The Life of Imam ul Bukhari

Muhammad bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin Mugira bin Bardisba

  • He was an amazing person after the companions
  • Those who criticize him and say his hadith are not authentic do not know the process of authenticating hadith and how much effort is put into it
  • This is a Persian name
  • His great grandfather was the first to accept Islam in his family
  • Before that they were fire worshippers
  • Al Mughira accepts Islam on the hands of Bukhara’s governor
  • Bukhara became known as Al Naman al Jovfee
  • When you accept Islam in the hands of governor then you adobt their nickname because they are family now
  • They come from the region of Khurassan

Khursaan

  • It includes the region of Modern day
    • Iran
    • Afghanistan
    • Uzbekistan
    • Turkmenistan

Bukhara

  • The capital of Uzbekistan
  • It is over 5,000 years old
  • One of the oldest cities in the world
  • It was called many names
  • The city of Merchants
  • It is located on the silk road
  • It used to be at the same level of Baghdad and Cairo
  • It was conquered in the year 650
  • Islam entered there very early
  • It was rich with paganism
  • They were slow to give them dawah to Islam
  • There used to be a large pagan festival
  • Later on they abandoned paganism on their own
  • They praised the character of the Muslims and Sahaba
  • It was not known to produce many scholar 

The Conquest of the Mongols

  • In the 11th century Gengis Khan entered the city of Bukhara
  • He massacred the people
  • The destroyed every masjid there
  • They took many people as slaves

Ibn Batuta

  • Went to Bukhara in 1133
  • He did not find a single scholar
  • The people had completely lost their identity
  • After the mongols

Family Lineage of Imam Bukhari

  • He has righteous parents
  • His father is considered from the greatest scholars of Hadith
  • His father spent time with Imam Malik and Hamad
  • His father met with Abdul Mubarak
  • He has a section dedicated to his father as narrators of Hadith
  • His father died very young
  • He left that which is doubtful
  • He never used to backbite
  • He never fought with anyone
  • He had no haram money
  • He lived off his entire life from the inheritance of his father
  • He was on the day of Jummah 13th of Shawwal 194 after hijrah
  • He was named Muhammad because of the intention
    • He would love the Prophet
  • He was included in the 3 best generations
  • It ends in the year 220
  • His father passed away before he was born or at that time

Physical Characteristics of Imam Bukhari

  • He had very weak eyesight
  • Then he went completely blind
  • The eyes do not go blind but the hearts go blind
  • Bukhari had an older brother that was fine
  • Then his mother made dua for Bukhari all night every night
  • His mother was very close to him
  • Being blind increases a person’s memory
  • Then Allah restored his eyesight
  • His mother never gave up hope in Allah
  • Then one night Ibrahim comes to the mother of Bukhari
  • Ibrahim says Allah gives you the glad tidings that Allah has restored his eyesight because of your dua
  • She goes to him and he wakes up and sees everything

Why Ibrahim and not Muhammad?

  • It was Ibrahim because all his children were miraculous birth
  • Ibrahim never gave up hope in Allah
  • Bukhari’s father’s name was Ismail ibn Ibrahim

Bukhari’s eyesight was restored and he could see better than anyone else

He wrote entire books with just the moonlight

Allah gave this boy perfect vision

His mother took him to memorize the Quran

Then she noticed in him natural love for the Hadith

Then she nurtured that love for him

She invested her full time in him

He had an incredible memory

He could memorize 7,000 hadith by the age of 12

Before the age 16 he studied under 1,600 teachers

Imam Al Daqilee

  • He wrote in his own scrolls
  • His own hadith
  • Bukhari was just 11 years old
  • Al Daqilee goes to the chain of narrators
  • Bukhari says ya imam Az Zubair never met Ibrahim
  • He corrected the hadith he narrated
  • Daqilee went home through all scrolls to the hadith
  • All the students are waiting and getting angry
  • Imam comes back laughing
  • He said who is the right narrator
  • Bukhari gave him the correct chain
  • Imam was impressed by him

Bukhari did not take any notes

He memorized everything

Some of the other students said why don’t you write

Are you wasting your time?

Bukhari just smiles and says nothing

Then one day as they are mocking Bukhari

Bukhari stops them and says you have gone too far now

He says go ahead and read to me everything you wrote

They took out there scrolls and read the 15,000 Hadith

Bukhari said all those Hadith without looking

They corrected themselves

The Dream of Bukhari

  • He sees a dream while he is a teenager
  • He saw himself walking behind the Prophet
  • When Prophet put his foot down Bukhari would put his foot down
  • Other scholars saw that dream too
  • Bukhari exhausted all the resources of Bukhara
  • Then he went out

Muhammad ibn Salam Al Bikandi

  • The friend of Bukhari’s father
  • A comtemporary of Imam Malik and Imam Mubarak
  • He studied under sufyan bin uyanan
  • He met some of the tabiyeen
  • He was known for his generosity
  • He was known to spend money on his students
  • He would write very fast as a young man
  • He does not want to miss a single
  • Then his pen broke
  • He screamed someone sell me a pen for a dinar
  • All the other students through their pens at them
  • After the dars was over he wiped off the sweat and gave him a dinar
  • He was so dedicated to capture everything he learned
  • He taught Bukhari extensively

Sulam

  • He saw his teacher very happy
  • He said may Allah keep you happy
  • He asked his teacher why you are happy
  • His teacher said he saw a man that memorized 70,000 hadith
  • He wanted to meet this man
  • He just left
  • He looked for him and found him
  • He asked him and said did you memorize it
  • He said yes and much more detail than that
  • He tested Bukhari and he passed with flying colors

Imam al Bikandi used to teach and he would be very nervous

Then he was very comfortable

Because if he made a mistake Imam al Bukhari would correct him

Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al Musnadi

  • He died in the year 229
  • At the age of 120 years old
  • He was a sharp Muhadith at the day of his death
  • He died immediately after a dars of Hadith he gave

Ibrahim ibn Ashab

  • He was the teacher of Imam Al Humaidi
  • Imam Al Humaidi wrote a very popular book
  • He was very humble
  • He got in argument with another scholar
  • A man will come and will judge between us
  • Bukhari was 12 years
  • Bukhari judged between

Bukhari surpassed his teachers

Bukhari made Hajj with his mother and older brother at the age of 16

They almost died on the way to hajj

They ran out of food

But they made it to Hajj

When he got to Hajj and asked her mothers permission to stay in Makkah

His mother and older brother go back to Bukhara after Hajj

Bukhari stays in Makkah and learns from the scholars there

He stayed in Hejaz

He got to Madinah at the age of 18 years old

He wrote his first 2 books at the grave of the Prophet

He writes about the virtues of the Sahaba

Any time he would run out of money he would receive a gift rom someone

He did not beg people for money

Then people sent him money

Ishaq ibn Rahaway

  • He is Sheik ul Bukhari
  • Also from Khurassan
  • Very famous scholar

Ali ibn Medini

  • A great scholar

Qualities of Imam ul Bukhari’s Teachers

  • Integrity of Hadith
  • Steadfastness in face of trials and tribulations
  • Implementation of Hadith

The teachers were impressed by Imam ul Bukhari

Bukhari knew all the Hadith like we know Surah Al Ikhlas

Every city would test Bukhari when he would come at 28 years old

They put out 10 scholars of Hadith

He had to say whether it is Authentic or weak

People give him basic Hadith and Bukhari says I don’t know that Hadith

What the scholars did was changed the narrators

Then Bukhari narrated to them the correct narrations for all 100 

Special Attributes of Bukhari

  • Perfectionist in everything he did
  • Very disciplined individual
  • He was an excellent archer and never missed an arrow
  • Bukhari split the pillar when shooting the arrow
  • The people go to the owner and tell him
  • The owner said really Bukhari its ok
  • He says I wish he broke all the pillars
  • Bukhari was so happy that the man forgave him
  • So he narrated to them 500 Hadith

Once a man in the masjid was picking his beard as he pulls out the hair from his beard he throws it on the ground Bukhari gets very annoyed and he waited there until everyone left then he went and picked up every single hair

Bukhari excelled in everything he did

Bukhari’s character was the best

He could not say bad things about a person

One time Bukhari offered his salah he prayed nafl after he finished a bee stung him 17 times when his companions asked him why he did not stop praying he said I did not realize it stung me

Bukhari once went on a boat and he had all his money with him, which is 1000 gold coins than one man devises a plan that he told everyone 1000 dinars was stolen from him He described Bukhari bag so everyone searched the whole boat and found nothing Bukhari threw the money overboard

The man asked where did the bag of money go then later Bukhari tells him I threw it overboard

The man was shocked and said why aren’t you depressed

Bukhari said O ignorant man don’t you know that I spent my entire life collecting the Hadith of the Prophet and the world knows me as a trustworthy man

You want me to sell all that for a 100 dinars

It will ruined his credibility

He was known for his generosity

One time Bukhari out of 25,000 dirhams

  • Bukhari was told that he should go to the governor and have the dispute settled
  • He said If I go to the governor to have it settled it might be for a worldly purpose
  • He said I do not want to sell my akhira
  • So he did not complain
  • The people went up to the man and said fear Allah this is Bukhari
  • The man agreed to pay 10 dirhams a month
  • Bukhari said ok

He followed the footsteps of his father

He was cautious about everything

Bukhari had a blind student

The student stayed with Bukhari after a long time

Bukhari called the student after the lecture

The student was very proud

Everyone leaves the masjid and he asks for the student’s forgiveness

The student says why what did you do

Bukhari was narrating a Hadith and the student was dancing

Bukhari smiled and he thought it was backbiting because he was blind

The student forgave him

Bukhari was a madhab in himself

He mastered both fiqh and Hadith

He takes a literal approach to fiqh

Imam Muslim is the best student of Imam Bukhari

Imam Muslim went to the teachers of Imam Bukhari

All the students of Imam Bukhari said he is the best teacher

Al Bukhari was 200 years of the after Prophet

Hadith were collected way before Al Bukhari

Sahih Al Bukhari

  • Bukhari is sitting in a circle
  • Someone said I wish someone could put all the authentic Hadith together
  • So everyone could benefit
  • So Bukhari said he will write the book
  • Buhkari sees a dream of Prophet and there is a fly
  • Bukhari is moving all the flies from the Prophets face
  • He goes to a dream interpreter
  • He said you are deflecting away all the lies of the Prophet
  • He wrote this book at the age of 21 years old
  • He went through 600,000 Hadith and finds the most authentic ones
  • He makes ghusl puts on perfume and puts on his best clothes
  • He prays 2 rakah before starting
  • Al Jame Al Sahih Al Musnad Al Mukhtasar min Hadeesi Rasool Allah wa min umoori Rasool Allah wa sunani hi ayamihi
  • The Abridged Collection of Authentic Ahadiths with connected chains regarding the saying of the Prophet his practices and his times
  • He sends a copy to Ahmad bin Hannibal and 2 other scholars to be checked
  • They disagreed on 4 Hadith
  • But Bukhari proved them wrong
  • This book is the most authentic book after the Quran
  • It consists of 7,275 Hadith which includes the ones that have been repeated
  • Excluding repetitions is 2,353 Hadiths add 160 narrations from companions
  • In total there are 2,500 Hadith removing the repetitons
  • Every title is so meaningful
  • It has over 300 commentaries
  • The greatest book every written

Bismillah is at random because it took him 25 years to write Sahih Bukhari so he begins with Bismillah every time

He had a lot of haters

Bukhari had the good manners

But he also gains haters

Yahya Zuhari

  • He was teacher of Imam Muslim until Imam bukhari came in
  • He got jealous of Bukhari
  • Then he pread a rumor that Bukhari was from a deviant group
  • He was successful in turning the town against Bukhari
  • Imam Muslim had volumes of Hadith from him and sent it all back to him
  • Bukhari kept a Hadith because it was authentic
  • He could have been the most famous scholar alive but he slandered him

Bukhari came back home

  • He came back to Bukhara
  • The governor said to teach the kids at home
  • Bukhari said no come to the masjid
  • Bukhari said can I have a special section in masjid
  • Bukhari said no if you want to learn hadith you have to sit in circle of Hadith
  • The governor of Bukhara threatened him
  • He said that I will sell knowledge for my own integrity
  • Khalid al Zuhri spreads a rumor against him too
  • Khalid spreads fake fatwas against Imam Bukhari

First fake Fatwa they made of Bukhari was that they said Bukhari said if you drink the milk of a sheep then that sheep is Mahram to you

Bukhari is sitting in the masjid he is 60 years old and some young men walk in and before he could give his answers they beat him up

Bukhari left the city and made a dua against them and he said O Allah avenge me for what they have done and put it back on them for everything they accuse me of and their children and their families

When Bukhari left Bukhara the very next year Az Zuhri got caught with corruption and not only did the governor order to kill but to tie him to the back of a donkey 

Bukhari goes to the people of Samurkand

  • They spread rumors about him again
  • Then Bukhari went elsewhere

Bukhari went to a small town

He made dua in last 10 nights of Ramadhan

He is being rejected from everyone

When Alah loves a people Allah tests them

Bukhari says in a dua for Allah to take him back

Ramadhan just finished and Bukhari passes away

Bukhari’s brother saw a dream and the Prophet and the Sahaba are waiting for Bukhari the night he passed away 1st Shawwal 256 at age of 62 years

One of the largest Janazas in all history

Until today the grave of Imam Bukhari smell of a great fragrance