Sahih bukhari Introduction بخاری شریف کا تعارف

Introduction of Sahih al-Bukhari Shareef

Al-Bukhari is a collection of hadith compiled by Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Ismail al-Bukhari(rahimahullah). 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 (). It contains roughly 7563 had?th (with repetitions) in 98 books.
The translation provided here is by Dr. M. Muhsin Khan.

Author bio:
Imam al-Bukhari (rahimahullah) is known as the Am?r al-Mu'min?n in had?th. His genealogy is as follows: Abu Abdull?h Muhammad Ibn Ism?`?l Ibn Ibr?h?m Ibn al-Mugh?rah Ibn Bardizbah al-Bukh?r?. 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 Im?m M?lik, Hamm?d Ibn Zaid and also Abdull?h Ibn Mub?rak (rahimahullahum).

Im?m al-Bukh?r? (rahimahullah) was born on the day of Jumuah (Friday) the 13th of Shaww?l 194 (A.H.). His father passed away in his childhood. At the age of sixteen after having memorized the compiled books of Im?m Wak?y and Abdull?h Ibn Mub?rak, 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 Mad?nah, compiling the books "Qadh?yas-Sah?bah wa at-T?bi'?n" and "T?rikh al-Kab?r." Im?m al-Bukh?r? also traveled to other key centers of Arabia in search of knowledge like Syria, Egypt, Kufa, Basra, and Baghdad.

Im?m al-Bukh?r? (rahimahullah) first started listening and learning ah?d?th 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 had?th he would repeat it from memory. It has been known that in his childhood he had memorized 2,000 ah?d?th.

There are a number of books compiled by Im?m al-Bukh?r? (rahimahullah). His ?a??? is regarded as the highest authority of the collection of had?th. He named this book "Al-J?mi` al-Musnad as-?a??? al-Mukhtasar min Umuri Rasulullahi sallall?hu 'alaihi wa sallam wa Sunanihi wa Ayy?mihi." After he finished, he showed the manuscript to his teachers Im?m Ahmad ibn Hanbal (rahimahullah) for approval, along with Ibn al-Madini, and lastly Ibn Ma`?n. It has also been recorded that it took Im?m al-Bukh?r? a period of 16 years to gather the ah?d?th and to write the ?a???, which sets the date back to 217 A.H. as the year in which he started the compilation; Im?m al-Bukh?r? (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 had?th in the masjid. Only after being completely satisfied with a had?th did he give it a place in his collection.

Methods of Classification and Annotation:
Im?m al-Bukh?r? (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 Im?m al-Bukh?r?'s extra condition).

Im?m an-Nawawi (rahimahullah) relates that all scholars in Isl?m have agreed that ?a??? al-Bukh?r? has gained the status of being the most authentic book after the Qur'an. ?a??? al-Bukh?r? consists of 7,563 ah?dith including those ah?dith 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 Al-Hajjaj, 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 al-Bukh?r?.

His Death:
Political problems led him to move to Khartank, a village near Samark?nd where he died in the year 256 A.H./870 A.D.