IMAM AL-BUKHARI AND THE SCIENCE OF HADITH
In
Islamic sciences, all knowledge of the religion comes back to two
sources: the Quran and the sayings and doings of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ–
the hadith. The Quran is of course considered the un-changed word
of Allah as revealed to Prophet Muhammad ﷺand is thus the foundation of
all Islamic knowledge. Second after the Quran is the example set forth
by the Prophet ﷺ.
But
considering that he lived 1400 years ago, how can we be sure that the
sayings and doings we attribute to him are real and unchanged? To
someone unfamiliar with the science of hadith, the collections of hadith
may seem unreliable and susceptible to corruption. However, due to the
work of Imam Muhammad al-Bukhari in the 9th century, the science of
hadith has been protected from such problems using a systematic and
thorough method of verification for each and every saying attributed to
the Prophet ﷺ. Thus, in the 21st century we can still benefit directly
from the authentic sayings of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Al-Bukhari’s Early Life
Abu
Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari was born in 809 or 810 in the
city of Bukhara, in what is now Uzbekistan. He came from a Persian
family that converted to Islam 3 generations before his time.
Unfortunately for the young al-Bukhari, his father died while he was
still an infant, leaving his upbringing to his mother. Despite the
difficult circumstances, al-Bukhari dedicated himself to studying
Islamic sciences from a young age.
Studying
with the scholars in and around his hometown, al-Bukhari immersed
himself in hadith studies as well as fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence. From a
young age he showed a unique ability to understand complex issues of
law, but more importantly, he was capable of remembering long and
complex chains of narrations of hadiths. For a hadith to be considered
authentic, a reliable chain of narrators is needed to connect that
saying to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. In this, al-Bukhari excelled.
By
his late teens, al-Bukhari had completed his studies in Bukhara and set
out to Makkah to do Hajj (pilgrimage) with his mother and brother.
Since the rise of Islam in the 600s, Makkah has been a unique mixing
place for world travelers. Since all Muslims are obligated to complete
the Hajj at least once, Makkah is constantly visited by people from all
corners of the world. For a hadith scholar like al-Bukhari, this type of
environment was invaluable.
He
stayed in Makkah and Madinah for several years, where he continued to
collect hadiths from some of the leading hadith scholars of the world,
memorizing the text of the hadiths (the matn), the chain of narrators
(the isnad), and advancing his understanding of the reliability of those
narrators (the knowledge of men – ‘ilm al-rijaal). He traveled through
Egypt, Syria, and Iraq to continue his studies throughout his adult
life, finally settling in Basra, where he would compile his monumental
hadith collection.
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
al-Mukhtasar 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
book’s common name: Sahih al-Bukhari meaning “The Authentic Hadiths of
al-Bukhari”.
What
makes Sahih al-Bukhari so unique was Imam al-Bukhari’s 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 Sa’eed 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 al-Khattab say
on the sermon pulpit that he heard the Prophet Muhammad ﷺsay: ‘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-Bukhari’s 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), da’eef (weak), or
mawdu’ (fabricated). This system for hadith then became the standard by
which all hadiths were classified by other hadith scholars.
Imam al-Bukhari’s Fiqh
Imam
al-Bukhari’s collection of hadiths is a monumental achievement and an
irreplaceable cornerstone of the science of hadith scholarship. Through
his work, hadith studies became a science with governing laws that
protected the field from innovations and corruptions. However, his Sahih
is not just a simple collection of hadiths. Al-Bukhari organized his
collection in a way that it can also be used to help deduce rulings
within Islamic law – fiqh.
The
Sahih is divided into 97 books, each with numerous chapters within it.
Each chapter is then titled with a ruling on a particular issue within
fiqh. Then within the chapter will be all the hadiths that he considered
authentic that support that ruling. For example, the chapter about
extra prayer during the month of Ramadan (Taraweeh) is titled “The
Superiority of Extra Prayers at Night in Ramadan” and it contains six
sayings of the Prophet ﷺthat 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 ﷺas possible. His monumental work would go to
inspire generations of hadith scholars, including al-Bukhari’s 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 ﷺeven 1400 years after his life.
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