Muhammad Ibn Ismail Ibn Ibrahim Ibn
al-Mughirah Ibn Bardizbah al-Bukhari popularly known as Bukhari or Imam Bukhari, was a Sunni Islamic scholar of
Persia. He is the author of the collection of Hadiths which Sunni Muslims regard as the
most authentic of all Hadith compilations, the Sahih Al-Bukhari. Most Sunni scholars consider
it second only to the Qur’an in terms of authenticity. The Arabic word sahih translates
as authentic or correct. Imam Bukhari was born in 810 A.D. / 196
A.H. in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. His father, Ismail Ibn Ibrahim, was a known hadith scholar who died while he was still an infant
and he was hence raised by his mother. Imam Bukhari began studying hadith, memorising
works of Abdullah ibn al-Mubaarak while still a child. At age of sixteen, Imam Bukhari made
the pilgrimage to Mecca, beginning 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. After sixteen years’ absence he
returned to Bukhara, and drew up his al-Jami’ as-Sahih, a collection of 7,275 tested traditions, arranged in chapters so as to afford
bases for a complete system of jurisprudence. Imam Bukhari finished his work around 846
A.D., and spent the last twenty-four years of his life visiting other cities and
scholars, teaching the hadith he had collected. In every city that he visited, thousands of people
would gatherin the main mosque to listen to him recite traditions. Imam Bukhari died in a
village near Samarkand in the year 870/256.
The Sahih Al-Bukhari book covers almost
all aspects of life in providing proper guidance of Islam such as the method of performing prayers and other actions of worship
directly from Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Hadiths are a practical example of the
implementation of Quranic guidance and are essential supplements to the teachings of the Quran. Neither the Quran nor the
Sunnah can be understood correctly without the other. They have been meticulously
compiled by individuals with exceptional memory skills and analytical expertise like
Imam Bukhari, who travelled tirelessly to collect thousands of narrations and distinguish the
true words of prophetic wisdom. Muslims during the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon
him)and generations that followed and generations to come are blessed to have these
pearls of wisdom to guide us in a righteous, Islamic way of life leading to Al-Firdaus.
