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Sahih al-Bukhari
Although Imam al-Bukhari authored several works on the science of hadith, his most lasting contribution to Islamic sciences was his compilation of over 7000 hadiths, which he called al-Jaami al-Sahih al-Musnad alMukhtasar min Umur Rasool Allah wa sunanihi wa Ayyamihi, meaning The Abridged Collection of Authentic Hadith with Connected Chains regarding Matters Pertaining to the Prophet, His practices and His Times. This collection took him 16 years to complete and since its compilation has been considered the most authentic book of hadith in history, thus the books common name: Sahih al-Bukhari meaning The Authentic Hadiths of alBukhari. What makes Sahih al-Bukhari so unique was Imam al-Bukharis meticulous attention to detail when it came to the compilation of hadiths. He had far stricter rules than other hadith scholars for accepting a hadith as authentic. The chain of narrators for a particular hadith had to be verified as authentic and reliable before Imam al-Bukhari would include that hadith in his compilation. For example, the first hadith in the book begins:
We have heard from al-Humaydi Abdallah ibn al-Zubayr who said that he heard from Sufyan, who said he heard from Yahya ibn Saeed al-Ansari who said he was informed by Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Taymi that he heard Alqama ibn Waqqas al-Laythi say that he heard Umar ibn alKhattab say on the sermon pulpit that he heard the Prophet Muhammad say: Actions are only by intentions
This chain of six narrators was meticulously inspected by Imam al-Bukhari. In order for him to consider the hadith authentic, he had to study the lives of all the people in the chain in depth. He studied where and when the narrators lived, in order to make sure that if someone narrates from someone else, they must both have been in the same place at the same time and have actually met and discussed hadith. Other hadith scholars did not all require evidence that two consecutive narrators met personally, but Imam al-Bukharis strict requirements is what makes his compilation unique. Imam al-Bukhari also studied the lives of narrators, to make sure they were trustworthy and would not fabricate, or change the wording of a hadith. If he discovered that someone in a chain openly sinned or was not considered trustworthy, that hadith was immediately discarded and not included in his book unless a stronger chain for it existed. Using his strict guidelines for hadith acceptance, Imam al-Bukhari was the first to make a systematic approach to classifying hadith. Each hadith he analyzed was labelled as either sahih (authentic), hasan (good), mutawatir (recurrent in many chains), ahad (solitary), daeef (weak), or mawdu (fabricated). This system for hadith then became the standard by which all hadiths were classified by other hadith scholars.
(Taraweeh) is titled The Superiority of Extra Prayers at Night in Ramadan and it contains six sayings of the Prophet that indicate how important the Taraweeh prayer is. Thus, not only is Sahih al-Bukhari the most authentic book of hadith ever compiled, but Imam al-Bukhari also had the foresight to organize it into a book of law that helps everyday Muslims live their lives as close to the life of the Prophet as possible. His monumental work would go to inspire generations of hadith scholars, including al-Bukharis student Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, who would go on to collect Sahih Muslim, which is considered second only to Sahih al-Bukhari in authenticity. One of the common accusations made by non-Muslims against Islamic sciences and the study of hadith is that there is no way of verifying the hadith and that they should not be used as a source of belief or law. This argument is based on a very rudimentary and flawed understanding of how the hadith were collected and the incredible amount of effort scholars such as al-Bukhari put into verifying their authenticity. With the monumental work of al-Bukhari and other scholars of hadith, we have been able to know what words and actions can truly be attributed to the Prophet Muhammad even 1400 years after his life. Bibliography: Khan, Muhammad. The Muslim 100. Leicestershire, United Kingdom: Kube Publishing Ltd, 2008. Print. Siddiqi, Muhammad. Hadith Literature. Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 1993. Print.