Sahih al-Bukhari


is the first hadith collection of the Six Books of Sunni Islam. Compiled by Islamic scholar al-Bukhari in the format, the work is valued by Sunni Muslims, alongside, as the most authentic after the Qur'an.
Al-Bukhari organized the book mostly in the Hijaz at the Sacred Mosque of Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque of Medina and completed the work in Bukhara around 846. The work was examined by his teachers Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ali ibn al-Madini, Yahya ibn Ma'in and others.

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, 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 '''' and hasan narrations. He also found that many of them included daʻīf 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, 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, 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, Hammad ibn Shakir, Mansur Burduzi and Husain Mahamili.

One of the Transmissions from Bukhari to present day

Source:
From later to earlier -
  1. Yemani sheikh Habib al-Jifri
  2. Imam Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saqqāf
  3. Imam ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥibshī
  4. Imam ʿAydarūs ibn ʿUmar al-Ḥibshī
  5. Imam ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad Bāsūdān
  6. Imam ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Bār
  7. Ḥāmid ibn ʿUmar ibn Ḥāmid
  8. Al-Ḥabīb ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh Bā Faqīh
  9. Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-ʿUjaymī and Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Mithlī
  10. Muḥammad ibn ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn al-Bāblī
  11. Abū al-Najā Sālim ibn Muḥammad al-Samhūrī
  12. al-Najm Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Ghīṭī
  13. Zakariyyā ibn Muḥammad al-Anṣārī
  14. Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī
  15. Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad al-Tanūkhī and ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Razīn al-Ḥamawī
  16. Abū al-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Ḥajjār
  17. al-Ḥusayn al-Mubārak al-Zubaydī
  18. Abū al-Waqt ʿAbd al-Awwal ibn ʿĪsā al-Harawī
  19. Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Muẓaffar al-Dāwūdī
  20. Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Sarakhsī
  21. Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf ibn Maṭar al-Farabrī
  22. Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī

    Manuscripts

The number of extant manuscripts of Sahih Bukhari is difficult to assess. An Islamic Manuscripts catalog published in 1991 by Royal Al Bayt Institute lists 2,327 manuscripts of Bukhari, while a study in 2016 indicates there are more than 1500 manuscripts in Turkey alone.
The oldest known copy was written in the year 370 AH/980 CE, according to the narration of al-Mirwazi from al-Farbari. It was first published by the Orientalist Mingana in Cambridge in 1936 CE. The oldest complete surviving manuscript is located at Süleymaniye Library which was completed in Al-Andalus on 3rd Sha'ban 550 AH/2nd October 1155 CE. It is based on Abu Dharr’s recension and was compared with several key manuscripts by the scribe and later owners. In 2018, a facsimile edition of the manuscript was published by ISAM.
Other Notable manuscripts includes a copy written by Al-Ṣadafī on 21 Muharram 508 AH/27th June 1114 CE and another by Ibn Sa'ada in 492 AH/1098-1099 CE of which three out of five volumes survive in National Library of Morocco. A manuscript that is hand-transcribed by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Yazdan Bakhsh Bengali in Ekdala, Eastern Bengal is located in Khuda Bakhsh Library. The manuscript was a gift to the Sultan of Bengal Alauddin Husain Shah.

Commentaries

The number of detailed commentaries on the Sahih are numbered around 400, Ibn Khaldun said: “Explaining Sahih al-Bukhari is a debt owed by this nation.” As a result, numerous scholars have raced to settle this debt over time, and numerous commentaries on Sahih al-Bukhari have been produced.

Classical commentaries

The six most popular commentaries in history are:
Source:
  1. Ikhtisār Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī wa Bayān Gharībihi, by Al-Qurṭubī.
  2. At-Tanqīḥ li Alfāẓ al-Jāmiʿ aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ, by Al-Zarkashī.
  3. Taʿlīqāt al-Qārī ʿalā Thulāthiyyāt al-Bukhārī, by Ali Al-Qārī.
  4. Tuḥfat al-Bārī bi Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, by Zakariyyā al-Anṣārī.
  5. Al-Tawdhih by Ibn al-Mulaqqin.
  6. At-Tawshīḥ Sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ, by Al-Suyūṭī.
  7. At-Talkhīṣ Sharḥ Jāmiʿ aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ li ’l-Bukhārī, by Al-Nawawī.
  8. Sharḥ Tarājim Abwāb al-Bukhārī, by Imam Shah Waliyyullāh ad-Dihlawī.
  9. ʿAwn al-Bārī bi Ḥalli Adillat al-Bukhārī, by Siddiq Hasan Khan.
  10. Fatḥ al-Bārī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, by Imām ibn Rajab al-Hanbalī.
  11. An-Nīrayn fī Sharḥ aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥayn by Abū Bakr ibn Al-ʿArabī.
  12. Lami al-Darari by Rashid Ahmad Gangohi.
  13. Fayd al-Bari by Anwar Shah Kashmiri.

    Urdu commentaries & annotations

Source:
  1. Anwar al-Bari by Anwar Shah Kashmiri
  2. Irshād al-Qārī ilā Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, by Rashīd Aḥmad Ludhyānwī.
  3. Inʿām al-Bārī Durūs Bukhārī Sharīf, by Taqī ʿUthmānī.
  4. Taqrīr Bukhārī Sharīf, by Zakariyyā Kandhlawī.
  5. Tuḥfat al-Qārī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, by Saeed Aḥmad Pālanpūrī.
  6. Thamīn ad-Darārī Muqaddimah Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, by Mawlānā ʿAbd al-Bāqī
  7. Al-Khayr al-Jārī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, by Idrīs Kandhlawī.
  8. Dars-i-Bukhārī, by Niẓām ad-Dīn Shāmzai Shahīd.
  9. ʿAtāʾ al-Bārī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, by Muḥammad ʿAtāʾ al-Munʿim.
  10. Fayḍ al-Bārī, by ʿAllāmah Abū ’l-Ḥasan Siyalkūtī.
  11. Kashf al-Bari by Saleemullah Khan

    Name

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. Zakariyya Kandhlawi is noted to have found as many as 70, even writing a book on the topic, Al-Abwab wa al-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, derived from the Arabic text of Fath Al-Bari, published by the Egyptian Maktabat wa-Maṭba'at Muṣṭafá al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī in 1959. It is published by Al Saadawi Publications and Darussalam Publishers 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, Bengali, Bosnian, Tamil, Malayalam, Albanian, Malay, and Hindi, among others.
In 2019, the Arabic Virtual Translation Center in New York translated and published the first complete English translation of Sahih al-Bukhari titled Encyclopedia of Sahih Al-Bukhari, including explanatory notes, a glossary of every term, and biographies of all characters and narrators in the isnad. The encyclopedia was produced by Mohammed Hasan Yousef Arar. The final edition was released on 01 February 2025.