Sahih al-Bukhari

Content

Sources differ on the exact number of hadiths in Sahih al-Bukhari, with definitions of hadith varying from a prophetic tradition or sunnah, or a narration of that tradition. Experts have estimated the number of full-isnad narrations in the Sahih at 7,563, with the number reducing to around 2,600 without considerations to repetitions or different versions of the same hadith. Bukhari chose these narrations from a collection of 600,000 narrations he had collected over 16 years. The narrations are distributed across 97 chapters covering fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), among other subjects. Each chapter contains references to relevant verses from the Quran.{{cite web |title=Introduction to Translation of Sahih Bukhari Tathya

Development

Collection

It is reported that Bukhari traveled widely throughout the Abbasid Caliphate from the age of 16. Bukhari found the earlier hadith collections including both ṣaḥīḥ (authentic, sound)** and hasan narrations. He also found that many of them included daʻīf (weak) narrations. This aroused his interest in compiling hadith whose authenticity was beyond doubt.

What further strengthened his resolve was something his teacher and contemporary hadith scholar Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh had told him. Bukhari narrates, "We were with Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh who said, "If only you would compile a book of only authentic narrations of the Prophet." This suggestion remained in my heart so I began compiling the Sahih." Bukhari also said, "I saw the Prophet in a dream and it was as if I was standing in front of him. In my hand was a fan with which I was protecting him. I asked some dream interpreters, who said to me, 'You will protect him from lies'. This is what compelled me to produce the Sahih."

Bukhari imposed four conditions the narrators of a hadith must meet, in order for the narration to be included in his Sahih:

• being just,
• possessing strong memory and all the scholars who possess great knowledge of hadith must agree upon the narrators' ability to learn and memorize, along with their reporting techniques,
• complete isnad without any missing narrators,
• consecutive narrators in the chain must meet each other. Bukhari began organizing his book in the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, before moving to the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina. Bukhari completed writing the book in Bukhara around 846 (232 AH), before showing it to his teachers for examination and verification. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani quoted Abu Jaʿfar al-'Uqaili as saying, "After Bukhari had written the Sahih, he showed it to Ali ibn al-Madini, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Yahya ibn Ma'in as well as others. They examined it and testified to its authenticity with the exception of four hadith." Ibn Hajar then concluded with al-'Uqaili's saying, "And those four are as Bukhari said, they are authentic." Bukhari spent the last twenty-four years of his life visiting other cities and scholars, making minor revisions to his book and teaching the hadith he had collected. In every city that Bukhari visited, thousands of people would gather to listen to him recite traditions.

Transmission

Each version of the Sahih is named by its narrator. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in his book Nukat asserts the number of narrations is the same in each version. There are many books that noted differences between the different versions, the best known being Fath al-Bari. The version transmitted by Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Firabri (died 932), a trusted student of Bukhari, is the most famous version of the Sahih al-Bukhari today. All modern printed version are derived from this version. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi quoted al-Firabri in History of Baghdad: "About seventy thousand people heard Sahih Bukhari with me." al-Firabri is not the only transmitter of Sahih al-Bukhari. Many others narrated the book, including Ibrahim ibn Ma'qal (died 907), Hammad ibn Shakir (died 923), Mansur Burduzi (died 931) and Husain Mahamili (died 941).

One of the Transmissions from Bukhari to present day

Source:

From later to earlier -

1. Yemani sheikh Habib al-Jifri
2. Imam Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saqqāf
3. Imam ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥibshī
4. Imam ʿAydarūs ibn ʿUmar al-Ḥibshī
5. Imam ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad Bāsūdān
6. Imam ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Bār
7. Ḥāmid ibn ʿUmar ibn Ḥāmid
8. Al-Ḥabīb ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh Bā Faqīh
9. Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-ʿUjaymī and Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Mithlī
10. Muḥammad ibn ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn al-Bāblī
11. Abū al-Najā Sālim ibn Muḥammad al-Samhūrī
12. al-Najm Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Ghīṭī
13. Zakariyyā ibn Muḥammad al-Anṣārī
14. Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī
15. Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad al-Tanūkhī and ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Razīn al-Ḥamawī
16. Abū al-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Ḥajjār
17. al-Ḥusayn al-Mubārak al-Zubaydī
18. Abū al-Waqt ʿAbd al-Awwal ibn ʿĪsā al-Harawī
19. Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Muẓaffar al-Dāwūdī
20. Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Sarakhsī
21. Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf ibn Maṭar al-Farabrī
22. Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī

Manuscripts

The number of extant manuscripts of Sahih Bukhari is difficult to assess. An Islamic Manuscripts catalog published in 1991 by Royal Al Bayt Institute lists 2,327 manuscripts of Bukhari, while a study in 2016 indicates there are more than 1500 manuscripts in Turkey alone.

The oldest known copy was written in the year 370 AH/980 CE, according to the narration of al-Mirwazi from al-Farbari. It was first published by the Orientalist Mingana in Cambridge in 1936 CE. The oldest complete surviving manuscript is located at Süleymaniye Library which was completed in Al-Andalus on 3rd Sha'ban 550 AH/2nd October 1155 CE. It is based on Abu Dharr’s recension and was compared with several key manuscripts by the scribe and later owners. In 2018, a facsimile edition of the manuscript was published by ISAM.

Other Notable manuscripts includes a copy written by Al-Ṣadafī on 21 Muharram 508 AH/27th June 1114 CE and another by Ibn Sa'ada in 492 AH/1098-1099 CE of which three out of five volumes survive in National Library of Morocco. A manuscript that is hand-transcribed by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Yazdan Bakhsh Bengali in Ekdala, Eastern Bengal is located in Khuda Bakhsh Library. The manuscript was a gift to the Sultan of Bengal Alauddin Husain Shah. File:Oldest Known Manuscript of Sahih Bukhari.pdf|link=|The oldest known extant manuscript of Bukhari, published by Mingana in 1936 File:Manuscript of Sahih Bukhari.jpg|link=|A manuscript of Bukhari, copied in Ramadan 490 AH/1097 CE in Maghrebi script, housed in a library of Mohammed V University File:Manuscript of Sahih Bukhari containing an Ijazah.jpg|link=|A manuscript of Bukhari containing an Ijazah (transmission license) tracing back to Al-Bukhari, housed in the Princeton University Library,

Commentaries

The number of detailed commentaries on the Sahih are numbered around 400, Ibn Khaldun said: “Explaining Sahih al-Bukhari is a debt owed by this nation.” As a result, numerous scholars have raced to settle this debt over time, and numerous commentaries on Sahih al-Bukhari have been produced.

Classical commentaries

The six most popular commentaries in history are:

• A'lam al-Sunan by al-Khattabi (), the earliest commentary on Sahih Bukhari.
• Sharh Ibn Battal by Ibn Battal ()
• Al-Kawakib al-Darari by Shams al-Din al-Kirmani ().
• Fath al-Bari by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani ()
• Umdat al-Qari by Badr al-Din al-Ayni ()
• Irshad al-Sari by Al-Qastallani ()

Notable Arabic commentaries & annotations (and other works)

Source:

1. Ikhtisār Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī wa Bayān Gharībihi, by Al-Qurṭubī ().
2. At-Tanqīḥ li Alfāẓ al-Jāmiʿ aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ, by Al-Zarkashī ().
3. Taʿlīqāt al-Qārī ʿalā Thulāthiyyāt al-Bukhārī, by Ali Al-Qārī ().
4. Tuḥfat al-Bārī bi Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, by Zakariyyā al-Anṣārī ().
5. Al-Tawdhih by Ibn al-Mulaqqin ().
6. At-Tawshīḥ Sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ, by Al-Suyūṭī ().
7. At-Talkhīṣ Sharḥ Jāmiʿ aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ li ’l-Bukhārī, by Al-Nawawī ().
8. Sharḥ Tarājim Abwāb al-Bukhārī, by Imam Shah Waliyyullāh ad-Dihlawī ().
9. ʿAwn al-Bārī bi Ḥalli Adillat al-Bukhārī, by Siddiq Hasan Khan ().
10. Fatḥ al-Bārī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, by Imām ibn Rajab al-Hanbalī ().
11. An-Nīrayn fī Sharḥ aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥayn by Abū Bakr ibn Al-ʿArabī ().
12. Lami al-Darari by Rashid Ahmad Gangohi ().
13. Fayd al-Bari by Anwar Shah Kashmiri ().

Urdu commentaries & annotations

Source:

1. Anwar al-Bari by Anwar Shah Kashmiri
2. Irshād al-Qārī ilā Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, by Rashīd Aḥmad Ludhyānwī.
3. Inʿām al-Bārī Durūs Bukhārī Sharīf, by Taqī ʿUthmānī.
4. Taqrīr Bukhārī Sharīf, by Zakariyyā Kandhlawī.
5. Tuḥfat al-Qārī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, by Saeed Aḥmad Pālanpūrī.
6. Thamīn ad-Darārī Muqaddimah Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, by Mawlānā ʿAbd al-Bāqī
7. Al-Khayr al-Jārī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, by Idrīs Kandhlawī.
8. Dars-i-Bukhārī, by Niẓām ad-Dīn Shāmzai Shahīd.
9. ʿAtāʾ al-Bārī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, by Muḥammad ʿAtāʾ al-Munʿim.
10. Fayḍ al-Bārī, by ʿAllāmah Abū ’l-Ḥasan Siyalkūtī.
11. Kashf al-Bari by Saleemullah Khan

Name

Few scholars have commented on Bukhari's reasons behind naming the chapters in his Sahih, known as tarjumat al-bab.** Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani is noted to be one of them. Shah Waliullah Dehlawi had mentioned 14 reasons, later modified by Mahmud al-Hasan to make it 15*.* Zakariyya Kandhlawi is noted to have found as many as 70, even writing a book on the topic, Al-Abwab wa al-Tarajim li Sahih al-Bukhari.**

Translations

Sahih al-Bukhari was originally translated into English by Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali and Muhammad Muhsin Khan, titled The Translation of the Meanings of Sahih al-Bukhari: Arabic-English (1971), derived from the Arabic text of Fath Al-Bari, published by the Egyptian Maktabat wa-Maṭba'at Muṣṭafá al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī in 1959. It is published by Al Saadawi Publications and Darussalam Publishers and is included in the USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts. Large numbers of hadith narrations included in Hilali and Khan's work have been translated by Muhammad Ali and Thomas Cleary. The book is also available in numerous languages, including Urdu, Bengali, Bosnian, Tamil, Malayalam, Albanian, Malay, and Hindi, among others.

In 2019, the Arabic Virtual Translation Center in New York translated and published the first complete English translation of Sahih al-Bukhari titled Encyclopedia of Sahih Al-Bukhari, including explanatory notes, a glossary of every term, and biographies of all characters and narrators in the isnad. The encyclopedia was produced by Mohammed Hasan Yousef Arar. The final edition was released on 01 February 2025.

Reception

Muslims regard Sahih al-Bukhari as one of the two most important books among the Kutub al-Sittah alongside the Sahih Muslim, written by al-Bukhari's student Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj. The two books are known as the Sahihayn (The Two Sahihs). Al-Nawawi wrote about Sahih al-Bukhari, "The scholars, may God have mercy on them, have agreed that the most authentic book after the dear Quran are the two Sahihs of Bukhari and Muslim." Siddiq Hasan Khan (died 1890) wrote, "All of the Salaf and Khalaf assert that the most authentic book after the book of Allah is Sahih al-Bukhari and then Sahih Muslim."

In the Introduction to the Science of Hadith, Ibn al-Salah wrote: "The first to author a Sahih was Bukhari [...], followed by Abū al-Ḥusayn Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj an-Naysābūrī al-Qushayrī, who was his student, sharing many of the same teachers. These two books are the most authentic books after the Quran. As for the statement of al-Shafi'i, who said, "I do not know of a book containing knowledge more correct than Malik's book [Muwatta Imam Malik]", [...] he said this before the books of Bukhari and Muslim. "The book of Bukhari is the more authentic of the two and more useful." Ibn al-Salah also quoted Bukhari as having said, "I have not included in the book [Sahih al-Bukhari] other than what is authentic and I did not include other authentic hadith for the sake of brevity." In addition, al-Dhahabi quoted Bukhari as having said, "I have memorized one hundred thousand authentic hadith and two hundred thousand which are less than authentic."

Criticism

Criticism has also been directed at apparent contradictions within Bukhari regarding the ar of the Quran. Some narrations state the Quran was revealed only in the dialect of Muhammad's tribe, the Quraysh, while others state it was revealed in seven ahruf. Certain prophetic medicine and remedies espoused in Bukhari, such as cupping, have been noted for being unscientific. Sunni scholar Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, on the basis of contrary archaeological evidence, criticised the hadith which claimed that Adam's height was 60 cubits and human height has been decreasing ever since.

In the 2003 book The Idea of Women in Fundamentalist Islam, Lamia Shehadeh used gender theory to critique an ahaad hadith about women's leadership. Another hadith reported by Abu Hurayra was criticized by Fatema Mernissi for being reported out of context and without any further clarification in the Sahih. The clarification is given in a hadith reported by Aisha in al-Zarkashi's (1344–1392) hadith collection. According to Charles Kurzman, this case raises the question of whether other narrations in Bukhari have been reported incompletely or lack proper context. In 2017, Rachid Aylal, a Quranist, published a book criticizing the Sahih, titled Sahih Al-Bukhari: The End of a Legend. It was banned in Morocco for disturbing spiritual security, due to pressure from Islamists.

On August 29, 2022, Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation has included Sahih al-Bukhari into the federal list of extremist materials (except containing surahs, ayahs and quotes from the Quran) after the Supreme Court of Tatarstan supported the Laishevo District Court's decision to recognize the Sahih as extremist with its appellate ruling of July 5, 2022.

References

References

1. "About - Sahih al-Bukhari - Sunnah.com - Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم)".
2. (2009). "Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World ''(Foundations of Islam series)''". [[Oneworld Publications]].
3. (2021-11-04). "Two most authentic books of Hadith".
4. "Meaning of sahih". Islamic-Dictionary.com.
5. (1971). "Bukhārī". Praeger.
6. Fadel, Mohammad. (1995). "Ibn Ḥajar's ''Hady al-Sārī'': A Medieval Interpretation of the Structure of al-Bukhārī's ''al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥīḥ'': Introduction and Translation". [[The University of Chicago Press]].
7. Arabic Virtual Translation Center. (2022). "Encyclopedia of Sahih al-Bukhari". Arabic Virtual Translation Center.
8. Khan, Muhammad Siddiq. "Al Hittah fi Dhikr al-Sihah al-Sittah". Dar al-Jeel.
9. ''Hady al-Sari'', pg. 684.
10. al-Asqalani, Ibn Hajar. "Fath al-Bari". Dar al-Ma'rifa.
11. Ahmed, Hussain. (2020-07-17). "Why Imam al-Firabri: The student of Imam al-Bukhari and transmitter of his Sahih was trustworthy (thiqa)".
12. "سند الحبيب علي الجفري في رواية الجامع الصحيح".
13. Ubayd, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim. (2005). "كتاب روايات ونسخ الجامع الصحيح". Dār Imām al-Daʿwah li-l-Nashr wa-l-Tawzīʿ.
14. (June 2017). "Sahîh-I Buhârî Nüshalarına Dair Yeni Bulgular: Bulak Baskısı, Yûnînî Yazmaları Ve Abdullah B. Sâlim El-Basrî Nüshası". İslam Araştırmaları Dergisi.
15. Fuat Sezgin. (1991). "Tārīkh al-Turāth al-ʿArabī". [[Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University]].
16. Zaman, Muntasir. (2021). "From Khurasan to al-Andalus: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī in the Maghreb in Light of Two Early Manuscripts". Studies in Hadith Sciences.
17. (May 2025). "Facsimile of the oldest Sahih al-Bukhari".
18. Mawlana Nur Muhammad Azmi. Emdadia Library
19. "An Overview of Ten Manuscripts of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī".
20. [[Muhammad al-Bukhari]]. (21 June 2023). "Encyclopedia of Sahih Al-Bukhari". Arabic Virtual Translation Center.
21. Sebastian Günther. (2008). "American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences". [[International Institute of Islamic Thought]] (IIIT).
22. "The Commentaries of the Six Canonical Books of Ḥadīth – Ulum al-Hadith".
23. Jonathan Brown. (2007). "The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslims". [[Brill Publishers]].
24. (April 2011). "Infectious Ideas: Contagion in Premodern Islamic and Christian Thought in the Western Mediterranean". [[Johns Hopkins University Press]].
25. (1986). "Encyclopaedia of Islam". Brill.
26. (1997). "Encyclopaedia of Islam". Brill.
27. www. besturdubooks.wordpress.com. "Al Abwab Wat Tarajim Li Sahihul Bukhari".
28. (April 2014). "Anak Pendang Sekeluarga: Kanzul Mutawari Dan Sumbangan Maulana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhalawi rah".
29. (1997). "Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī : the translation of the meanings of Sahih al-Bukhari : Arabic-English". Darussalam Pub. & Distr.
30. al-ʻAsqalānī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī Ibn Ḥajar. (1959). "Fatḥ al-bārī bi-sharḥ al-Bukhārī". Maktabat wa-Maṭbaʻat Muṣṭafá al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī.
31. "Translation of Sahih Bukhari". Usc.edu.
32. "Sahih Bukhari - Multiple languages".
33. "Sahih Muslim - Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم)".
34. Koenig, Harold G.. (2014). "Health and well-being in Islamic societies : background, research, and applications".
35. al-Nawawi, Abu Zakariyya Yahya ibn Sharaf. (1972). "Al Minhaj, Sharh Sahih Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj". Dar Ihya' al-Turath al-Arabi.
36. Khan, Muhammad Siddiq. "Al Hittah fi Dhikr al-Sihah al-Sittah". Dar al-Jeel.
37. "Introduction to the Science of Hadith". Dar al-Ma’aarif.
38. [[Tadhkirat al-huffaz]], vol. 2 pgs. 104-5, ''al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah'' edition.
39. Melchert 2008, p. 83.{{clarification needed. (June 2024)
40. "Virtues of the Qur'an. Book 61, Number 507". Sahih al-Bukhari
41. (1976). "Asian Medical Systems: A Comparative Study". University of California Press.
42. "Sahih al-Bukhari 6227".
43. (1998). "Islam and the Modern Age, Volume 29". Islam and the Modern Age Society.
44. (2003). "The Idea of Women in Fundamentalist Islam". University Press of Florida.
45. "Sahih al-Bukhari 7099".
46. (1998). "Liberal Islam: A Source Book". Oxford University Press.
47. (20 April 2018). "Morocco Bans a Book Critical of Al-Bukhari as it Threatens ''Spiritual Security''".
48. (27 February 2020). "رضا يوسف احمودى: بين "القرآنيين" و"البخاريين" حوار أم جدل؟ - رأي اليوم". رأي اليوم.
49. (2022-09-01). "Ban of "Sahih al-Bukhari" angers Kadyrov".
50. (2022-08-29). "search "Sahih" - Federal List of Extremist Materials :: Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation".