Sahih Bukhari

Sahih al-Bukhari ( ar, صحيح البخاري, translit=Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī), group=note is a ''hadith'' collection and a book of '' sunnah'' compiled by the Persian scholar Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī (810–870) around 846. Alongside ''Sahih Muslim'', it is one of the most valued books in Sunni Islam after the Quran. Both books are part of the Kutub al-Sittah, the six major Sunni collections of ''hadith'' of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The book is also revered by Zaydi Shias. It consists of an estimated 7,563 ''hadith'' narrations across its 97 chapters.

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. It provides proper Islamic guidance in almost all aspects of Muslim life such as the method of performing prayers and other actions of worship directly from Muhammad.

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 (d. 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 (d. 907), Hammad ibn Shakir (d. 923), Mansur Burduzi (d. 931) and Husain Mahamili (d. 941).

Derived works

The orientalist Manjana said in Cambridge in 1936 that the oldest manuscript he had come across up to that point was written in 984 (370 AH), according to the narration of al-Mirwazi from al-Firabri. The oldest full manuscript is a version on the narration of Abu Dharr al-Heravi (d. 1043) written in Maghrebi script, present in the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul is from 1155 (550 AH).

Commentaries

The number of detailed commentaries on the Sahih are numbered around 400, including ''Tafsir al-Gharib ma fi al-Sahihayn'' by al-Humaydī (d. 1095), Ibn Kathir's (d. 1373) ''Sharh'', ''Fath al-Bari'' by Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani (d. 852 AH), ''Al-Tawshih'' by al-Suyuti (d. 1505), ''Irshad al-Sari'' by al-Qastallani (d. 1517), ''Umdat al-Qari by Badr al-Din al-Ayni'', and ''Al-Tanqih'' by al-Zarkashi (d. 1392). Modern commentaries are also written by Saeed Ahmad Palanpuri, Anwar Shah Kashmiri,' Kausar Yazdani, Muhammad Taqi Usmani,' and Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhalawi.

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''.'' Kandhlawi is noted to have found as many as 70, even writing a book on the topic, ''Al-Abwab wat-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-Maṭbaʻat Muṣṭafá al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī in 1959. It is published by Al Saadawi Publications and Darussalam Publications 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

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