Imam Al Bukhari

Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari al-Jufi was born after the Jumu'ah prayer on Friday, 21 July 810 (13 Shawwal 194 AH) in the city of Bukhara in Transoxiana (in present-day Uzbekistan).

During his infancy, Imam al-Bukhari (RH) had weak eyesight that manifested into full-blown blindness. Desperate for her son, his mother made excessive, sincere, and constant dua for her son. This period extended for a lengthy two to three years. One night, Imam al-Bukhari’s mother received the glad tidings of Ibrahim (AS) in a dream, who said that Allah (SWT) had granted Imam al-Bukhari vision because of her dua. The eyesight was not even restored at a lesser degree, but at full strength. It is reported that Imam al-Bukhari (RH) would write books without a candle but only from the light of the moon.

He memorized the Holy Qur'an at the age of 9. Then began to learn Hadith from scholars of his region. At the age of 16, he traveled to Makkah and stayed there for 16 years collecting Hadiths. He visited Egypt and Syria twice, Basra four times, spent many years in Hijaz and went to Kufa and Baghdad many times. It is said that he learned about 600,000 Hadith from more than 1,000 scholars.

Imam Bukhari (RH) had an extremely strong memory from an early and his memory was considered to be inhuman. His brother Rashid bin Ismail stated that in his childhood:

"Imam Bukhari used to go with us to the scholars of Basra to listen to Hadiths. All of us used to write Hadiths down except Imam Bukhari. After some days, we condemned Imam Bukhari saying that, you had wasted so many days work by not writing down Hadiths. Imam Bukhari asked us to bring our notes to him. So, we all brought our notes, upon which Imam Bukhari began to read Hadiths one by one from the top of his head until he narrated to us more than fifteen thousand Hadiths. Hearing these Hadiths, it seemed that Imam Bukhari was re-teaching us all of the Hadiths we had noted."

He did not depend on pen and paper as much as he relied on his sharp memory which was a result of Allah Tala's gift of intelligence and superb memory to him.

There is one remarkable incident that took place in Baghdad when Imam Bukhari (RH) visited the place. The people having heard of his many accomplishments, and the attributes which were issued to him, decided to test him so as to make him prove himself to them. In order to do that they chose one hundred different Hadiths and changing the testimonials and the text of the Hadiths. The Hadiths were recited by ten people to Imam Bukhari (RH). When the Hadiths were recited, Imam Bukhari (RH) replied to all in one manner, "Not to my knowledge."

However, after the completion of all the Hadiths, he repeated each text and testimonial which had been changed followed by the correct text and testimonial.

Imam al-Bukhari (RH) was someone who upheld his credibility and dignity, knowing that he was trusted by the people to narrate hadith. On one occasion, he was traveling by boat while carrying 1,000 gold coins. There was another traveler who devised a plan to steal the coins. In the middle of the night, the traveler woke up screaming that he had lost his gold coins and described the bag that he had “lost” identical to that of Imam al-Bukhari (RH). The other travelers on the boat searched for the bag but none could find it, and when they could not locate the bag, they became upset with the traveler for waking them up. The traveler came to Imam al-Bukhari (RH) and asked him where the bag of coins was. Imam al-Bukhari (RH) said that he had thrown the bag, his life savings, overboard. When further questioned on his actions, Imam al-Bukhari (RH) said, “...don’t you know that I have spent my life collecting the hadith of the Prophet (ﷺ), and the world knows me as trustworthy? And that they trust me and take my hadith? Do you want me to sell all of that for a thousand dinars?”

In 250 AH, Imam al-Bukhari (RH) came to the area of Nishapur in Khorasan. This is where he would attract thousands of students, including one of the most famous scholars of Hadith, Imam Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (writer of Sahih Muslim). Scholars in Nishapur were upset that their students were flocking to Imam al-Bukhari (RH), therefore, rumours were spread that Imam al-Bukhari (RH) had come to Nishapur in order to spread false information about the religion. The rumours caused Imam al-Bukhari (RH) to leave Nishapur and return to his home city of Bukhara. In Bukhara, he was pressured by the governor to have Imam al-Bukhari (RH) give private lessons to his children due to their higher social class. Demanding that his lessons be public to people of all walks of life coupled with the envy of other scholars, Imam al-Bukhari (RH) was forced out of his home city. He then went to settle in Khartang, a village on the outskirts of Samarqand. Keep in mind, Imam al-Bukhari (RH) was rejected by his own home community in Bukhara. When he found he had no place to go, he prayed to Almighty Allah saying,

“O Allah, the Earth despite its grandeur is becoming narrow for me and is troubling me greatly. So, take me back to You.”

His prayers were answered and at the age of 62, he died at Khartang, a place between Samarqand and Bukhara. It was on the night of Eid Al-Fitr, the first night of Shawwal 256 A.H. He is buried in Muhammad Al-Bukhari mausoleum at Khartang near Samarkand, in Uzbekistan.

Abd Al-Wahid ibn Adam Awaysi states:

“I saw the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) in dream standing with a group of Sahaba and asked, 'For whom are you waiting?' He replied, 'For Bukhari.' After a few days I heard the news of Imam Bukhari's death. He had died at the very moment that I saw the Prophet (ﷺ) in my dream.”