Sahih Bukhari
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Sunni six major collections
The authentic collection (Arabic: al-Jaami al-Sahih [fatwa-online.com]) or popularly Bukhari's authentic (Arabic:Sahih Bukhari) is one of the Sunni six major Hadith collections (Hadith are oral traditions recounting events in the lives of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers). Sunni view this as their most trusted collections, calling it "The most authentic book after the Holy Qur'an" [ummah.net], [islamonline.com], [sunnah.org], [yarehman.com], [inter-islam.org], [fatwa-online.com] .
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Etymology
The title of his collection could loosely be translated as "Bukhari's Authentic Sources". (Sahih is an Arabic word one of whose meanings is "authentic".)
Collection
Sunni Muslim scholars believe that these hadith were collected by the Persian Sunni scholar Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari (810-870) and published during his life. He was a scholar from Bukhara, hence the name by which he is known. He traveled widely throughout the Abbasid empire, collecting traditions. He is said to have spent sixteen years writing down those traditions he thought trustworthy.Views
Sunni view of Bukhari
Sunni view this as their most trusted collections, calling it "The most authentic book after the Holy Qur'an"Sunni Muslims believe that Bukhari spent sixteen years collecting and writing down those traditions he thought trustworthy. They recount that Bukhari collected over 300,000 hadith [The Sciences of the Hadith: Results of Islamic Scholarship], Muslim American Society, October 9, 2003, retrieved March 26, 2006 and transmitted only 2,602 traditions that he believed to be Sahih [link]. It is said that before he placed a hadith in his collection, he would perform ghusl (full\greater ritual ablution) and prayed two Rakah (Islamic unit for form of prayer) Nafl (voluntary prayer) to ask God for guidance.[The Life and works of Imam Bukhari (RA)], Central Mosque.com, retrieved March 26, 2006
Sunnis believe that Bukhari finished his work in 846 CE (232 AH), and that he spent the last twenty-four years of his life visiting other cities and scholars, teaching the hadith he had collected. They say that in every city that he visited, thousands of people would gather in the main mosque to listen to him recite traditions. Regarding Western academic doubts as to the actual date and authorship of the book that bears his name, Sunni say that notable hadith scholars of that time, such as Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (855 CE/241 AH), Ibn Maīn (847 CE/233 AH), and Ibn Madīni (848 CE/234 AH), all accepted the authenticity of his book [link] [link]. Thus, the collection's inmediate fame makes arguments regarding its being changed after the authors death highly improbable.
During this long period of twenty-four years, Bukhari made minor changes to his book, in particular its chapter headings. Each version is named by its narrator. According to Ibn Hajar Asqalani in his book Nukat, the number of hadiths in all narrations (versions) is the same. The most famous one today is the version narrated by al-Firabri (d. 932 CE/320 AH), who is a trusted student of Bukhari. Khatib al-Baghdadi in his book History of Baghdad had quoted Firabri saying: "There were about seventy thousands people who have heard Sahih Bukhari with me".
Firabri is not the only transmitter of Sahih Bukhari. There were many others that narrated that book to later generations, such as Ibrahim ibn Ma'qal (d. 907 CE/295 AH), Hammad ibn Shaker (d. 923 CE/311 AH), Mansur Burduzi (d. 931 CE/319 AH), and Husain Mahamili (d. 941 CE/330 AH). There are many books that noted differences between these versions; Fath al-Bari is the most famous among them.
In modern times, more laypeople are reading and discussing hadith. They tend to take a much less nuanced view of hadith than do the scholars. Laypeople tend to believe that if a tradition is found in Bukhari or Muslim, the Two Sahihs, then of course it is true. The meaning is plain, no interpretation is required. The ulema, and the years of training required to join the ulema, are dismissed. This point of view is typical of the Salafi approach to Sunni Islam [[Citing sources citation needed]].
Prominent Sunni scholars have writen comentaries on this collection, most notably Fath al-Bari by Ibn Hajar Asqalani.
Shi'a view of Bukhari
Shia Muslims accept some of Bukhari's hadith and reject others. Shi'a reject hadith that they regard as defaming Muhammad and his household. Shi'a further claim that Bukhari rejected trustworthy hadith that would support the Shi'a position, in particular the mutawatir Hadith of the two weighty things.In general, Shi'a trust only those traditions that are also supported by traditions transmitted through Muhammad's descendants through Fatima and Ali, or by those early Muslims who supported Ali after Muhammad's death. All other narrators are regarded as questioned or untrustworthy.
Non-Muslim view of Bukhari
Western scholars, for example Christopher Melchert, have argued that the collection known by his name was subject to later corrections, additions, and rearrangement after his death, and did not take its final form until a generation after his death:- ''"Apparently the product of the devoted and orderly activity of a single person, works like the Sahihs of Bukhari and Muslim should probably be recognized as emerging into final form at least one generation later than the dates recorded for the deaths of the putative authors...." Bukhari and Early Hadith Criticism [link], by Christopher Melchert; The Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 121, 2001
- ''Actually, the Sahih of Bukhari seems not to have been widely published until well into the tenth century, for virtually all known transmissions were through a single man, Muhammad ibn Yusuf ibn Matar al-Firabri (d. 320/932). [6] Somehow, no one else of the many illustrious traditionists who related hadith of Bukhari (al-Mizzi lists over eighty) recognized the value of his collection of sound hadith and transmitted it. Its organization, in particular its chapter headings, seem not to have stabilized until the mid-tenth century. [7] It first attracted commentaries in the later tenth century.
Translations
References
See also
External links
- [English Translation of Sahih Al Bukhari] - translated by Muhamamd Muhsin Khan
- [Arabic Text of Sahih Al Bukhari الجامع الصحيح, with one of the most famous of its commentary by Ibn Hajar Fath al-Bari فتح الباري]
- [Al Adab Al Mufrad الأدب المفرد]
- http://www.inter-islam.org/hadeeth/bukhari.html
- http://www.inter-islam.org/A-Z/B/Bukhari.htm
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