. It has been published in eight volumes.

(3) Asami al-Sahaba – Al-Bukhari was the first to compile an entire work solely on the Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Perhaps this work laid the foundation for the works to come later on this topic.

(4) Al-Musnad al-Kabeer – It is said that al-Bukhari wrote a work containing one hundred thousand hadith. From the title of this work, it seems that this would be it. Some of the later scholars have mentioned this work but it seems that it no longer exists today.

(5) Kitab al-Kuni (“The Book of Patronyms”) – Many narrators were referred to as Abu Fulan (“Father of so and so”) and sometimes it is difficult to identify exactly whom the referred narrator is. This work by al-Bukhari is of monumental help in identifying such narrators. According to Abu Ahmad al-Hakim, Imam Muslim’s work on this same topic is almost simply a transcript of al-Bukhari’s work with the addition of only simple comments. Later scholars, such as al-Nasai, al-Hakim and al-Dhahabi also wrote on this topic and benefited greatly from al-Bukhari’s work.

(6) Khalq Afaal al-Ibad (“The Creation of the Acts of the Slaves [of God]”) – The early enemies of Islam were not able to drive the Muslims away from Islam so they had to turn to trying to destroy Islam from within. They tried this first by casting doubts on the Qur’an by saying that it was created.2 They denied the attribute of speech to Allah although it is clearly confirmed on a number of occasions in the Qur’an. Another group of people arose who denied qadr, saying that Allah did not know about something until that event actually occurred. This innovation began during the last days of the period of the Companions. After that there began a discussion of the actions of the humans – are they created by Allah or is the person of complete free will. Two extremes appeared, one claiming no role for human beings while the other claimed that humans created their own deeds themselves. Al-Bukhari wrote this book to address these three innovations and to confirm Allah’s attribute of speech, confirm qadr and the knowledge of Allah of all things and confirm Allah’s creating of the actions of the slave. This book was written during al-Bukhari’s last years after he was accused by al-Dhuhli of being an innovator.

(7) Kitab al-Illal – This is a work on the most difficult science of the sciences of hadith: the spotting of defects or mistakes in what look like sound hadith. Al-Bukhari, his teacher Ali ibn al-Madini and Abu Hatim al-Razi were all experts in this field. With the exception of Khalq Afaal al-Ibad, all of the above works deal with hadith or hadith sciences but al-Bukhari also had some works on specific fiqh topics, such as the following: Kitab al-Hibah (“The Book of Endowments”), Rafa al-Yadain (“Raising of Both Hands [in the Prayer]”, a refutation of the Hanafis), al-Qirat Khalf al-Imam (“Reciting behind the Imam”), Kitab al-Ashriba (“The Book of Drinks”) and Qadhaya al-Sahaba wa al-Tabieen (“Judgments of the Companions and Followers,” this was his first work, written while he was eighteen years old). A tafsir of the Qur’an has also been ascribed to him but it was either part of the Sahih or it has been lost over time.

FOOTNOTES AND REFERENCES

[1] Most of this biographical information comes from Ahmad ibn Hajr’s introduction to Fath al -Bari, Hady al-Sari (Riyadh: Dar al-Ifta), vol. 1, pp. 477-493. The interested reader may also consult Taqi al-Din al-Mudhari, Al-Imam al-Bukhari: Imam al-Huffadh wa al-Muhadditheen (Damascus: Dar al-Qalam, 1988); Abdul Ghani Abdul Khaliq, Al-Imam al-Bukhari wa Sahihuhu (Jedda: Dar al-Manara, 1985).
[2] Imad al-Din ibn Katheer, Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al -Ilmiyya, 1985), vol. 11, p.25
[3] This is where he hides the identities of the narrators by giving them names that most people do not know them by.
[4]Shabbir Ahmad Uthmani, Fadl al-Bari: Commentary on the Sahih al-Bukhari (Karachi: Idarah Ulum-I-Shariyyah), p. 79.2 Ibid, p. 79.
[5] Abdul Khaliq, p. 137
[6] Uthmani, vol. 1, p. 92. It is not stated who wrote the introductory portion on the life of Imam al -Bukhari.
[7] Al-Mudhahiri, pp. 131-134 lists them.
[8] Translated by Khan as the “Book of Tricks”
[9] Translated by Khan as the “Book of Coercion”
[10]Abdul Khaliq, p. 145.
[11]Abdul Khaliq, pp. 146-7.
[12] Abdul Khaliq, p. 142. For a discussion of the different types of mujtahid, see Jamaal al-Din Zarabozo, “Ibn Taymiyya: Mujahid, Mujtahid and Mujaddid II,” Al-Basheer (Vol. 3, No. 4, Nov. -Dec 1989), pp. 20-21.
[13] Uthmani, p. 90.
[14] Al-Mudhahiri, p. 55.
[15] Uthmani, p. 97.
[16] Abdul Khaliq, p. 164.
[17] Al-Bukhari made a supplication, “O Allah, give to them, their children and their families what they had intended to do to me.” Ibn Katheer describes how Allah answered this supplication in Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya. Al-Nasafi, in Kashf al-Asrar Sharh al-Manar, states that the reason al-Bukhari was expelled from Bukhara was that he gave a ruling that the infant who drinks milk from a sheep will be forever “forbidden” with respect to that sheep, that is, he cannot marry it and on. As mentioned earlier, there is absolutely no truth to this story and it is simply another case of the jurists trying to attack the scholars of hadith for not being people of sound understanding. To make such a claim against al-Bukhari is even more ridiculous when one considers what a great jurist he also was. Unfortunately, this rivalry existed for some time between the specialists in the two fields, fiqh and hadith, that mean so much to the Muslim nation. Concerning this story, see Abdul Khaliq, pp. 140-142.