Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī
محمد بن إسماعيل البخاري
al-Bukhārī's name in Arabic calligraphy.
Title	Imam al-Bukhari Amir al-Mu'minin fi al-Hadith
Personal
Born	21 July 810 (13 Shawwal 194 AH) Bukhara, Abbasid Caliphate
Died	1 September 870(870-09-01) (aged 60) 1 Shawwal 256 AH Khartank, Samarkand, Abbasid Caliphate
Resting place	Imam Bukhari Mausoleum near Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Religion	Islam
Era	Islamic Golden Age (Abbasid era)
Region	Abbasid Caliphate
Denomination	Sunni
Jurisprudence	Ijtihad (in disputes)[1][2][3][4]
Creed	Athari[5] Kullabi[6]
Main interest(s)	Hadith, Aqidah
Notable work(s)	Sahih al-Bukhari al-Adab al-Mufrad
Occupation	Muhaddith
Muslim leader
Influenced by Al-Shafi'i Ahmad ibn Hanbal Ibn Abi Shaybah Ibn Kullab Naim ibn Hammad Ali ibn al-Madini Yahya ibn Ma'in Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh[7]
Influenced Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj Ibn Abi Asim

'Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari (Arabic: محمد بن إسماعيل البخاري, romanized: Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī‎, 810– 870), commonly referred to as Imām al-Bukhari or Imām Bukhāri,^[8] was a 9th-century Persian Muslim hadith scholar who compiled the Sahih al-Bukhari, one of the Sahihayn,' Kutub al-Sittah, and the most important hadith collection in Sunni Islam.

Born to hadith scholar Ismail ibn Ibrahim in Bukhara, Khorasan (present day Uzbekistan), Bukhari began collecting hadith at a young age, travelling across the Abbasid Caliphate. He studied under Ishaq ibn Rahwayh, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Yahya ibn Ma'in, Ali ibn al-Madini, among others. Bukhari completed compiling the Sahih al-Bukhari in 846, spending the final twenty-four years of his life teaching the hadith he had collected. Among his other works are Al-Adab al-Mufrad and Al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr.

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.^{[9][10][11][12]} His father was Ismail ibn Ibrahim, a scholar of hadith and a student of Malik ibn Anas.^[13] 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."^[14]

Al-Mughirah's father, Bardizbah (Persian: بردزبه), is the earliest known ancestor of Bukhari according to most scholars and historians. Bardizbah was a Zoroastrian Magi. Al-Subkī is the only scholar to name Bardizbah's father, who he says was named Bazzabah (Persian: بذذبه). Little is known of both of them except that they were Persian and followed the religion of their people.^[13] Historians have also not come across any information on Bukhari's grandfather, Ibrahim ibn al-Mughirah (Arabic: إبراهيم ابن المغيرة, romanized: Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mughīrā).^[13]

According to contemporary hadith scholar and historian Al-Dhahabi, he began studying hadith in the Hijri year 205 AH. He memorized the works of Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak while still a child. His father died when he was an infant. He began writing and narrating hadith while still an adolescent. 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."^[15]

In the Hijri year 210 AH, at the age of sixteen, he made the Hajj with his elder brother and widowed mother.^[15][16] From there, he made a series of travels in order to increase his knowledge of hadith. He went through all the important centres of Islamic learning of his time, talked to scholars and exchanged information on hadith. It is said that he heard from over 1,000 men, and learned over 600,000 traditions.^[16]

Bukhari began writing the Sahih al-Bukhari in the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, before moving to the Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina. He completed compiling the book in Bukhara in 846. He spent the last twenty-four years of his life teaching the hadith he had collected. In the year 864, he settled in Nishapur where he met Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, a student of his who would later compile the Sahih Muslim. Political problems led him to move to Khartank, a village near Samarkand, where he died on Friday, 1 September 870.^[16][17]

Today his tomb lies within the Imam Bukhari Mausoleum 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.^[18]

Works

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.^[19]

Bukhari wrote three works discussing narrators of hadith with respect to their ability in conveying their material. These are Al-Tarikh al-Kabīr, Al-Tarīkh al-Awsaţ, and Al-Tarīkh al-Ṣaghīr. Of these, Al-Tarikh al-Kabīr is published and well-known, while Al-Tarīkh al-Ṣaghīr is lost.^[20] Al-Bukhari also wrote al-Kunā on patronymics, and Al-Ḍu'afā al-Ṣaghīr on weak narrators of hadith.^[21] Al-Adab al-Mufrad is a collection of hadith narrations on ethics and manners.^[22][23]

Education and influence

According to some scholars and Ash'arite theologians like Ibn Hajar, Bukhari was a follower of early Sunni theologian (mutakallim) Ibn Kullab in creed.^[24][25] However, other scholars like Jonathan Brown assert that Al-Bukhari was a "diehard traditionalist" who firmly adhered to Ibn Hanbal’s original traditionalist school, but fell victim to its most radical wing due to misunderstandings.^[26] Following his master Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Bukhari had reportedly declared that 'reciting the Qur’an is an element of createdness’. Through this assertion, Bukhari sought an alternative response to the doctrines of Mu'tazilites and declared that element of creation is only applied to humans, but not to God's Words. His statements were met negative response with certain hadith scholars.^[27][28] Reacting to such teaching, the hadith scholars of Baghdad warned the people of Nishapur against him, had him imprisoned and then drove him out of the city.^[25][27]

Open followers of Ibn Kullab, such as the rationalist Harith al-Muhasibi, were also criticised and made to relocate.^[28][29] However, in reality Bukhari had only referred to the human action of reading the Qur’an, when he reportedly stated ‘lafzi bi al-Qur’an makhluq’ (my recitation of the Qur’an is created) in the dispute over the ambiguous term ‘lafz al-Qur’an’ (word of the Qur’an). Al-Dhahabi and Al-Subki asserted that Bukhari was expelled due to the jealousy of certain scholars of Nishapur.^[30] As a reluctant person who viewed debates as unwanted speculation (khawd), Bukhari had stated in his early years:

“The Qur'an is God’s speech, uncreated, and the acts of men are created, and inquisition (imtihan) is heresy (bida)."^[31]

In response to the accusations levelled against him by various scholars, Bukhari compiled the treatise Khalq af'al al-ibad, the earliest traditionalist representation of the position taken by Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Navigating the contradictions apparent in blunt doctrines of his uber-traditionalist accusers like Al-Dhuhli, Bukhari explains that the Qur'an is God's uncreated speech, but he also argues that God creates human actions, as the Sunnis had insisted in their attacks on the free-will position of Qadarites. The first section of the book reports narrations from earlier scholars such as Sufyan al-Thawri that affirmed the Sunni doctrine of uncreated nature of the Qur'an and condemned anyone who held the contrary position as a Jahmi or disbeliever. The second section asserts that the acts of men are created, relying on Qur'anic verses and reports from earlier traditionalist scholars like Yahya b. Sa'id al Qatlan. In the last part of his treatise, Bukhari began harshly rebutting the rationalists; arguing that human acts are created. Reporting narrations from the Prophet, Bukhari defended the traditionalist belief that sound of the Qur'an being recited is created.^[32] In addition, Bukhari cited Ahmad Ibn Hanbal as evidence for his position on the lafz, re-affirming the legacy of Ibn Hanbal and his allegiance to the Ahl al-Hadith camp.^[33] Fiercely condemning the Mutakallimun (speculative theologians) Bukhari writes in Khalq af-'al Al-'Ibad:

"It is known that Ahmad and all the people of knowledge hold that God’s speech is uncreated and that all other speech is created. Indeed they hated discussing and investigating obscure issues, and they avoided the people of dialectical theology (kalam), speculation (al-khawd ) and disputation (tanazu') except on issues in which they had [textual] knowledge."^[34]

Away from discussions relating to God's speech, Bukhari also repudiated rejection of Qadar (the divine decree) in his Sahih by quoting a verse of the Quran implying that God had already determined all human acts with a precise determining.^[27] According to Ibn Hajar, 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 polytheist.^[27] In another chapter, Bukhari refutes the creeds of the Kharijites, and according to al-Ayni, the heading of that chapter was designed not only to refute the Kharijites but also any who held similar beliefs.^[27]

Interpretation of God's attributes

In Sahih al-Bukhari, 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", He also says that it is also said to be "what is wanted by wajh Allah (Allah's Face). And there is [in this same chapter] other than that in terms of ta'wil (metaphorical interpretation), like the term 'dahk' (Arabic: ضحك, lit. 'laughter') which is narrated in a hadith, [which is interpreted by] His Mercy.^[35][36]

Bukhari also has a chapter in his Sahih entitled "Kitab At-Tawheed" in the Chapter entitled "wa kaana Arshuhu 'Ala Al-Ma (And his throne was above the water [Surah Hud 11:7])", he transmits from Mujahid that he said "(Istiwa [Taha 20:4]) means : Irtafa'a (rose above)^[37]

School of jurisprudence

Many are of the opinion that Bukhari was a mujtahid with his own school of jurisprudence.^{[38][39][40][41]}

Bukhari has however been claimed as a follower of the Hanbali school,^[42] although members of the Shafi'i and Ẓāhirī schools levy this claim as well.^[43] JRD Mughal and Munir Ahmad assert that historically most jurists considered him to be a muhaddith and not a jurist, and that as a muhaddith they thought that he followed the Shafi'i school.^[38] However, both go on to evidence the opinion that he was an absolute scholar of independent reasoning (Mujatahid Mutlaq).^[38]

Scott Lucas argues that Bukhari's legal positions were similar to those of the Ẓāhirīs and Hanbalis of his time, suggesting Bukhari rejected qiyas and other forms of ra'y completely.^[44] He makes comparisons between Bukhari's positions and those of Ibn Hazm.^[45]