Sahih Bukhari

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Sahih Bukhari (in Arabic صحيح البخاري, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī) is a collection of hadiths (narrations) by a central Asian, al-Bukhari, who was born in Bukhara in what is modern-day Uzbekistan around 200 years after the accepted death the prophet Muhammad [1]. He collected narrations which were transmitted only orally for generations and collated them into a book of sayings, stories, and traditions about the Prophet Muhammad and his companions. The collection is called "authentic" (sahih) and is considered second only to the Quran in terms of authenticity and authority amongst most Sunni Muslims. The "authenticness" of a narration are judged by for authenticity according to whether the people in the chain of narrators were good, truthful Muslims in the traditional Sunni reckoning. The most common narrators in Sahih Bukhari from Muhammad's generation are Abu Huraira and Aisha. See also [1] and [2].For each Hadith there is always a long list of narrators, listed as "so and so told so and so" etc. It is also part of "the six books" (الكتب الستة, Al-Kutub as-Sittah), the most trusted hadith collections in Sunni Islam. There are over 7000 narrations in the collection, but there are often different versions of the same story, so the actual number of narrations is less than 3000 [2].

Contents

Allah's hadiths

The words of Allah are not only in the Quran but in the hadiths also:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) (p.b.u.h) said, "Our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, comes every night down on the nearest Heaven to us when the last third of the night remains, saying: "Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to invocation? Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him his request? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, so that I may forgive him?"


Folk Tales

Animals talk and Muhammad believes it:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saying, "While a shepherd was amongst his sheep, a wolf attacked them and took away one sheep. When the shepherd chased the wolf, the wolf turned towards him and said, 'Who will be its guard on the day of wild animals when nobody except I will be its shepherd. And while a man was driving a cow with a load on it, it turned towards him and spoke to him saying, 'I have not been created for this purpose, but for ploughing." The people said, "Glorified be Allah." The Prophet said, "But I believe in it and so does Abu Bakr and `Umar."


Tall Tales

Monkeys stone a monkey as a punishment for adultery and `Amr bin Maimun joins them:

Narrated `Amr bin Maimun:

During the pre-lslamic period of ignorance I saw a she-monkey surrounded by a number of monkeys. They were all stoning it, because it had committed illegal sexual intercourse. I too, stoned it along with them.


Strange Anecdotes

In The Book of Hunting, Slaughtering (كتاب الذبائح والصيد), al-Bukhari wrote at the beginning of chapter 12 (the texts in the beginnings of chapters are usually not translated in English translations):

وَقَالَ أَبُو الدَّرْدَاءِ فِي الْمُرِي ذَبَحَ الْخَمْرَ النِّينَانُ وَالشَّمْسُ

And Abu Darda said regarding the soup: He slaughtered the wine, Nuns and the Sun.


Bukhari, Book of Hunting, Slaughtering, chapter 12 ""Lawful to you is water-game and its use for food .... For the benefit of yourselves" [3]

Nun is the Arabic letter ن. It may however be taken to mean a whale or large fish.

Bukhari's original manuscripts

Bukhari's work is only extant through his student al-Firabri.

Translations

The first translation of the entire collection to English by Muhsin Khan in 1971, titled ""The Translation of the Meanings of Sahih Al Bukhari Arabic English." His translations uses the 97 books version. The collection was translated into many other languages.[4]

This English translation suffers from several deviations from the original Arabic. For example the book "كتاب السلم" (kitaab us-sallam, book of payment) is named "A book of Sales in which a Price is paid for Goods to be Delivered Later". Other translations are literal to the point of losing the meaning, even to the point of not being translation, but only a transliteration, for example "Khusoomaat" (Quarrels).

His translation also tends to sanitize portions of the book which would be unpalatable to modern sensibilities.

For example, in the 58th Book (with only a transliterated name) "Jizyah and Mawaada'ah" (the tax and the peace treaty), the first chapter is named:

  • In English: "Al-Jizya taken from the Dhimmi"
  • In Arabic: "باب الْجِزْيَةِ وَالْمُوَادَعَةِ مَعَ أَهْلِ الْحَرْبِ"
    • باب (baab) - chapter
    • الْجِزْيَةِ (al-jizya) - (of) the tax
    • وَالْمُوَادَعَةِ (wal-mawaada'ah) - and the peace treaty
    • مَعَ (ma'a) - with
    • أَهْلِ (ahl) - people
    • الْحَرْبِ (al-harbi) - (of) the war

We would expect that the English word "dhimmi" is a transliteration of the Arabic word dhimmi (ذمي), but the name of the chapter actually says "people of war" (أَهْلِ الْحَرْبِ, ahl il-harbi) and doesn't use the word dhimmi (ذمي). Also the chapter mentions the Mawaada'ah (الموادعة), the peace treaty (of not killing them), while the translation says only "jizya".

A new translation of the entire work in English by the Arabic Virtual Translation Center in New York titled "Encyclopedia of Sahih Al-Bukhari" was released in 2019. It includes not just the entire, complete text of Sahih Al-Bukhari but also commentary as well.

Ambiguous numbering

There is more than one way of numbering the hadiths in this collection. Every hadith has it's own number (from 1 to 7495 [5], 7563[6] or 7658 [7]), but the collection is also divided into volumes and books. There are either 93[8], 97 [9] or 98 [10] books and there are 9 volumes (in the 93 books version). For example, a hadith in the book 98, might not be found in a collection with 93 books, in such a collection the hadith would actually be in the book 93. Also, what is in one version considered as two separate hadiths might be in another collection considered to be one larger hadith. Thus determining the exact number of hadith can be difficult.

In the 93 books (USC-MSA) version, the hadith numbering is not from the first hadith of the whole collection, but from the first hadith of the first book of the volume. The hadith identificator is volume:book:hadith. For example, 9:84:53, is the first hadith of the book 84, and it has the number 53, because volume 9 started with the book 83 and the book 83 has 52 hadiths. The same hadith could be described as 88:1, because it is the 1st hadith of the book 88 in the 97 books version (or 89:1 in the 97 books version). It could be also described with one number 6918, as it is the 6918th hadith from the beginning of the whole Sahih Bukhari collection (in the 93 books version). And it could be also described with the number 7004 (more than 6918), because in the 93 books version, some hadiths from the 98 books version, were "joined" and considered to be one hadith.


This is a list of all names used in different versions [11]. The first three columns "98", "97" and "93" contain a number of the book with the name "Book name" in the 98, 97 or 93 version. The last three columns Q98, Q97 and Q93 contain the number (Quantity) of hadiths in the book "Book name" in the 98, 97 and 93 books version. "x" means that a book with this name is not a part of that version (the hadiths which would be in that book are in some other book instead).\

98 97 93 Volume Book name Q98 Q97 Q93
1 1 1 1 Revelation 7 7 6
2 2 2 1 Belief 51 51 49
3 3 3 1 Knowledge 78 76 81
4 4 4 1 Ablutions (wudu) 114 113 111
5 5 5 1 Bathing (ghusl) 44 46 45
6 6 6 1 Menstrual periods 37 40 37
7 7 7 1 Ablution (rubbing hands and feet) with dust (tayammum) 15 15 15
8 8 8 1 Prayer (salat) 165 172 127
x x 9 1 Virtues of the prayer hall (sutra) x x 27
9 9 10 1 Times of prayers 78 82 77
10 10 11 1 Call to prayers 265 273 122
x x 12 1 Characteristics of prayer x x 134
11 11 13 2 Friday prayer 65 66 63
12 12 14 2 Fear prayer 6 6 5
13 13 15 2 The two festivals (eids) 37 42 36
14 14 16 2 Witr prayer 15 15 14
15 15 17 2 Invoking Allah for rain (istisqaa) 34 35 31
16 16 18 2 Eclipses 24 25 23
17 17 19 2 Prostration during recital of Qur'an 13 13 13
18 18 20 2 Shortening the prayers 37 40 35
19 19 21 2 Prayer at night (tajjud) 63 68 68
20 20 x 2 Virtues of prayer at Masjid Makkah and Madinah 9 10 x
21 21 22 2 Actions while praying 27 26 40
22 22 x 2 Forgetfulness in prayer 14 13 x
23 23 23 2 Funerals 149 158 155
24 24 24 2 Obligatory charity tax (Zakat) 116 118 95
x x 25 2 Zakat ul-Fitr (ramadan charity) x x 10
25 25 26 2 Pilgrimage (Hajj) 247 259 235
26 26 27 3 Minor pilgrimage (Umrah) 33 33 32
27 27 28 3 Pilgrims prevented from completing the pilgrimage 17 15 14
28 28 29 3 Penalty of hunting while on pilgrimage 46 46 44
29 29 30 3 Virtues of Madinah 24 24 24
30 30 31 3 Fasting 119 117 111
31 31 32 3 Praying at night in Ramadan 6 6 16
32 32 x 3 Virtues of the night of Qadr 11 x x
33 33 33 3 Retiring to a mosque for remembrance of Allah 21 21 21
34 34 34 3 Sales and trade 193 192 178
35 35 35 3 Sales in which a price is paid for goods to be delivered later 16 18 20
36 36 x 3 Shuf'a (pre-emption) 3 3 x
37 37 36 3 Hiring 25 26 25
38 38 37 3 Transferance of a debt from one person to another 3 3 10
39 39 x 3 Kafalah 9 9 x
40 40 38 3 Representation, Authorization, Business by proxy 18 21 17
41 41 39 3 Agriculture 28 31 28
42 42 40 3 Distribution of water 31 33 29
43 43 41 3 Loans, payment of loans, freezing of property, bankruptcy 24 25 38
44 44 x 3 Khusoomaat (quarrels) 15 16 x
45 45 42 3 Lost things picked up by someone 15 14 12
46 46 43 3 Oppressions 43 44 43
47 47 44 3 Partnership 22 25 22
48 48 45 3 Mortgaging 8 8 8
49 49 46 3 Manumission (freeing) of slaves 42 43 47
50 50 x 3 Makaatib (slaves trying to be free) 6 6 x
51 51 47 3 Gifts 69 71 65
52 52 48 3 Witnesses 62 53 50
53 53 49 3 Peacemaking 20 21 19
54 54 50 3 Conditions 24 27 22
55 55 51 4 Wills and testaments 45 44 40
56 56 52 4 Fighting for the cause of Allah (jihaad) 311 309 283
57 57 53 4 One-fifth of booty to the cause of Allah 63 65 89
58 58 x 4 Jizyah and mawaada'ah (tax on dhimmis and a peace treaty) 30 34 x
59 59 54 4 Beginning of creation 137 136 130
60 60 55 4 Prophets 156 163 116
61 61 56 4 Virtues and merits of the prophet and his companions / merits of sunnah 152 160 183
62 62 57 5 Companions of the prophet 136 127 118
63 63 58 5 Merits of the helpers in Madinah 179 173 166
64 64 59 5 Military expeditions led by the prophet 510 525 465
65 65 60 6 Prophetic commentary on the Qur'an 516 504 501
66 66 61 6 Virtues of the Qur'an 89 85 81
67 67 62 7 Wedlock, marriage 189 188 177
68 68 63 7 Divorce 101 100 85
69 69 64 7 Supporting the family 23 22 23
70 70 65 7 Food, meals 96 94 89
71 71 66 7 Sacrifice on occasion of birth 9 8 8
72 72 67 7 Hunting, slaughtering 71 70 69
73 73 68 7 Al-Adha festival sacrifice 31 30 28
74 74 69 7 Drinks 67 65 63
75 75 70 7 Patients 38 38 38
76 76 71 7 Medicine 94 105 92
77 77 72 7 Dress 194 187 179
78 78 73 8 Good manners and form 266 257 245
79 79 74 8 Asking permission 78 77 71
80 80 75 8 Invocations 106 108 104
81 81 76 8 To make the heart tender 186 182 172
82 82 77 8 Divine will (qadar) 27 27 25
83 83 78 8 Oaths and vows 89 87 81
84 84 79 8 Expiation for unfulfilled oaths 16 16 18
85 85 80 8 Laws of inheritance 47 49 47
86 86 81 8 Limits and punishments set by Allah 31 88 31
87 x 82 8 Punishments of disbelievers at war with Allah and his apostle / Disbelievers 52 x 49
88 87 83 9 Blood money 55 57 52
89 88 84 9 Dealing with apostates 21 22 20
90 89 85 9 Saying something under compulsion 13 13 12
91 90 86 9 Tricks 28 29 26
92 91 87 9 Interpretation of dreams 68 66 59
93 92 88 9 Afflictions and the end of the world 90 89 81
94 93 89 9 Judgements 87 89 81
95 94 90 9 Wishes 22 20 20
96 95 91 9 Accepting information given by a truthful person 21 22 21
97 96 92 9 Holding fast to the Qur'an and sunnah 98 103 96
98 97 93 9 Oneness, uniqueness of Allah 194 193 184

Conclusion

Sahih Bukhari is a collection of narrations from people who lived with Muhammad. The word "sahih" means "authentic", but modern scholars working mostly in the west have questioned their authenticity due to the large gulf in time between when they were collected and when the events they claim to narrate took place. Nevertheless this collection is considered to be the most authentic by most Sunni Muslims.

The English translation by Muhsin Khan suffers from several issues, but a new translation is now available into English.

The collection is divided into 9 volumes and volumes are divided into books. There are more than 90 books. One book can contain from a few to hundereds of hadiths (narrations). Since the numbering of both books and hadiths is problematic (there are more numbering methods), it's not a simple matter to delineate how many books and how many hadiths there are, likewise as to which book contains the largest number of hadiths. It is possible to say (in all numbering methods) that the 3 biggest books are:

  • Military expeditions led by the prophet
  • Prophetic commentary on the Qur'an
  • Fighting for the cause of Allah (jihaad)

So two out of three biggest books of narrations about Muhammad's life narrate violent struggle in the Prophet's life. The book "Military expeditions led by the prophet" contains over 500 hadiths. While the book of "Peacemaking" contains less then 30 hadiths. From this it is possible to see the great role that struggle and strife play in the traditional understanding of the Prophet of Islam.

See Also

References

  1. Muhammad died 632. Bukhari was born 810.
  2. A.C. Brown, Jonathan (2009). Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (Foundations of Islam series). Oneworld Publications. p. 32. ISBN 978-1851686636.
  3. https://sunnah.com/bukhari/72
  4. http://www.australianislamiclibrary.org/sahih-bukhari.html
  5. http://al-islamic.net/hadith/bukhari
  6. https://sunnah.com/bukhari/97
  7. http://al-islamic.net/hadith/bukhari/98
  8. https://www.sahih-bukhari.com/Pages/Bukhari_2_20.php
  9. https://sunnah.com/bukhari
  10. http://al-islamic.net/hadith/bukhari
  11. The 98 version is from the web al-islamic.net, the 97 version from sunnah.com and the 93 version from sahih-bukhari.com