Imam Bukhari (born 194 AH-died 256 AH), according to the Arabic tradition, the full name is Muhammad bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin Mughirah bin Bardiyabah was a famous hadith scholar. He wrote a collection of hadiths called “Bukhari Sharif”, which is considered by Muslims to be the best book of hadith. His name is Muhammad. The nickname is Abu Abdullah. Amirul Muminin Phil Hadith is his title. Bukhara is his birthplace and he is called Bukhari.

He was born on Friday, 13th Shawwal, 194 AH (610 AD) in Bukhara, Khorasan (now part of Uzbekistan). His father’s name was Ismail Ibn Ibrahim. His grandfather’s name was Ibrahim. Although not much is known about his grandfather, his father Ismail was a well-known figure in the Muslim world. He was a hadith scholar. He was a student of Hadith scholar Allama Hammad (R) and Hazrat Imam Malik (R). It is also known that he was a disciple of the famous scholar Hazrat Abdullah bin Mubarak. Imam Bukhari (RA) not only received education, knowledge, and qualifications from his father but also from his mother. Imam Bukhari’s mother was a wise and majestic woman. She was known as a good woman. There is an incident about this. Imam Bukhari (RA) once contracted a serious disease in his childhood. As a result of this disease, his two eyes became almost blind. The loving mother longs for the light to return to her son’s eyes and prays to God. At this stage, one night, in a dream, he saw the Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) sitting on his chair. Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) said to him, “Allah has accepted your prayer.” Thanks to his mercy, your son has regained his sight. The next morning his son Imam Bukhari (RA) woke up and said, Amm! I can see everything. My eyes have improved. This incident proves that Imam Bukhari’s mother was an elderly woman. Imam Bukhari lost his father in his childhood and was brought up by his mother. He left a lot of wealth when his father died. As a result, Imam Bukhari (RA) did not have to face any adverse situation. The mother took charge of her son’s education. Imam Bukhari (RA) had a deep interest in education and initiation from his childhood. Imam Bukhari (R) first started reciting the Qur’an. He memorized the Qur’an when he was only 6 years old. He started memorizing Hadith from the age of 10. At the age of 18, he memorized “Abdullah bin Mubarak” and “Waqi’s manuscripts”. God Almighty gave him a unique general memory.

At the age of sixteen, he went on Hajj with his mother and elder brother. After the Hajj, he stayed in Makkah and continued to receive hadith from the hadith scholars of the Hijaz. During this time he wrote a book called “Qayyas Sahaba wat Tabiin”. He then traveled to many regions, including Iraq, Syria, and Egypt, to explore the hadith. Once Imam Bukhari (RA) joined the dargah of Muhaddis Dakheli. Imam Dakheli (R) while narrating the sanad of a hadith has said ‘Abu Zubair’ instead of ‘Zubair’. Imam Bukhari said in a low voice, “Abu Zubayr will be replaced by Zubayr.” Then Imam Dakheli (R) went home and saw the book and corrected his mistake. Immediately after this, Dakheli (RA) used to love him very much. He also used to attend another dargah like this. Other students used to write the hadiths there. He would not write it. When his classmates asked him why he did not write the hadith, he did not answer. When his classmates urged him to write a hadith, he replied, “Bring the copies you have written. When they take the copies, he recites the hadiths in front of them. He memorized about fifteen thousand (15,000) hadiths according to their writings.” After 17 long years, he returned to his homeland Bukhara after completing his journey of researching hadith.

His father died in infancy. After the death of his father, he was brought up under the care of his mother. At the age of ten, he became interested in the practice of knowledge. At a young age, he memorized the Holy Quran. During his childhood, while studying in Maktab, Allah instilled in his heart interest and love for memorizing Hadith and preserving it. At the age of 18 he finished reading the famous books of Hadith. His biography mentions that he became blind when he was young. At this, his mother cried out to Allah and kept on praying to Him to restore her child’s sight. Suddenly one day his mother saw in a dream that the Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) was looking at her and saying: O! He has restored your child’s sight because of your crying in the court of Allah to restore your child’s sight. He then goes to his child to verify the actual facts and sees that indeed his child has regained full sight.

Imam Bukhari has traveled to many countries to collect hadith. He traveled to almost all the countries where the wise muhaddiths lived at that time and collected hadiths from them. In addition to the various regions of Khorasan, the countries he has visited include Mecca, Medina, Iraq, Hijaz, Syria, Egypt, and many more.

That’s it

When the news of Imam Bukhari as a muhaddith spread throughout the Islamic kingdom, the great muhaddiths of that era wanted to test him. So when he arrived in Baghdad, he collected four hundred muhaddiths, selected 100 Saheeh hadeeths, changed his sanad and Matan, divided them into 10 parts, and handed them over to ten muhaddiths. Then a meeting of Hadith was held for him. When he took his seat, first a muhaddith with 10 hadiths approached him and finished reciting all the hadiths one by one. As soon as he had finished reading each hadith, Imam Bukhari would say: That is, I do not know of any such hadith. Thus 10 famous muhaddiths recited 100 hadiths in front of him. He said the same thing over and over again in all the hadiths.

Finally, he called everyone and returned each of the distorted hadiths to its original sanad and corrected them. No rabbi’s name has been omitted from the sanad of the hadiths and not a single word has escaped from the opinions. Even in arranging the hadiths correctly, the muhaddithin could not catch any of his mistakes. It is said that even after going to Samarkand, he was tested in the same manner. In this, everyone recognized him as the greatest muhaddith of that era.

Before Imam Bukhari, no one wrote a book compiling only Sahih Hadiths. Before compiling Sahih Bukhari, the scholars used to write Sahih and Zayf Hadiths together. But Imam Bukhari was the first to write the Sahih Hadiths separately from the Zayef Hadiths.

He was inspired by his great master Ishaq bin Rahwai for this great work. He himself narrates that one day I was sitting in the mosque of Ishaq ibn Rahwai. He said: It would have been very nice if one of you had written a book of hadith in which only the authentic hadiths could have found a place. Everyone present at the meeting listened to him, but no one dared to move forward. Isaac’s words struck a chord in Imam Bukhari’s heart. He decided that he would carry out this great responsibility from that day onwards.

It is further mentioned in his biography that he once saw in a dream that a fly was sitting on the holy body of the Prophet (peace be upon him). He is suffering from it. And Imam Bukhari is driving the flies away from his holy body with a fan in his hand. When he related this dream to several scholars of that time, they all said that you will separate the saheeh hadeeths from the forged hadeeths which have been inserted with the hadeeth of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). His interest in composing a book containing Sahih Hadith increased after hearing the explanations of the scholars.

Imam Bukhari in his book has narrated only the saheeh hadeeth from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). In order to prove a hadith to be saheeh and to record it in Saheeh Bukhari, although he did not explicitly mention any condition, the scholars have based the following conditions on his work:

1) The narrator of the hadith must be contemporary with the narrator above him and the meeting between the two must be proven. That is, it is necessary to meet and prove to listen to the hadith. On this condition, he has contradicted other muhaddiths. In this case, the condition of Imam Muslim is that the meeting between the two should be possible only if possible. It is not necessary to prove that you have met at least once in your life and to listen to any specific hadith. 2) The rabbi must be trustworthy. 3) To be fair and to be truthful in talking and dealing with people. 4) The rabbi is full of memory. 5) To be muttasil sanad of hadith. That means no rabbi is left out from the middle.

Imam Bukhari did not write down any of the above conditions in his book as soon as the above conditions were found in any hadith. Rather, before writing each hadith, he took a bath, prayed two Rak’ ats, and performed istikhara. If there was any doubt in his heart about the hadith, he would not have written it in Sahih Bukhari even though the hadith was saheeh according to the conditions. Thus he started writing it while sitting in the mosque of Nawabi and worked day and night for 16 consecutive years.

He did not publish it in a hurry after finishing his writing; Rather, he has revisited, corrected, and refined it a few times. Three times he recorded it. The latest written copy is now preserved as an invaluable gem to the Muslim nation. When Imam Bukhari presented the book to his teachers and friends, they all liked it. Among those who have praised the book are Ahmad bin Hambal, Ali ibn al-Madini, Yahya ibn Ma’in and many more. All of them have testified that all its hadiths are saheeh. After them, this ummah has accepted it as the most saheeh after the Book of Allaah.

Imam Bukhari was the owner of a lot of wealth. Muhammad bin Abu Hatim said: Imam Bukhari had a piece of land. From this, he received a rent of seven lakh dirhams every year. From this huge amount of money, he spent very little on his personal work. He ate very limited food. Most of the time, he used to eat cucumber, watermelon, and vegetables as food. He spent the entire amount of money that was left after a small expenditure on the way to acquire knowledge and to meet the needs of the needy. He always kept a bag of dinars and dirhams with him. He also used to give a lot to the needy among the muhaddithin.

Towards the end of his life, the then ruler of Bukhara, Khalid bin Ahmad Juhli “After seeing Imam Bukhari’s erudition in Hadith, he came to the court and asked him to teach Hadith to the children of the ruler. Imam Bukhari considered it insulting for Hadith. Friday 31st August, 60 AD according to 1st Shawwal of Hijri He died at night. He was buried in Kharatang after the Zuhr prayers on Saturday. After the burial, perfume was spread from his grave. People started taking the soil of his grave in groups. Unable to stop it, his grave was surrounded by thorns. The saint prays to stop the smell, fearing that the people’s faith will be ruined so that it is stopped by the grace of God.