Imam Bukhari

After the Sahâbah al-kirâm, Imâm al-
Bukhârî ranks as the most eminent of
those pious people who have conferred
endless bliss upon the Ummah of the
Holy Prophet sallallâhu `alayhi wa
sallam. The greatest evidence of this is
the book of Ahâdîth an-Nabawî he
compiled, commonly known as Sahîh al-
Bukhârî. It is universally acknowledged as
the most authentic book after the Holy
Qur'ân. So long as their is one Muslim
left on the Earth, the blessings of Imâm
Bukhârî will have a place in his or her
Îmân and Islâm. Let us briefly examine
below a short survey of his life and
works.
His Early Years
Imâm al-muhaddithîn Hadrat Imâm Abû
`Abdullâh Muhammad ibn Ismâ`îl al-
Bukhârî was born on the 13th of the
Islâmic month of Shawwâl, 194AH, in the
famous city of Bukhara, of the land
"beyond the canal" - present day
Uzbekistan -. The father of Imâm Bukhârî,
Ismâ`îl ibn Ibrâhîm ibn Mughîrah al-
Ja`fî, was a great muhaddith and ascetic
from whom he inherited his
characteristics of literary zeal and
excellence. During infancy his father
passed away and his mother took on the
entire responsibility of bringing him up.
Imâm Bukhârî became blind at a young
age. He had recourse to many famous
and skilled doctors of his time but their
treatments made no difference. His
mother was a pious worshipper and a
righteous woman. She cried out for help
in the court of Allâh the Almighty, for her
child and begged for the restoration of
his eyesight. At last, "the river of mercy
flowed over her," and Almighty Allâh
accepted her invocation. One night, she
visited Ibrâhîm `alayhis-salâm in a
dream and was told, "Allâh has restored
the sight of your son because of your
intense and beautiful invocations." In the
morning, as Imâm Bukhârî got up from
his bed, glimmers of light reached out
into his eyes.
Primary Education and Interest in Hadîth
When Imâm Bukhârî reached the age of
ten and after acquiring his elementary
education, Almighty Allâh inserted the
interest in the science of Ahadîth into his
heart and he obtained admission in the
Hadîth class of Bukhara. He obtained his
educations after vigorous study. A year
later, he had such a good retention of the
text and chains of transmission of
Ahâdîth, that sometimes teachers got
their corrections from him. Imâm Bukhârî
had been acquiring religious education
with competance and swiftness and at
the tender age of sixteen, he had
completely learnt by heart the books of
`Abdullâh ibn al-Mubârak, al-Wakî` and
other learned companions of al-Imâm
Abû Hanîfa radiyallâhu `anhum.
The Visit to the Haramayn and the
Commencement of His Ahâdîth
Compilation
At the age of eighteen, He visited Makkah
accompanied by his mother and elder
brother, Ahmad ibn Ismâ`îl. After
performing the pilgrimage, his brother
returned with the company of his mother,
but Imâm Bukhârî stayed there for further
education. Meanwhile, he wrote a book
called, Qadâyâ as-Sahâbah wat-Tâbi`în.
After this he went to Madînah al-
munawwarah to compile the famous book
of Asmâ` ar-rijâl (Names of men of
transmission) called, Târîkh al-kabîr,
while sitting by the tomb of the Holy
Prophet sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam
during moonlight hours. Immediately
after completing this, a series of
imitations had begun. Muhammad ibn
Yûsaf al-Furyâbî said that at the time he
had copied Târîkh al-kabîr, Imâm Bukhârî
did not yet have any facial hair.
Imâm Bukhârî travelled to cities far and
wide for the transmission of Ahâdîth and
had gained immense knowledge while
sitting far from his own country for
several years. He stated himself, "To seek
knowledge, I travelled to Egypt and Syria
twice, Basra four times, spent six years at
the Hijâz and left for Kufa and Baghdad
on so many occasions accompanied by
Muhaddithîn."
His Remarkable Memory
Imâm Bukhârî was a man with a very
strong memory. When we look at his
memory, it is as if his body from head to
toe stored it. Seeing his memory, the
memory of Abû Hurayrah radiyallâhu
`anhu is rekindled in the hearts of
Muslims. Hashid ibn Ismâ`îl states that
in his childhood: "Imâm Bukhârî used to
go with us to the Scholars of Basra to
listen to Ahâdîth. All of us used to write
Ahâdîth down, except Imâm Bukhârî.
After sixteen days, we thought about it
and we condemned Imâm Bukhârî saying
that, 'you had wasted so many days work
by not writing down Ahâdîth.' Imâm
Bukhârî asked us to bring our notes to
him. So we all brought our notes, upon
which Imâm Bukhârî began to read
Ahâdîth one by one from the top of his
head until he narrated to us more than
fifteen thousand! Hearing these, it
seemed that Imâm Bukhârî was
reteaching us all of the Ahâdîth we had
noted."
Muhammad ibn Azhar Sajistânî says: "I
used to go to Sulaymân ibn Harab
accompanied by Imâm Bukhârî for
listening to Ahâdîth. I used to write the
Ahâdîth, but Imâm Bukhârî wouldn't.
Somone said to me, 'Why doesn't Imâm
Bukhârî note the Ahâdîth down?' I told
him, 'if you missed any Hâdîth in writing,
you could obtain it from the memory of
Imâm Bukhârî.'"
Imâm Bukhârî's memory could be
understood by knowing that if he glanced
through a book, it would be committed to
memory instantly. In his early period of
acquiring knowledge, he memorised
seventy thousand Ahâdîth and later in his
life, this figure reached three hundred
thousand. Of these, one hundred
thousand were sahîh (rigorously
authenticated) and two hundred thousand
were not sahîh (hasan, da`îf, etc). Once
he went to Balkh and the inhabitants
desired that he should recite one Hadîth
from each of his shaykhs. Then he orated
from one thousand Shaykhs one
thousand Ahâdîth.
Sulaymân ibn Mujâhid says: "One day I
was present in the company of
Muhammad ibn Salâm Baykandî.
Muhammad ibn Salâm said, 'If you had
come earlier, I would have shown you the
child who has seventy thousand Ahâdîth
in his memory.' Sulaymân stood up from
his company and started looking for
Imâm Bukhârî. Shortly he found him and
asked, 'Are you the one who has
committed seventy thousand Ahâdîth to
memory?' Imâm Bukhârî replied, 'I have
learnt more Ahâdîth than this by heart. I
even know the place of birth, death and
residence of most of those companions
from whom the Ahâdîth are narrated."
His Extraordinary Intellect
Along with his extraordinary memory, he
also had a very sharp intellect. He did
not depend on pen and paper as much as
he relied on his mind and memory.
People examined the capabilities of Imâm
Bukhâri in the science of Hadîth
repeatedly but he always remained
successful as a result of Allâh's gift of
intellegence and superb memory.
Hâfiz Ahmad ibn `Adî describes: "When
the people of Baghdad had learnt that
Imâm Bukhârî was due to arrive there, the
Muhaddithîn of Baghdad decided to test
him by changing the text and chains of
transmission of one hundred Ahâdîth.
They joined the chain of one Hadîth with
the text of another and attached the
chain of this Hadîth with the text of the
prior. Like this, they mixed up the text
and chains of transmission of one
hundred Ahâdîth and gave these to
people who would test Imâm Bukhârî with
these.
"When Imâm Bukhâri arrived at Baghdad,
the people held a gathering in his
honour, in which most of the Ulamâ,
nobles and public were present. One
person stood up according to the plan
and asked a question regarding a Hadîth
with its altered chain of transmission.
Upon this, a second person stood up and
recited in similar manner. Like this, the
people completed the hundred Ahâdîth
and awaited Imâm Bukhârî's reply. He
said that he had not apprehended those
Ahâdîth. When he saw that everyone had
finished asking questions, he stood up
and described the chain of transmission
of the first Hadîth read and then gave its
correct chain. Like this, he detailed the
faulty chains on the Ahâdîth of all one
hundred set up by the scholars. He had
given the correct chains of transmission
to every Hadîth. When he finished, the
entire audience was full of praise and
recognition of the superiority and
greatness of Imâm Bukhârî."
Hâfiz Abul-Azhar relates: "Once four
hundred Muhaddithîn had gathered in the
city of Samarqand to test Imâm Bukhârî.
They did this by mixing up the
transmissions of Syria with the
transmissions of Iraq and the
transmissions of Iraq with the
transmissions of Syria. Similarly, they
inserted the transmissions of the Haram
(Makkah) into the ones of Yemen and
vice versa. They did this to Imâm Bukhâri
for seven days, but could not mislead
him in text or transmission a single time.
He had comprehensive knowledge in the
science of Hadîth - all of the routes of a
Hadîth were in his eyes if one with many
chains was found. So Imâm Bukhârî had
a good view of all of them. In that age,
no one had more command over the
different ways of transmission than Imâm
Bukhârî."
Yûsuf ibn Mûsâ Marûzî states: "I was
sitting in the central mosque of Basra
when I heard a voice saying, 'O seeker of
knowledge, Imâm Muhammad ibn Ismâ`îl
has arrived. Whoever wants to receive
Ahâdîth from him should present himself
in his company.'" Marûzî says: "I saw a
thin, weak young man near the pillar who
was praying salât with extreme
humbleness and humility and that was
Imâm Bukhârî. As soon as the
announcement was made, curious people
from all directions began to gather
around."
Glimpses of his private life
1. Self sufficiency:
The father of Imâm Bukhârî, Muhaddith
Ismâ`îl ibn Ibrâhîm was enormously rich
and Imâm Bukhârî had inherited a huge
share of his wealth. He used to give his
wealth on the basis of silent partnership
(e.g. if a person is in possession of a
shop, the profits are shared equally, but
only one partner does all the work). Abû
Sa`îd Bakr ibn Munîr states: "Once Abû
Hafs sent some goods to Imâm Bukhârî
and when traders learnt of this, they came
and offered five thousand dirhams. He
told them, 'Come in the evening.' A
second group of traders came and offered
ten thousand dirhams, but he told them,
'I have already made an agreement with
someone else. Ido not want to change my
intention for the sake of ten thousand
dirhams.'"
2. Simplicity and humbleness:
From the point of view of his character,
Imâm Bukhârî was a simple and hard
working person. He would fulfill his own
needs by himself. Despite having a lot of
wealth and status, he always kept the
minimum number of servants required
and never indulged himself in this matter.
Muhammad ibn Hâtim Warrâq, who was
one of his main disciples, says: "Imâm
Bukhârî was establishing an inn near the
city of Bukhara and was placing the
bricks with his own hands. I came
forward and said 'Leave the laying of the
bricks for this building to me.' But he
replied, 'On the day of judgement, this act
will be of benefit to me.'"
Warrâq goes on to say: "When we
accompanied Imâm Bukhârî on a journey,
he would gather us in one room and
would stay by himself in a separate room.
Once I saw Imâm Bukhârî get up between
fifteen and twenty times during the night
and every time, he lit the lamp with his
own hands. He took some Ahâdîth out,
marked them and then placed his head
on his pillow and laid on his couch. I
said to him, 'Why did you go through all
this trouble during the night, when you
could have woken me up [so that I could
help you].' He replied, 'You are young and
are in need of sound sleep and I did not
want to disturb your sleep.'"
3. Generosity
Just as he was generous with this wealth,
he was also greatly generous with his
heart. Sometimes, he would give three
thousand dirhams as a donation in one
day. Warrâq says that Imâm Bukhârî's
earnings were five hundred dirhams per
month and he would spend all of it on
his students.
4. Abstention ( Zuhd )
Imâm Bukhârî kept himself away from all
worldly desires and temptations.
Sometimes, in his quest for knowledge, he
passed his time eating dried grass (hay).
Usually he would eat only two or three
almonds in a whole day. Once he became
ill and the doctors told him, "Your
intestines have become dry because you
have been eating dried leaves." It was at
that moment that Imâm Bukhârî told the
doctor that he had been eating dried
leaves for forty years and during this
span of time he never even touched any
kind of curry.
5. Fear of Allâh
He was bestowed with the highest rank of
piety and righteousness. He feared Allâh
very much inwardly and outwardly. He
prevented himself from backbiting and
suspicion and always respected the rights
of others. Bakr ibn Munîr relates that
Imâm Bukhârî said, "I am hopeful that
when I meet my Lord, He will not take
account of me because I never
backbited."
Imâm Bukhârî was so vigilant in his
worship, that he would pray Nawâfil and
keep fasts in abundance. He would
complete the recitation of the whole
Qur'ân daily in the month of Ramadân
and also recited ten chapters of the Holy
Qur'ân deep in the night. He would
complete the Holy Qur'ân in the Tarâwîh
prayers and always reciting twenty verses
in each rak`at. He was very courteous,
tolerant and gentle. He never became
angry if mistreated by other persons and
prayed forgiveness for those who
attributed evil to him. If he needed to
correct any person, he would never
embarrass him in public.
His Arrival in Nîshâpûr and the issue of
the creation of the Qur'ân
In 250 AH, Imâm Bukhârî decided to go
to Nîshâpûr. After hearing this news, a
wave of happiness spread among its
people. In those times, Muhammad ibn
Yahya adh-Dhuhlî was the head of the
literary kingdom of Nîshâpûr. He advised
and led the inhabitants of the city to
gather together for the welcoming of
Imâm Bukhârî. A huge crowd went to the
outskirts of the city to receive Imâm
Bukhârî, with extreme magnificence and
honour. Imâm Muslim ibn Hajjâj says
that in all his life, he had never seen such
a reception ever given to a scholar or
even a ruler.
Imâm Bukhârî began to deliver lectures
on Hadîth in Nîshâpûr. At every session,
a huge crowd always packed the area to
listen and many included people who had
arrived specifically to learn the science of
Hadîth. However, some unpleasant
people were envious about the reputation
and popularity of Imâm Bukhârî. These
people set up Muhammad ibn Yahya
adh-Dhuhlî to become his opponent. In
this incident, Muhammad ibn Yahya
considered the pronunciation of the
Qur'ân as eternal and was firmly rooted
with this concept.
Once, a man approached Imâm Bukhârî
and asked him whether the Qur'ân was
created (makhlûq) or not created (ghayr
makhlûq). Imâm Bukhârî paused for a
while. The man insisted on a reply, upon
which he was told, "The Qur'ân are the
words of Allâh and they are not created
(ghayr makhlûq)." The man posed some
more questions about the words of the
Qur'ân, upon which Imâm Bukhârî said,
"Our actions are created and the
pronunciation is one our actions."
[Comment by G.F. Haddad: The above is
inaccurately translated. It should read:
"Muhammad ibn
Yahya considered the *pronunciation* of
the Qur'ân as eternal..." and "Imâm
Bukhârî said, 'Our actions are created and
the pronunciation is one our actions.'"
The disagreement was only over the
pronunciation (lafz) of the Qur'an, not the
words of the Qur'an, although lafz also
means "wording." Al-Dhuhli and other
people close to the Hanbali madhhab
considered that the pronunciation is
uncreated just like the Qur'an itself.
Others, like Bukhari and Muslim, also al-
Karabisi the companion of al-Shafi`i and
others considered the pronunciation
created since it is part of one's acts and
acts are certainly created. There was no
disagreement that the words of the
Qur'an are not created since they are
what is meant when we say that the
Qur'an is Allah's Speech.
What possibly reconciles the different
views on this subject is that lafz is used
by some to mean the revealed, uncreated
words and contents of recitation, while
others mean thereby the mere act of
pronunciation, which is created; hence
the extreme caution shown by some, such
as Imam al-Bukhari, who fell short of
saying: "Lafz is created" even though he
used it in the second sense, since he
said: "Lafz is an act of human beings,
and our acts are created." This lexical
ambiguity is a proof of sorts that the
differences on this particular question
were largely in terminology rather than
essence. Added to this is a fundamental
difference in method around the
appropriateness of such dialectic (kalam)
, which poisoned the air with unnecessary
condemnations on the part of Imam
Ahmad's followers - and Allah knows
best.]
After this, mass propaganda started
against Imâm Bukhârî, which led to
accusations that he believed the words of
the Qur'ân to be created. When Dhuhlî
heard these rumours, he disconnected his
ties with Imâm Bukhârî and became his
foe. He started warning people by
announcing that they should not attend
the lectures of Imâm Bukhârî. As a result,
people refrained from sitting in his
lectures, except Muslim ibn Hajjâj. At
last, due to his disappointment, Imâm
Bukhârî left the city of Nîshâpûr and
returned to Bukhara. 1
Banishment from his homeland
When the people of Bukhara learnt that
Imâm Bukhârî was coming back to his
homeland, they became extremely
overjoyed and erected tents many miles
outside the city to welcome him. They
greeted him with splendour for his return.
He established a school there where he
spent a great deal of time teaching with
satisfaction.
Even here, there were envious people who
did not leave him alone. They met the
governor of Bukhara, who was a
representative of the Khilâfat `Abasiyya,
Khâlid ibn Ahmad. They told him to call
Imâm Bukhârî to his house and busy him
with teaching his son. When the governor
put this suggestion to Imâm Bukhârî, he
was told, "I do not want to abuse
knowledge and carry it to the footstep of
the rulers. If anybody wants to learn, they
should come to my school." The governor
replied, by stating, "If my son was to
attend your school, he should not sit
with ordinary people. You would have to
teach him separately." Imâm Bukhârî
answered, "I cannot stop any person from
hearing Ahâdîth." Upon hearing this, the
governer of Bukhara became angry with
him and got a fatwa (verdict) from the
time wasting opportunist (ibn al-waqt)
`Ulamâ against Imâm Bukhârî to banish
him from the city.
Imâm Bukhârî was distressed at the
thought of being banished from his
homeland. Not even a month passed,
before the Khalîf of Baghdad dismissed
the governor of Bukhara, Khâlid ibn
Ahmad adh-Dhuhlî. The governor was
expelled from his palace in extreme
disgrace and dishonour, being mounted
on a she-ass and then thrown into
prison, where he died in a space of a few
days. Similarly, all the supporters of the
governor also died in disgraceful ways.
His passing
After returning from Bukhara, Imâm
Bukhârî decided to travel to Samarqand.
He was still many miles from the city,
when he heard that the people there had
two veiws about him. So he decided to
stay at a village along the way called
"Kharteng". Here, he made the following
invocation one night after the late-night
prayer: "O Allâh, the Earth despite its
grandeur is becoming narrow and is
troubling me greatly. So take me back to
You." After this invocation, he became ill.
Meanwhile, the people of Samarqand sent
a messenger to bring him there. Bukhârî
got up and was ready to travel, but his
strength gave way. He began to invoke
Allâh at length, then he took to his bed
and his soul passed away to his Lord -
may Allâh have mercy on him. An
indescribable amount of perspiration
came out of him even after he consigned
his life to the Creator of life. When this
abated, he was shrouded. He died on the
night of `Îd al-Fitr, the first night of
Shawwâl in the year 256 AH. He had
reached the age of 62 years, less twelve
days. On this night, the sun of great
knowledge, virtue and blessings had set,
whose knowledge and actions had
enlightened the hearts and minds of the
great intellects and people of Samarqand,
Bukhara, Baghdad and Nîshâpûr.
His acceptance by Allah's Messenger
sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam
Imâm Bukhârî devoted his entire life, in
the search for the way of life given by the
Holy Prophet sallallâhu `alayhi wa
sallam, in acting upon his sayings and
researching into this science. His each
and every action was a fragment of the
way of the Messenger. Warrâq stated: "In
a dream, I once saw Imâm Bukhârî
walking behind the Prophet sallallâhu
`alayhi wa sallam and his feet would fall
exactly where the feet of the blessed
Prophet had fallen."
Farbarî stated: "Once in a dream, I met
the Holy Prophet sallallâhu `alayhi wa
sallam and he asked me, 'Where are you
going?' I replied, 'To Muhammad ibn
Ismâ`îl [al-Bukhârî].' He then said, 'Go,
and give him my salâm.'"
Just as the Holy Prophet sallallâhu
`alayhi wa sallam had happiness with
Imâm Bukhârî during his lifetime, he was
also pleased with him after his death.
Concerning this, `Abd al-Wâhid ibn Âdam
Awaysî stated: "I saw the Holy Prophet
sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam in my sleep
standing with a group of his
Companions. I asked, 'O Prophet
sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam, who are you
waiting for?' He replied, 'For Bukhârî.'
After a few days I heard the news of
Imâm Bukhârî's passing away. He had
died at the very moment that I saw the
Prophet sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam in
my dream."
The Janâzah prayer was performed over
Imâm Bukhârî and his body was covered
with soil. A beautiful musk smell exuded
from the earth of his grave which lasted
for several days. People from far and
wide began to visit it in astonishment
and also took handfuls of earth from his
grave for blessings (tabarruk).
Abul-Fath as-Samarqandî relates: "two
hundred years after the death of Imâm
Bukhârî, a drought struck Samarqand.
The people made the istisqâ' prayer and
invocations but rain did not fall. A
saintly man came to the judge (Qâdî) of
the city and gave him some advice. He
said: 'With the people of the city, go to
the grave of Imâm Bukhârî and invoke
Allâh the Exalted there to give you rain.
Perhaps Allâh will accept our invocations
and give us rain.' The judge of the city
accepted this advice with delight and
proceeded to go to the grave. The people
followed him and upon arrival, he prayed
for rain in front of them at the grave.
People wept and also sought the
intercession of the one who was in the
grave. At that moment, clouds gathered
and Allâh sent such heavy rain that those
who were in Kharteng could not reach
Samarqand for seven days because of the
rain's abundance.
Conclusion
Imâm Bukhârî was not only a scholar,
worshipper, a devotee and a prosperous
man, but he always feared Allâh and
shone with the love of the Messenger
sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam. The
virtuous outpourings he gave to the world
during his life are still being given today
and as the Muslim Ummah goes about
its daily acts of worship, they realise how
important the role played by Imâm
Bukhârî was. He compiled and circulated
the Ahâdîth of the Prophet wherever
possible and Allâh spread his status to
every corner of the world. It is a fact that
as long as the traditions of the Holy
Prophet sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam
(qîla and qâla) are mentioned in
gatherings, lights and blessings will
shower onto the grave of Imâm al-
Bukhârî from the skies of the Most
Merciful.