Muhammad al-Bukhari (Imam Al-Bukhari R.A.)

Imam Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ismaeel bin al-Mughirah al-Bukhari was born on 13th of  Shawwal 194 AH (19 July 810 C.E.)
in Bukhara. a town in the eastern part of Turkestan.

His father, Ismail ibn Ibrahim, a scholar of hadith, was a student and associate of Malik ibn Anas. Some Iraqi scholars related hadith narrations from him.

Al-Bukhari began studying hadith in the year 205 (A.H.). He memorized the works of [‘Abdullah] ibn al-Mubaarak while still a child.

At the age of 16, he went to Mecca with his mother.It is said that he heard from over 1,000 men, and learned over 600,000 traditions.

At the age of eighteen, he wrote his first book on the subject of the Prophet’s Companions and their immediate successors, and later a book on history called “Al-Tarikh-al-Kabir”.

Imam Bukhari visited various countries, travelling to Nishapur, Bukhara, Kufa, Jerusalem, Damascus, Cairo, Baghdad, Basra. Mecca, Medina etc. During his stay in Baghdad, he frequently held discussions with the Imam Ahmed Hanbal, the founder of the Hanbali school of law.

During all these travels, Imam Bukhari had one aim: to gather as much knowledge as possible and to make the greatest possible collection of the Traditions of the Holy Prophet. He wrote profusely all the time. He once said that, “l have written about 1800 persons, each of whom had a Saying of the Prophet, and I have written only about those who have passed my test of truthfulness.”

Imam Bukhari was extremely charitable in his remarks and opinions about men and scholars. Seldom did he brand the reporter of a false or inaccurate Hadith as a liar or forger, but simply called him “untrustworthy”.

Two of Imam Al-Bukhari’s hadith works have survived: al-Adab al-mufrad (“the book devoted to matters of respect and propriety”) and al-Jāmi’ al-Musnad al-Sahīh al-Mukhtaṣar min umūr Rasûl Allāh wa sunnanihi wa ayyāmihi (The abridged collection of sound reports with chains of narration going back all the way to the Prophet regarding matters pertaining to the Prophet, his practices and his times.) – also known as Sahih al-Bukhari.

Imam Bukhari died on 1 Shawwal 256 AH. at the age of 62 years in a small town near Samarkand, Tadzhikistan
May Allah have mercy on his Soul.

Reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_al-Bukhari

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