{{Short description|Islamic hadith scholar (810–870)}} {{Infobox religious biography | name = Al-Bukhari | native_name = البخاري | native_name_lang = ar | title = Amir al-Mu'minin fi al-Hadith | image = AlBukhari mausoleum.jpg | caption = Al-Bukhari's mausoleum | religion = Islam | birth_date = 21 July 810 <br /> 13 Shawwal 194 AH | birth_place = Bukhara, Abbasid Caliphate | death_date = {{Death date and age|870|9|1|810|7|19|df=yes}} <br /> 1 Shawwal 256 AH | death_place = Khartank, Samarkand, Abbasid Caliphate | resting_place = Memorial Complex of Imam al-Bukhari in Samarkand, Uzbekistan | denomination = Sunni | school = Mujtahid | era = Islamic Golden Age <br> (Abbasid era) | region = Abbasid Caliphate | main_interests = Hadith, Aqidah | notable_works = ''Sahih al-Bukhari'' <br /> ''al-Adab al-Mufrad'' <br/> al-Tarikh al-Kabir <br/> Juz Rafa Ul Yadain | influences = {{flatlist| *Al-Shafi'i *Ahmad ibn Hanbal *Ishaq ibn Rahwayh<ref name="Balushipp150To165">{{Citation| last =Ibn Rāhwayh | first =Isḥāq | date =1990 | editor-last =Balūshī | editor-first =ʻAbd al-Ghafūr ʻAbd al-Ḥaqq Ḥusayn | title =Musnad Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh | edition =1st | publisher =Tawzīʻ Maktabat al-Īmān | pages = 150–165}}</ref> *Yahya ibn Ma'in *Ali ibn al-Madini *Naim ibn Hammad *Ibn Abi Shaybah }} | influenced = {{flatlist| *Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj *Ibn Khuzayma *Al-Nasa'i *Al-Tirmidhi *Ibn Abi al-Dunya *Ibn Abi Asim }} | creed = See ''School of Law and Theology'' | honorific prefix = Imam | module = {{infobox Arabic name|embed=yes |ism=Muḥammad |ism-ar=مُحَمَّد |nasab=Ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mughīrah ibn Bardizbah |nasab-ar=ٱبْن إِسْمَاعِيل ٱبْن إِبْرَاهِيم ٱبْن ٱلْمُغِيرَة ٱبْن بَرْدِزْبَه |kunya=Abū ʿAbdillāh |kunya-ar=أَبُو عَبْدِ ٱللَّه |nisba=Al-Bukhārī al-Juʿfī |nisba-ar=ٱلْبُخَارِيّ ٱلْجُعْفِيّ }} }}
'''Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm al-Juʿfī al-Bukhārī''' ({{Langx|ar|أبو عبد الله محمد بن إسماعيل بن إبرهيم الجعفي البخاري}}; 21 July 810 – 1 September 870) was a 9th-century Muslim ''muhaddith'' who is widely regarded as the most important ''hadith'' scholar in the history of Sunni Islam. Al-Bukhari's extant works include the ''hadith'' collection ''Sahih al-Bukhari'', ''al-Tarikh al-Kabir'', and ''al-Adab al-Mufrad''.
Born in Bukhara in present-day Uzbekistan, Al-Bukhari began learning ''hadith'' at a young age. He travelled across the Abbasid Caliphate and learned under several influential contemporary scholars. Bukhari memorized thousands of ''hadith'' narrations, compiling the ''Sahih al-Bukhari'' in 846. He spent the rest of his life teaching the ''hadith'' he had collected. Towards the end of his life, he was exiled from Nishapur. Subsequently, he moved to Khartank, near Samarkand.
''Sahih al-Bukhari'' is revered as the most important ''hadith'' collection in Sunni Islam. ''Sahih al-Bukhari'' and ''Sahih Muslim,'' the ''hadith'' collection of Al-Bukhari's student Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, are together known as the '''Sahihayn''' ({{Langx|ar|صحيحين|lit=|translit=Saḥiḥayn}}) and are regarded by Sunnis as the most authentic books after the Quran. It is part of the Kutub al-Sittah, the six most highly regarded collections of ''hadith'' in Sunni Islam.
== Life ==
=== Ancestry and early life === Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari al-Ju'fi was born after the Friday prayer on Friday, 21 July 810 (13 Shawwal 194 AH) in the city of Bukhara in Greater Khorasan in present-day Uzbekistan.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://global.britannica.com/place/Transoxania |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308162534/https://global.britannica.com/place/Transoxania |archive-date=8 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="melchert">{{cite encyclopedia |title=al-Bukhārī |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |publisher=Brill Online |url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/al-bukhari-COM_2isisiideiiiseijjejdjjxj |last=Melchert |first=Christopher}}{{dead link|date=February 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=1998 |title=Bukhari |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of World Biography |publisher=Gale |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bpAYAAAAIAAJ&q=Bukhari |access-date=19 October 2015 |editor1-last=Bourgoin |editor1-first=Suzanne Michele |edition=2nd |page=112 |isbn=9780787625436 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160520134155/https://books.google.com/books?id=bpAYAAAAIAAJ&q=Bukhari |archive-date=20 May 2016 |editor2-last=Byers |editor2-first=Paula Kay |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=1971 |title=Bukhārī |encyclopedia=A Guide to Eastern Literatures |publisher=Praeger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CsZiAAAAMAAJ&q=Bukhari |access-date=19 October 2015 |editor1-last=Lang |editor1-first=David Marshall |page=33 |isbn=9780297002741 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425230836/https://books.google.com/books?id=CsZiAAAAMAAJ&q=Bukhari |archive-date=25 April 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> He was of Persian descent<ref name="abdulmaujood" /><ref name="Bukhari">{{cite encyclopedia |year=1998 |title=Bukhari |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of World Biography |publisher=Gale |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bpAYAAAAIAAJ&q=Bukhari |editor1-last=Bourgoin |editor1-first=Suzanne Michele |edition=2nd |page=112 |isbn=9780787625436 |editor2-last=Byers |editor2-first=Paula Kay}}</ref><ref name="Bukhārī">{{cite encyclopedia |year=1971 |title=Bukhārī |encyclopedia=A Guide to Eastern Literatures |publisher=Praeger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CsZiAAAAMAAJ&q=Bukhari |editor1-last=Lang |editor1-first=David Marshall |page=33 |isbn=9780297002741}}</ref> and his father was Ismail ibn Ibrahim, a scholar of hadith and a student of Malik ibn Anas, Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak, and Hammad ibn Salamah.<ref name="abdulmaujood">{{cite book |author=Salaahud-Deen ibn ʿAlee ibn ʿAbdul-Maujood |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NDxSBJ0E7kUC |title=The Biography of Imam Bukhaaree |date=December 2005 |publisher=Darussalam |others=Translated by Faisal Shafeeq |isbn=9960969053 |edition=1st |location=Riyadh |access-date=19 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624122918/https://books.google.com/books?id=NDxSBJ0E7kUC |archive-date=24 June 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=About - Sahih al-Bukhari - Sunnah.com - Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم) |url=https://sunnah.com/bukhari/about |access-date=2022-08-13 |website=sunnah.com}}</ref> Ismail died while Al-Bukhari was an infant. Al-Bukhari's great-grandfather, Al-Mughirah, settled in Bukhara after accepting Islam at the hands of Bukhara's governor, Yaman al-Ju'fi. As was the custom, he became a ''mawla'' of Yaman, and his family continued to carry the ''nisba'' "al-Ju'fi."<ref name="robson">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Robson |first=J. |title=al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition |publisher=Brill Online |url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/al-bukhari-muhammad-b-ismail-SIM_1510 |date=24 April 2012 |access-date=16 September 2016 |archive-date=21 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921023242/http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/al-bukhari-muhammad-b-ismail-SIM_1510 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Al-Mughirah's father, Bardizbah ({{Langx|fa|بردزبه}}), is the earliest known ancestor of Al-Bukhari according to most scholars and historians. Bardizbah was a Zoroastrian Magi. Taqi al-Din al-Subki is the only scholar to name Bardizbah's father, who he says was named Bazzabah ({{langx|fa|بذذبه}}). Little is known of both of them except that they were Persian and followed the religion of their people.<ref name="abdulmaujood" /><ref name="Bukhari"/><ref name="Bukhārī"/> Historians have also not come across any information on Al-Bukhari's grandfather, Ibrahim ibn al-Mughirah ({{Langx|ar|إبراهيم ابن المغيرة|translit=Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mughīrā}}).<ref name="abdulmaujood" />
=== Travels and education === According to contemporary hadith scholar and historian Al-Dhahabi, al-Bukhari began studying hadith in the Hijri year 821 CE. He memorized the works of Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak while still a child and began writing and narrating hadith while still an adolescent. In the Hijri year 826 CE, at the age of sixteen, Al-Bukhari performed the ''Hajj'' with his elder brother and widowed mother.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0">''Tathkirah al-Huffath'', vol. 2, pg. 104-5, ''al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah'' edition</ref> Al-Bukhari stayed in Mecca for two years, before moving to Medina where he wrote ''Qadhāyas-Sahābah wa at-Tābi'īn,'' a book about the companions of Muhammad and the ''tabi'un.'' He also wrote ''Al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr'' during his time in Medina.<ref name=":1" />
Al-Bukhari is known to have travelled to most of the important Islamic learning centres of his time, including Syria, Kufa, Basra, Egypt, Yemen, and Baghdad. He studied under prominent Islamic scholars including Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ali ibn al-Madini, Yahya ibn Ma'in and Ishaq ibn Rahwayh. Al-Bukhari is known to have memorized over 600,000 ''hadith'' narrations.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=al-Asqalani |first=Ibn Hajar |title=Hady al-Sari, the introduction to Fath al-Bari |title-link=Fath al-Bari |publisher=Darussalam Publications |pages=8–9 |author-link=Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani}}</ref>
=== ''Mihna'', later years and death === {{Main|Mihna}} {{Quote box | quote = “The Qur'an is God’s speech, uncreated, and the acts of men are created." | author = Al-Bukhari<ref>Brown, Jonathan (2007). "Three: The Genesis of al-Bukhārī and Muslim". The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadith Canon. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. p. 80. {{ISBN|978-90-04-15839-9}}.</ref> | width = 20% }}According to Jonathan Brown, following Ibn Hanbal, Al-Bukhari had reportedly declared that 'reciting the Quran is an element of createdness’. Through this assertion, Al-Bukhari had sought an alternative response to the doctrines of Mu'tazilites and declared that the element of creation is applied only to humans, not the Word of God. His statements were received negatively by prominent ''hadith'' scholars and he was driven out of Nishapur.<ref name="rashidi">Wahab, Muhammad Rashidi, and Syed Hadzrullathfi Syed Omar.
"The Level of Imam al-Ash'ari's Thought in Aqidah." International Journal of Islamic Thought 3 (2013), p58-70:
"Because of that, al-Bukhari in most matters related to the question of aqidah is said to take the opinion of Ibn Kullab and al-Karabisi (al-'Asqalani 2001: 1/293)"</ref><ref name="azmi">Azmi, Ahmad Sanusi. "Ahl al-Hadith Methodologies on Qur'anic Discourses in the Ninth Century: A Comparative Analysis of Ibn Hanbal and al-Bukhari." Online Journal of Research in Islamic Studies 4.1 (2017): 17-26. "Supporting his master, Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241/855), al-Bukhari is reported to declare that ‘reciting the Qur’an is an element of createdness’. This statement presumably proclaimed by al-Bukhari as an explanatory assertion intended to provide an alternative source of thought or reasoning for Muslims. Instead of accepting the doctrine of the Mu’tazilites (the group that champions the concept of the creation of the Qur’an), al-Bukhari appears to suggest that the element of creation is only applied to humans, not to the words of God, namely the Qur’an. The statement did, however, receive a negative response from the Muslim community, including some prominent scholars (especially Hanbalites)."</ref><ref name="drove">Melchert, Christopher. "The Piety of the Hadith folk." International Journal of Middle East Studies 34.3 (2002): 425-439. "Hadith folk in Baghdad warned those of Nishapur against the famous traditionist Bukhari, whom they then drove from the city for suggesting one's pronunciation of the Qur'an was created"</ref> Al-Bukhari, however, had only referred to the human action of reading the Qur’an, when he reportedly stated "My recitation of the Quran is created''"'' ({{Langx|ar|لفظي بالقرآن مخلوق|translit=Lafẓī bil-Qur'āni Makhlūq}}).<ref>{{Cite book |last=al-Lalaka'i |first=Abi al-Qāsim |title=Sharh Usul I'tiqād Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jamā'ah |publisher=Dar al-Hadith |volume=2 |location=Cairo |pages=396 |language=ar}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Jonathan |title=The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadith Canon |publisher=Brill |year=2007 |isbn=978-90-04-15839-9 |location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=80 |chapter=Three: The Genesis of al-Bukhārī and Muslim}}</ref> Al-Dhahabi and al-Subki asserted that Al-Bukhari was expelled due to the jealousy of certain scholars of Nishapur.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sanusi Azmi |first=Ahmad |date=April 2017 |title=Ahl al-Hadith Methodologies on Qur'anic Discourses in the Ninth Century: A Comparative Analysis of Ibn Hanbal and al-Bukhari |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318273198 |journal=Online Journal Research in Islamic Studies |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=23 |quote=" At the crux of the disagreement regarding the meaning of apparently ambiguous terms of ‘lafz al-Qur’an’ (word of the Qur’an), in which al-Bukhari was reported to have uttered ‘lafzi bi al-Qur’an makhluq’ (my recitation of the Qur’an is created), where he is actually referring to the human action of reading the Qur’an, he was immediately at risk... . Al-Dhahabi and al-Subki related that it is due to the jealousy of some scholars of Naisabur (Nishapur).." |via=Research Gate}}</ref> Al-Bukhari spent the last twenty-four years of his life teaching the ''hadith'' he had collected. During the ''mihna'', he fled to Khartank, a village near Samarkand, where he then also died on Friday, 1 September 870.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="Khair2006">{{cite book |author=Tabish Khair |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fcIvtBPnYL8C&q=qilghan&pg=PA393 |title=Other Routes: 1500 Years of African and Asian Travel Writing |publisher=Signal Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-904955-11-5 |pages=393– |access-date=18 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220708142436/https://books.google.com/books?id=fcIvtBPnYL8C&q=qilghan&pg=PA393 |archive-date=8 July 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> Today his tomb lies within the Imam Bukhari Mausoleum<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pasha |first=Muhammad Ali |date=2023-02-28 |title=Mausoleum of Imam Bukhari, Samarkand |url=https://thegulfobserver.com/mausoleum-of-imam-bukhari-samarkand/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=The Gulf Observer |language=en-US}}</ref> in Hartang, Uzbekistan, 25 kilometers from Samarkand. It was restored in 1998 after centuries of neglect and dilapidation. The mausoleum complex consists of Al-Bukhari's tomb, a mosque, a madrasa, library, and a small collection of Qurans. The modern ground-level mausoleum tombstone of Al-Bukhari is only a cenotaph, the actual grave lies within a small crypt below the structure.<ref name="madainproject">{{cite web |title=Tomb of Imam al-Bukhari |url=https://madainproject.com/tomb_of_imam_al_bukhari |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190512125631/https://madainproject.com/tomb_of_imam_al_bukhari |archive-date=12 May 2019 |access-date=12 May 2019 |website=Madain Project}}</ref>
== Works == {{Main|Sahih al-Bukhari|Al-Adab al-Mufrad|Al-Tarikh al-Kabir}} thumb|274x274px|right|Al-Bukhari's travels seeking and studying hadith.''Sahih al-Bukhari'' is considered Al-Bukhari's ''magnum opus''. It is a collection of approximately 7,563 ''hadith'' narrations across 97 chapters creating a basis for a complete system of jurisprudence without the use of speculative law. The book is highly regarded among Sunni Muslims, and most Sunni scholars consider it second only to the Quran in terms of authenticity. It is considered one of the most authentic collection of hadith, even ahead of ''Muwatta Imam Malik'' and ''Sahih Muslim''. Alongside the latter, ''Sahih al-Bukhari'' is known as one of the '''Sahihayn'' (Two ''Sahihs'')' and they are together part of the Kutub al-Sittah.<ref name="auto">Abdul Qadir Muhammad Jalal et al., "Elevating Imam Al Bukhari: Affirming the Status of Imam Al Bukhari and His Sahih by Dispelling the Misconceptions Surrounding them", Lagos 2021</ref> One of the most famous stories from the ''Sahih al-Bukhari'' is the story of Muhammad's first revelation.
Al-Bukhari wrote three works discussing narrators of hadith with respect to their ability in conveying their material. These are ''Al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr'', ''Al-Tarīkh al-Awsaţ'', and ''Al-Tarīkh al-Ṣaghīr.'' Of these, ''Al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr'' is published and well-known, while Al-Tarīkh al-Ṣaghīr is lost.<ref>Fihris Musannafāt al-Bukhāri, pp. 28-30.</ref> Al-Dhahabi quotes Al-Bukhari as having said, “When I turned eighteen years old, I began writing about the companions and the ''tabi'un'' and their statements. [...] At that time I also authored a book of history at the grave of the Prophet at night during a full moon."<ref name=":0"/> The books being referred to here were ''Qadhāyas-Sahābah wa at-Tābi'īn'' and ''Al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr.'' Al-Bukhari also wrote al-Kunā on patronymics, and Al-Ḍu'afā al-Ṣaghīr on weak narrators of hadith.<ref>Fihris Muṣannafāt al-Bukhāri, pp. 9-61, Dār al-'Āṣimah, Riyaḍ: 1410.</ref> Al-Adab al-Mufrad is a collection of hadith narrations on ethics and manners.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=AdabMufrad |url=http://bewley.virtualave.net/AdabMufrad.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231020651/http://bewley.virtualave.net/AdabMufrad.html |archive-date=31 December 2014 |access-date=25 February 2013 |website=bewley.virtualave.net}}</ref>
In response to the accusations levied against him during his ''mihna'', Al-Bukhari compiled the treatise ''Khalq Af'āl al-'Ibād'', the earliest traditionalist representation of the position taken by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, in which Al-Bukhari explains that the Quran is God's uncreated speech, while maintaining that God creates human actions, as the Sunnis had insisted in their attacks on the free-will position of Qadariyah. The first section of the book reports narrations from earlier scholars such as Sufyan al-Thawri that affirmed the Sunni doctrine of the uncreated nature of the Quran and condemned anyone who held the contrary position as a ''Jahmi'' or ''Kāfir''. The second section asserts that the acts of men are created, relying on Qur'anic verses and reports from earlier traditionalist scholars like Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qatlan. In the last part of his treatise, Al-Bukhari harshly condemned the ''Mutazilites'', defending the belief that sound of the Qur'an being recited is created.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Jonathan |title=The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadith Canon |publisher=Brill |year=2007 |isbn=978-90-04-15839-9 |location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=80–82 |chapter=Three: The Genesis of al-Bukhārī and Muslim}}</ref> Al-Bukhari cited Ahmad Ibn Hanbal as evidence for his position, re-affirming the latter's legacy and the former's allegiance to the ''Ahl al-Hadith.''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Jonathan |title=The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadith Canon |publisher=Brill |year=2007 |isbn=978-90-04-15839-9 |location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=79 |chapter=Three: The Genesis of al-Bukhārī and Muslim |quote="Al-Bukhari’s allegiance to the ahl al-hadith camp and to Ibn Hanbal himself is thus obvious. Indeed, he quotes Ibn Hanbal as evidence for his position on the lafz."}}</ref>''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Jonathan |title=The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadith Canon |publisher=Brill |year=2007 |isbn=978-90-04-15839-9 |location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=79 |chapter=Three: The Genesis of al-Bukhārī and Muslim}}</ref>''
== List of Works == The following is a list of Al-Bukhari's works:<ref>{{cite book |last=Al-Aqtash |first=Ahmad |title=Qissat Hayat al-Bukhari: Sira Tarikhiya Jadida |date=2024 |publisher=Markaz Ihsan li-Dirasat al-Sunna al-Nabawiya; Dar Atlas al-Khadra |isbn=978-603-05-1235-5 |edition=1st |location=Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |pages=474–484 |language=ar |trans-title=The Life Story of al-Bukhari: A New Historical Biography |oclc=1583039793 |orig-year=1446 AH}}</ref>
=== Extant works ===
* '''''Al-Adab al-Mufrad''''' (''The Singular Book of Etiquette'', also known as ''Al-Adab'').
Al-Bukhari produced it in Bukhara after his departure from Nishapur. It is transmitted from him by Abū al-Khayr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Jalīl al-ʿAbsī al-Karminī al-Bukhārī.
* '''''Al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥīḥ''''' (''The Authentic Comprehensive Collection'').
Al-Bukhari referred to it in abbreviated form as ''Al-Jāmiʿ'' and ''Al-Ṣaḥīḥ'' He produced it for the first time in Firabrī in Bukhara after his departure from Nishapur, and produced it once more in Nasaf after his departure from Bukhara in Ramaḍān 256 AH. Its principal transmitter is Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Firabrī, who heard it in Firabrī between 253 and 255 AH.
* '''''Khalq Afʿāl al-ʿIbād''''' (''The Creation of the Acts of Servants'').
He produced it in Bukhara in 256 AH. It is transmitted from him by al-Firabrī (extant) and Ibn Rayḥān (lost).
* '''''Rafʿ al-Yadayn fī al-Ṣalāh''''' (''Raising the Hands in Prayer'').
He produced it in Bukhara after his departure from Nishapur. It is transmitted from him by Abū Isḥāq Maḥmūd ibn Isḥāq al-Qawwās al-Khuzāʿī al-Bukhārī.
* '''''Al-Qirāʾah Khalf al-Imām''''' (''Recitation Behind the Prayer Leader'').
He produced it in Bukhara after his departure from Nishapur. It is transmitted from him by Abū Isḥāq Maḥmūd ibn Isḥāq al-Qawwās al-Khuzāʿī al-Bukhārī.
* '''''Iʿtiqād al-Bukhārī''''' (''The Creed of al-Bukhārī'').
A treatise of several pages, transmitted from him by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Bukhārī, who heard it in 256 AH. The text indicates that Al-Bukhari either dictated it in written form or orally to the aforementioned transmitter.
* '''''Birr al-Wālidayn''''' (''Dutifulness to Parents'').
He produced it in Nishapur during his stay there. It is transmitted from him by Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Dalwayh al-Daqqāq al-Naysābūrī.
* '''''Al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr''''' (''The Large History'', also known as ''Al-Tārīkh'')
Arranged alphabetically. He composed it for the first time in 212 AH in Medina. Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh examined it around 224 AH when Al-Bukhari entered Nishapur on his return from Iraq. Its transmitters, in chronological order, are: {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ ! scope="col" |Transmitter ! scope="col" |Place ! scope="col" |Date ! scope="col" |Status |- |Abū ʿĪsā al-Tirmidhī |Bukhara |Before 241 AH |Cited in his ''Sunan'' and ''ʿIlal'' |- |Faḍlak al-Rāzī |Near Baghdad |{{circa|243}} AH |Cited in works of Rāzī scholars |- |Ibn Sahl |Basra |246 AH |Extant, with some lacunae |- |Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd |Baghdad |248–250 AH |Lost |- |Ibn Fāris and others |Nishapur |250–252 AH |Partially extant |- |ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn al-Faḍl al-Fasawī |Firabrī or Bukhara |253–256 AH |Partially extant |- |Musabbiḥ ibn Saʿīd al-Bukhārī |Bukhara |253–256 AH |Fully Extant |- |Muḥammad ibn Wāṣil al-Baykanī |Baykand |253–256 AH |Cited by al-Ḥākim, and possibly al-Kalābādhī and Mughulṭāy |}
* '''''Al-Mukhtaṣar min al-Tārīkh''''' (''The Abridgement of the History'', also known as ''Al-Tārīkh al-Awsaṭ'' [''The Middle History''] and ''Al-Tārīkh al-Ṣaghīr'' [''The Small History'']).
Its full title is ''Al-Mukhtaṣar min Tārīkh Hijrat Rasūlillāh ﷺ wa al-Muhājirīn wa al-Anṣār, wa Ṭabaqāt al-Tābiʿīn bi-Iḥsān wa man Baʿdahum wa Wafātihim wa Baʿḍ Nasabihim wa Kunahum wa man Yurghab ʿan Ḥadīthih''. It is arranged according to generations and years. Al-Bukhari produced it successively in Basra, Baghdad, Nishapur, and Bukhara. Its transmitters, in chronological order, are: {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ ! scope="col" |Transmitter ! scope="col" |Place ! scope="col" |Date ! scope="col" |Status |- |Ibn Sahl |Basra |243–247 AH |Cited by Ḥamza al-Sahmī |- |Ibn al-Ashqar |Baghdad |248 AH |Cited by al-Khaṭīb, Ibn ʿAsākir, and others |- |Al-Khaffāf |Nishapur |250 AH |Extant |- |Zanjawyh |Nishapur |251 AH |Extant |- |Ibn Fāris and others |Nishapur |250–252 AH |Cited by Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥākim |- |Ibn al-Faḍl al-Fasawī |Firabrī or Bukhara |253–256 AH |Cited by Mughulṭāy |- |Jaʿfar ibn Nadhīr al-Karminī |Bukhara |253–256 AH |Possibly cited by with al-Kalābādhī |}
* '''''Al-Ḍuʿafāʾ''''' (''The Weak Narrators''). Al-Bukhari compiled two works on this subject, a smaller and a larger one. ''The smaller compilation'' — its transmitters, in chronological order, are:
{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ ! scope="col" |Transmitter ! scope="col" |Place ! scope="col" |Date ! scope="col" |Status |- |Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Shuʿayb al-Ghāzī |Basra (approximate) |246–247 AH |Cited by Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥākim and al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī |- |Ādam ibn Mūsā al-Khawwārī |Khawār al-Rayy |250 AH |Extant |- |Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Rawsānī al-Naysābūrī |Nishapur |250–252 AH |Cited by al-Bayhaqī |- |Musabbiḥ ibn Saʿīd al-Bukhārī |Bukhara |253–256 AH |Partially extant |} ''The larger compilation'' is lost. Its transmitters, in chronological order, are: {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ ! scope="col" |Transmitter ! scope="col" |Place ! scope="col" |Date ! scope="col" |Status |- |Al-Dawlābī |Baghdad (approximate) |248–250 AH |Cited by Ibn ʿAdī |- |Ādam ibn Mūsā al-Khawwārī |Khawār al-Rayy |250 AH |Cited by al-ʿUqaylī |- |Unknown |— |— |Cited by al-Mizzī, al-Dhahabī, and others |}
=== Lost works ===
* '''''Al-Ashribah''''' (''Beverages'').
Mentioned and quoted by al-Dāraquṭnī.
* '''''Aṣḥāb al-Nabī ﷺ''''' (''The Companions of the Prophet ﷺ'', also known as ''Asmāʾ al-Ṣaḥābah'' [''The Names of the Companions''], ''Al-Waḥdān min al-Ṣaḥābah'' [''The Solitary Narrators Among the Companions''], and ''Man Laysa lahu illā Ḥadīthun Wāḥid min al-Ṣaḥābah'' [''Those Among the Companions with Only a Single Hadith'']).
Al-Bukhari produced it in Baghdad, where it was transmitted from him by Abū Bakr ibn Ṣadaqah al-Baghdādī and Abū Bishr ibn Ḥammād al-Dawlābī. He produced it again in Nishapur, where it was transmitted from him by Abū Aḥmad ibn Fāris al-Naysābūrī. Al-Baghawī, al-Ṭabarānī, Abū Nuʿaym, and others quote from it.
* '''''Al-Iʿtiṣām''''' (''Holding Fast'', also known as ''Kitāb al-Iʿtiṣām bil-Sunnah'' [''The Book of Holding Fast to the Sunnah''], per al-Ḥākim).
Al-Bukhari referenced it in his ''Ṣaḥīḥ'' (no. 7271): "Refer to the original copy of ''Kitāb al-Iʿtiṣām''." Ibn Ḥajar commented: "His saying 'refer to the original copy' indicates that he composed it as a standalone work and transcribed into the ''Ṣaḥīḥ'' only what met his conditions therein, just as he did with ''Kitāb al-Adab al-Mufrad''."
* '''''Intiqād al-Bukhārī min Ḥadīthihi li-Ahl Baghdād''''' (''Al-Bukhārī's Selection from His Hadiths for the People of Baghdad'').
He produced it in Nishapur during his stay there. It is transmitted from him by Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdullāh ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Sharqī al-Naysābūrī.
* '''''Al-Tafsīr''''' (''Quranic Commentary'').
* '''''Al-ʿIlal''''' (''Concealed Defects [in Hadith]'').
He produced it in Nishapur during his stay there. It is transmitted from him by Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdullāh ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Sharqī al-Naysābūrī.
* '''''Al-Fawāʾid''''' (''Beneficial Matters'')
Mentioned by al-Tirmidhī in his ''Sunan''.
* '''''Ṣaḥīfat Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Uways''''' (''The'' ''Sahifa of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Uways'').
Contained eighty hadiths.
* '''''Al-Mabsūṭ''''' (''The Expansive Compilation'').
He produced it in Bukhara after his departure from Nishapur. It is transmitted from him by Muhayb ibn Sālim. Ibn Ṭāhir stated that Al-Bukhari composed it before ''Al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥīḥ'', and it is likely that his standalone books were originally constituent parts of it.
* '''''Al-Hibah''''' (''Gifts'').
Al-Bukhari's copyist reported him saying: "In Wakīʿ's book on gifts there are only two or three ''musnad'' hadiths, and in ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak's book there are five or thereabouts, whereas in this book of mine there are five hundred hadiths or more."
* '''''Qadāyā al-Ṣaḥābah wa al-Tābiʿīn wa Aqwāluhum''''' (''The Legal Judgements and Opinions of the Companions and Successors'').
Al-Bukhari composed it in Medina in 212 AH. It is the earliest of his known works.
=== Other lost works === Al-Khalīlī, in his biographical entry on Muhayb ibn Sālim al-Karminī, stated that Muhayb "transmitted extensively from Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī, transmitting from him ''Al-Mabsūṭ'' and other books that no one else transmitted." While ''Al-Mabsūṭ'' is attested through other sources, the phrase "that no one else transmitted" indicates that the remaining books are distinct from those whose titles are otherwise known. They are among the works Al-Bukhari produced in Bukhara after his departure from Nishapur.
=== Works of uncertain attribution ===
* '''''Al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr''''' (''The Large Comprehensive Collection'').
Ibn Ḥajar mentioned that Ibn Ṭāhir referred to it, without specifying its subject matter. It may be one of the books that Muhayb ibn Sālim alone transmitted.
* '''''Al-Sunan fī al-Fiqh''''' (''The Sunan in Jurisprudence'').
Mentioned by al-Nadīm in his ''Fihrist''. It is likely that al-Nadīm copied the title from a manuscript copy he examined, and this book may be one of Al-Bukhari's well-known jurisprudential works. It is also possible that it is one of the books transmitted by Muhayb.
* '''''Al-Musnad al-Kabīr''''' (''The Large Musnad'').
Ibn Ḥajar mentioned that al-Firabrī referred to it. It may in fact be the same work as ''Al-Mabsūṭ''.
* '''''Mashyakhat al-Bukhārī''''' (''Al-Bukhārī's List of Sheikhs'').
Al-Dhahabī mentioned it, reporting that Al-Bukhari "stated that he heard from a thousand persons, and he compiled a ''mashyakhah'' from them and transmitted it, though we have not seen it." It may be the same treatise in which Al-Bukhari mentioned the creed of his teachers and which Ghunjar transmitted.
== School of law == In terms of law, scholars like Jonathan Brown assert that al-Bukhari was of the ''Ahl al-Hadith'', an adherent of Ahmad ibn Hanbal's traditionalist school in law (fiqh), but fell victim to its most radical wing due to misunderstandings.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Jonathan |title=The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadith Canon |publisher=Brill |year=2007 |isbn=978-90-04-15839-9 |location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=78 |chapter=Three: The Genesis of al-Bukhārī and Muslim |quote=}}</ref> This claim is supported by Hanbalis, although members of the Shafi'i and Ẓāhirī schools levy this claim as well.<ref>Imam al-Bukhari. (d. 256/870; Tabaqat al-Shafi'iya, 2.212-14 [6])</ref><ref>Falih al-Dhibyani, [http://www.okaz.com.sa/Okaz/osf/20060615/Con2006061525519.htm Al-zahiriyya hiya al-madhhab al-awwal, wa al-mutakallimun 'anha yahrifun bima la ya'rifun] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703102411/http://www.okaz.com.sa/okaz/osf/20060615/Con2006061525519.htm|date=3 July 2013}}. Interview with Abdul Aziz al-Harbi for Okaz. 15 July 2006, Iss. #1824. Photography by Salih Ba Habri.</ref> Scott Lucas argues that al-Bukhari's legal positions were similar to those of the Ẓāhirīs and Hanbalis of his time, suggesting al-Bukhari rejected ''qiyas'' and other forms of ''ra'y'' completely.<ref name="The Legal Principles of Muhammad B">{{cite journal |last1=Lucas |first1=Scott C. |date=2006 |title=The Legal Principles of Muhammad B. Ismāʿīl Al-Bukhārī and Their Relationship to Classical Salafi Islam |journal=Islamic Law and Society |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=290–292, 303 |doi=10.1163/156851906778946341}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lucas |first1=Scott C. |date=2006 |title=The Legal Principles of Muhammad B. Ismāʿīl Al-Bukhārī and Their Relationship to Classical Salafi Islam |journal=Islamic Law and Society |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=290, 312 |doi=10.1163/156851906778946341}}</ref> Many are of the opinion that Al-Bukhari was a ''mujtahid'' with his own ''madhhab''.<ref>Sattar, Abdul. "Konstruksi Fiqh Bukhari dalam Kitab al-Jami’al-Shahih." De Jure: Jurnal Hukum dan Syar'iah 3.1 (2011).</ref><ref>Masrur, Ali, and Imam Zainuddin Az-Zubaidi. "Imam Muhammad bin Ismail al-Bukhari (194-256 H): Kolektor Hadis Nabi Saw. paling unggul di Dunia Islam." (2018): 1-16.</ref><ref>Hasyim, Muh Fathoni. "FIKIH IMAM AL-BUKHAR1." (2009).</ref><ref name="Mughal, Justice R 2012">Mughal, Justice R. Dr, and Munir Ahmad. "Imam Bukhari (رحمۃ اللہ علیہ) Was a Mujtahid Mutlaq." Available at SSRN 2049357 (2012).</ref> Munir Ahmad asserts that historically most jurists considered him to be a ''muhaddith'' (scholar of ''hadith'') and not a ''faqīh'' (jurist), and that as a ''muhaddith,'' he followed the Shafi'i school.<ref name=":2" /> The Harvard historian Ahmed el-Shamsy also asserts this, as he states that he was a student of the Shafi'i scholar {{ill|al-Karabisi|ar|الحسين الكرابيسي}} (d. 245/859).<ref name=":3">The '''Canonization''' of Islamic Law: A Social and Intellectual History Reprint by '''El''' Shamsy, '''Ahmed''' (ISBN 9781107546073). Page 70,165,170,197&217</ref>
A significant number of scholars, both historical and contemporary, maintain that al-Bukhari was an independent mujtahid and did not adhere to any of the four famous madhhabs. Al-Dhahabi said that: Imam Bukhari was a mujtahid, a scholar capable of making his own ijtihad without following any Islamic school of jurisprudence in particular.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ص157 - كتاب الكاشف - حرف الميم - المكتبة الشاملة |url=https://shamela.ws/book/2171/845 |access-date=2024-09-15 |website=shamela.ws}}</ref>
== Theology == According to some scholars, such as Christopher Melchert, and also Ash'ari theologians, including Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani and al-Bayhaqi, al-Bukhari was a follower of the Kullabi school of Sunni theology due to his position on the ''utterance'' of the Quran being created.<ref name=":4">"The Adversaries of Aḥmad Ibn Ḥanbal", 1997 Christopher Melchert.
"Al-Karabisi's (And Ibn Kullabs) doctrine of the pronunciation was taken up after him by Ahmad al-Sarrak (fl. ca. 240/854-855), Abu Thawr (d. 240/854), Ibn Kullab (d. ca. 240/854-855), al-Harit al-Muhasibi (d. 243/857-858), Dawud al-Zahiri (d. 270/884), and even al-Bukhari (d. 256/870). Indeed, most of the known semi-rationalist Kullabi school were loosely associated with Al-Shafi'i."</ref><ref name="fath2">{{cite book |last=Al-Asqalani |first=Ibn Hajar |title=Fath al-bari sharh Sahih al-Bukhari |publisher=Maktabah Misr |year=2001 |volume=1 |page=293}}</ref><ref name="rashidi" /> Other Kullabis, such as al-Harith al-Muhasibi, were harassed and made to relocate, a similar situation al-Bukhari found himself towards the latter years of his life by other Hanbalis.<ref name="drove" /><ref>Shakir, Zaid. "Treatise for the Seekers of Guidance." NID Publishers, 2008.</ref> He was also known to be a student of {{ill|al-Karabisi|ar|الحسين الكرابيسي}} (d. 245/859), who was a direct student of Imam al-Shafi'i from his period in Iraq.<ref>The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim. Jonathon AC Brown. Page 71</ref><ref name=":3" /> Al-Karabisi was also known to have associated himself directly with Ibn Kullab and the Kullabi school of thought.<ref>The Formative Period Of Islamic Thought by Watt, W. Montomery</ref><ref name=":4" />
=== Interpretation of God's attributes === According to Namira Nahouza in her work 'Wahhabism and the Rise of the New Salafists', al-Bukhari in his Sahih, in the book entitled "Tafsir al-Qur'an wa 'ibaratih" [i.e., Exegesis of the Qur'an and its expressions], surat al-Qasas, verse 88: "kullu shay'in halikun illa Wajhah" [the literal meaning of which is "everything will perish except His Face"], he said the term [illa Wajhah] means: "except His Sovereignty/Dominance". And there is [in this same chapter] other than that in terms of ta'wil (metaphorical interpretation), like the term 'dahk' ({{langx|ar|ضحك|lit=laughter}}) which is narrated in a hadith, [which is interpreted by] His Mercy.<ref>{{cite book|author=Namira Nahouza|title=Wahhabism and the Rise of the New Salafists: Theology, Power and Sunni Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nyaODwAAQBAJ|date=2018|publisher=I.B. Tauris|isbn=9781838609832|page=96}}</ref>
=== Views on predestination === Al-Bukhari also rebuked those who rejected of ''qadar'' (predestination) in ''Sahih al-Bukhari'' by quoting a verse of the Qur'an implying that God had precisely determined all human acts.<ref name="azmi" /> According to Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, al-Bukhari signified that if someone was to accept autonomy in creating his acts, he would be assumed to be playing God's role and so would subsequently be declared a ''Mushrik,'' similar to the later Ash'ari view of ''kasb'' (acquisition, occasionalism, and causality, which link human action with divine omnipotence).<ref name="azmi" /> In another chapter, al-Bukhari refutes the creeds of the Kharijites. According to Badr al-Din al-'Ayni, the heading of that chapter was designed not only to refute the Kharijites but any who held similar beliefs.<ref name="azmi" />
== See also == {{Portal|Islam}}
* ''Sahih al-Bukhari'' * ''Al-Tarikh al-Kabir'' * ''Al-Adab al-Mufrad''
== Notes and references ==
=== Notes === <references group="note" responsive="1"></references>
=== Citations === {{Reflist}}
=== Sources === {{refbegin}} * Bukhari, Imam (194-256H) الإمام البُخاري; An educational Encyclopedia of Islam; Syed Iqbal Zaheer {{refend}} * Abdul Qadir Muhammad Jalal et al., "Elevating Imam Al Bukhari: Affirming the Status of Imam Al Bukhari and His Sahih by Dispelling the Misconceptions Surrounding them", Lagos 2021
== External links ==
=== Studies === {{EB1911 poster|Bukhārī|italic=}}
* Ghassan Abdul-Jabbar, ''Bukhari'', London, 2007 * Jonathan Brown, ''The canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim,'' Leiden 2007 * Eerik Dickinson, ''The development of early Sunnite hadith criticism,'' Leiden 2001 * Scott C. Lucas, "The legal principles of Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī and their relationship to classical Salafi Islam," ''ILS'' 13 (2006), 289–324 * Christopher Melchert, "Bukhārī and early hadith criticism," ''JAOS'' 121 (2001), 7–19 * Christopher Melchert, "Bukhārī and his Ṣaḥīḥ," ''Le Muséon'' 123 (2010), 425–54 * Alphonse Mingana, ''An important manuscript of the traditions of Bukhārī'', Cambridge 1936 {{Islam scholars diagram|state=expanded}}
{{People of Khorasan}} {{Shafi'i scholars}} {{Kullabi}} {{Authority control}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad al-Bukhari}} Category:Persian people Category:Hadith compilers Category:Hadith scholars Category:Transoxanian Islamic scholars Category:Shafi'is Category:People from Bukhara Category:Persian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Category:Biographical evaluation scholars Category:810 births Category:870 deaths Category:Kullabis