About Sahih al-Bukhari

a al-Bukhr is a collection of hadth compiled by Abu Abdullh Muhammad Ibn

Ism`l al-Bukhr(rahimahullh). His collection is recognized by the overwhelming
majority of the Muslim world to be one of the most authentic collections of the

Sunnah of the Prophet (

roughly 7563 hadth (with repetitions) in 98 books.
The translation provided here is by Dr. M. Muhsin Khan.

). It contains

Author bio:
Imm al-Bukhr (rahimahullh) is known as the Amr al-Mu'minn in hadth. His
genealogy is as follows: Abu Abdullh Muhammad Ibn Ism`l Ibn Ibrhm Ibn alMughrah Ibn Bardizbah al-Bukhr. His father Ism`l was a well-known and famous
muhaddith in his time and had been blessed with the chance of being in the
company of Imm Mlik, Hammd Ibn Zaid and also Abdullh Ibn Mubrak
(rahimahullahum).
Imm al-Bukhr (rahimahullah) was born on the day of Jumuah (Friday) the 13th of
Shawwl 194 (A.H.). His father passed away in his childhood. At the age of sixteen
after having memorized the compiled books of Imm Waky and Abdullh Ibn
Mubrak, he performed Hajj with his elder brother and mother. After the completion
of Hajj he remained in Makkah for a further two years and upon reaching the age of
eighteen headed for Madnah, compiling the books "Qadhyas-Sahbah wa atTbi'n" and "Trikh al-Kabr." Imm al-Bukhr also traveled to other key centers of
Arabia in search of knowledge like Syria, Egypt, Kufa, Basra, and Baghdad.
Imm al-Bukhr (rahimahullah) first started listening and learning ahdth in 205
A.H., and after benefiting from the `ulama of his town he started his travels in 210
A.H. His memory was considered to be one of a kind; after listening to a hadth he
would repeat it from memory. It has been known that in his childhood he had
memorized 2,000 ahdth.

There are a number of books compiled by Imm al-Bukhr (rahimahullah). His a

is regarded as the highest authority of the collection of hadth. He named this book
"Al-Jmi` al-Musnad as-a al-Mukhtasar min Umuri Rasulullahi sallallhu 'alaihi
wa sallam wa Sunanihi wa Ayymihi." After he finished, he showed the manuscript
to his teachers Imm Ahmad ibn Hanbal (rahimahullah) for approval, along with Ibn
al-Madini, and lastly Ibn Ma`n. It has also been recorded that it took Imm alBukhr a period of 16 years to gather the ahdth and to write the a, which
sets the date back to 217 A.H. as the year in which he started the compilation;
Imm al-Bukhr (rahimahullah) being merely 23 years of age.
Before he actually placed a hadith in his compilation he performed ghusl and prayed
two raka`ah nafl prayers asking Allah for guidance. He finalized each hadith in the
rawdah of Masjid an-Nabawi (between the Prophet's (

) grave and his minbar) and wrote the

hadth in the masjid. Only after being completely satisfied with a hadth did he give
it a place in his collection.
Methods of Classification and Annotation:
Imm al-Bukhr (rahimahullah) imposed conditions which all narrators and testifiers
in the hadith chain must have met before a hadith was included in his book:
1. All narrators in the chain must be just (`adl).
2. All narrators in the chain must possess strong memory and all the Muhadditheen
who possess great knowledge of ahadith must agree upon the narrators' ability to
learn and memorize, along with their reporting techniques.
3. The chain must be complete without any missing narrators.
4. It must be known that consecutive narrators in the chain met each other (this is
Imm al-Bukhr's extra condition).
Imm an-Nawawi (rahimahullah) relates that all scholars in Islm have agreed that

a al-Bukhr has gained the status of being the most authentic book after the
Qur'an. a al-Bukhr consists of 7,563 ahdith including those ahdith which
have been repeated. Without repetitions however, the total number of hadith is
around 2,600.
His Students:
In the year 864/250, he settled in Nishapur. It was there that he met Muslim ibn AlHajjaj, who would be considered his student, and eventually collector and organizer
of the hadith collection a Muslim which is considered second only to that of alBukhr.
His Death:
Political problems led him to move to Khartank, a village near Samarknd where he
died in the year 256 A.H./870 A.D.