| Full Name |
Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mughīrah ibn Bardizbah al-Juʿfī al-Bukhārī |
| Kunya |
Abū ʿAbdullāh |
| Birth |
810 CE / 194 AH — Bukhara, Transoxiana (modern-day Uzbekistan) |
| Death |
870 CE / 256 AH — Khartank, near Samarkand, Transoxiana |
| Title |
Imām al-Muḥaddithīn (Leader of the Hadith Scholars) |
| Position |
Compiler of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī |
| Notable Works |
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Al-Adab al-Mufrad, Al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr |
| Regions of Influence |
Entire Muslim world — universally regarded as an authority in hadith |
Life, Legacy, and His Scholarship
Early Life and Education
Born in 810 CE (194 AH) in Bukhara. His father was a student of scholars like Mālik ibn Anas. Orphaned early, al-Bukhārī was raised by his mother, who nurtured his pursuit of knowledge. By age ten, he was already memorizing hadith.
Education and Teachers
He traveled extensively to collect hadith, visiting Kufa, Basra, Baghdad, Mecca, Medina, Egypt, and Syria. His teachers included:
-
ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī
-
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal
-
Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh
Expertise and Works
Al-Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī is considered the most authentic book after the Qur’an, compiled over 16 years from around 600,000 hadith, selecting only those meeting his strict criteria of authenticity.
Other notable works include:
Famous For
-
Establishing the highest standards of hadith authentication
-
Compiling the most trusted hadith collection in Sunni Islam
-
Memorizing hundreds of thousands of narrations with full chains of transmission
Character and Political Stance
Renowned for piety, humility, and refusal to seek favors from rulers. He endured opposition from political figures and scholars but remained steadfast in his principles.
Famous Quote
“I have not written in my book al-Ṣaḥīḥ except what is authentic, and I left out many authentic hadith so that the book would not be too long.”
(Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 12, p. 404)
Legacy
His Ṣaḥīḥ is studied and memorized across the Muslim world, forming a foundation for Islamic scholarship. His methodology influenced all later hadith compilers, and his name remains synonymous with precision and reliability.
Interesting Facts
-
Blind in childhood, his eyesight was restored after his mother prayed for him
-
Memorized 70,000 hadith by the age of 16
-
Would perform ghusl and pray two rakʿāt before writing any hadith in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī
References
- Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ
- Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Hady al-Sārī (introduction to Fatḥ al-Bārī)
- Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, Tārīkh Baghdād
- Al-Bukhārī, Al-Adab al-Mufrad, Al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr
