Life of Imam Bukhari
FROM IBN AL-SUBKI'S LIFE OF IMAM
BUKHARI (194-256 H.)
Translated under the direction of Shaykh Hisham
Kabbani khalifat of Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani
Grandshaykh of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi
Sufi Order from "Tabaqat al shafi`iyya al-kubra"
2:212-241 [The major biographical layers of the
Shafi`i School] by Shaykh al-Islam Imam Taj al-Din
Abu Nasr `Abd al-Wahhab `Ali ibn `Abd al-Kafi
al-Subki (727-771 H).
ABU `ABD ALLAH MUHAMMAD IBN
ISMA`IL IBN IBRAHIM IBN AL-MUGHIRA
IBN BARDIZBAH AL-BUKHARI
The Imam of Muslims, the Examplar of those who
say: "One," the Shaykh of the Believers, He Who is
Relied upon concerning the sayings of the Master of
Messengers, the Keeper of the Rule of Religion, Abu
`Abd Allah al-Ju`fi al-Bukhari, the author of "al-
Jami` al-sahih" [The Compendium of Sound
Traditions]...
He heard traditions directly from Malik ibn Anas, and
he met Hammad ibn Zayd and Salih ibn
al-Mubarak...
Ahmad ibn Hafs narrated traditions from him and
said: I went into his house to see him before he died
and he said to me: "I don't know in all my
possessions of a single dirham the legitimacy of
which I am not sure about." Ahmad bn Hafs said:
"When I heard this, I was humbled to my soul."
Al-Bukhari was born in 194 H and was raised an
orphan. The beginning of his study of hadith was in
205 at which time he began memorizing the
compilations of Ibn al-Mubarak [a leading traditionist
and sufi of his time]. He loved learning from his
tender age and he was helped in this by his
tremendous intelligence.
He began to travel in 210 after he studied hadith
from many peole in his own land (Bukhara)...
He heard hadith from scholars in Balkh, Marw,
Nisabur, Rayy, Baghdad, Basra, and Kufa. In Mecca
he heard from al-Humaydi, and received the school
of al-Shafi`i from him [as well as from al-Za`farani
and Abu Thawr al-Karabisi]. In Madina...
He also took hadith from innumerable transmitters in
Damascus, Caesarea, `Asqalan, and Hims. He
mentioned that he heard from 1,000 people in all.
He related hadith to the scholars of that science in
the Hijaz, in `Iraq, Khorasan, and Transoxiana, with
nary a hair on his face.
Among those that related hadith from him are: Abu
Zur`a, Abu Hatim, Tirmidhi, Muslim (outside his
sahih), al-Marwazi, Salih Ibn Muhammad Jazara, Ibn
Khuzayma, al-Sarraj...
Ibn `Adi said: I heard al-Bazzar say: I saw
al-Bukhari in his old age. He was thin, neither tall nor
short. He lived 62 years less thirteen days.
Ahmad ibn al-Fadl al-Balkhi said: When he was
young he lost his eyesight. His mother saw the
Prophet Ibrahim (as) in her dream, and he said to
her: Allah has returned your son his eyesight due to
your profuse weeping or due to your many
invocations.
Bukhari said to Abu Ja`far Muhammad ibn Abu
Hatim al-Warraq: "I learned the books of Ibn
al-Mubarak and Waki` and knew their sayings by
heart at age sixteen. When I became eighteen, I
started to compile the deeds of the Companions and
Follwers and their sayings. It was in the time of
`Ubayd Allah ibn Musa. I compiled the "Kitab
al-tarikh" [Book of History] by the grave of the
Prophet (s) during moonlit nights. There is hardly a
name in Islamic history except I mentioned a story in
relation to him, except that I hated to make the book
too long."
`Umar ibn Hafs al-Ashqar said: We were in Basra
writing hadith. One day we visited him and we found
him in a house without a thread on his back. He had
exhausted all his resources. We chipped in and we
clothed him.
`Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Bukhari said: I
heard Muhammad ibn Isma`il say: "I met more than
1,000 men from Hijaz, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Khurasan,"
and so on until he said: "I never saw one of them
differ on the following: "Religion consists in words
and deeds, and the Qur'an is Allah's speech.""
Al-Warraq said: I heard Hashid ibn Isma`il and
another say: "Al- Bukhari used to come with us to
the hadith sessions when he was a boy. He did not
use to write anything. After a while we mentioned it
to him. He said: You think it is beyond me; show me
what you have written. We produced what we had,
which was more than 15,000 hadiths. He recited
them all to us from memory, until we took to
correcting what we had according to his recital.
Then he said: Am I studying in vain, or wasting my
time? Then we realized that no-onecould overtake
him."
They continued: "The people of knowledge used to
put him forward in the study of hadith when he was
but a young man, even against his will. They would
make him sit by the roadside until thousands would
gather around him. Most of them would write his
narrations. He was yet beardless."
Al-Warraq said: I heard Salim ibn Mujahid say: I was
visiting Muhammad ibn Sallam al-Bikandi and he said
to me: "If you had come earlier you would have seen
a boy who has memorized 70,000 hadiths." I went
out looking for him. When I found him I said: "Are
you the one who says: I memorized 70,000 hadiths?"
He said: "Yes, and more than that, and I will not cite
you a hadith from the Companions or Followers
except I know the date and place of birth of most of
them and that of their death, and where they lived.
Nor do I narrate from them except what I know for
certain to be based on a principle of the religion from
Allah's book or the Suna of His Messenger (s)." [I.e.
he was not merely a muhaddith but a faqih of the
highest caliber].
Ghunjaz said: al-Muqri related to us: Muhammad ibn
Ya`qub ibn Yusuf al-Bikandi related to us: I heard
`Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn `Asim al-Bikandi say:
"Muhammad ibn Isma`il came to see us and we
gathered around him. One of us said: "I hear Ishaq
ibn Rahawayh [Bukhari's shaykh] say: I have
recorded about 70,000 hadiths." Muhammad said:
"Does this suprise you? There may be in our own
time someone who has recorded 200,000 hadiths."
This is what he himself had done."
Ibn `Adi said: Muhammad ibn Ahmd al-Qumisi
related to me: I heard Muhammad ibn Hamdawayh
say: I heard Muhammad ibn Isma`il say: "I know by
memory 100,000 sahih hadiths, and 200,000 non-
sahih hadiths."
The Imam of imams Ibn Khuzayma said: "I never
saw under the sky more knowledgeable a person in
hadith than Muhammad ibn Isma`il al-Bukhari."
Ibn `Adi said: "A number of shaykhs heard that
Bukhari was coming to Baghdad. They chose 100
hadiths and shuffled their chains of tranmission and
their texts, giving each text a different chain than its
original one. Each took ten of these hadiths and
prepared to test Bukhari with them during their
gathering. The people assembled, and one of the
scholars confronted Bukhari with one of these
hadiths. He replied: "I don't know it." Then he asked
him about another. He replied "I don't know it." Then
another:"I don't know it." And so forth until he
finished his ten. Those in the know looked at each
other saying: "The man understands." The rest
thought he knew nothing. Then another scholar read
his ten, then another his ten, then another until they
read 100 hadiths and Bukhari kept saying each time:
"I don't know it, I don't know it, I don't know it."
When he saw that they had finished, he turned to the
first scholar and said: "The correct chain of your first
hadith is such-and-such; the correct chain of your
second hadith is..." then he turned to the second
scholar, then the third, and so on with every single
one of the one hundred hadiths. At that time the
people agreed that he was a hafiz (memorizer)."
Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: "The apex of memorization
is in four people of Khurasan: Abu Zur`a,
Muhammad ibn Isma`il, al-Darimi, and al-Hasan ibn
Shuja` al-Balkhi."
Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Bukhari said: "I was visiting
Muhammad ibn Isma`il in his house that night. I
counted that he got up and lit his lamp eighteen times
to remind himself or jot down something during the
night."
Al-Warraq said: "When I travelled with Abu `Abd
Allah, if we happened to sleep in the same house, I
would see him get up in the same night between
fifteen and twenty times. Every time he would light
his lamp and extract ahadith and annotate them.
Then he would lay his head down again. Around he
time before dawn entered he would pray thirteen
rak`at (prayer-cycles). He would never wake me up.
I said to him once: "You endure all this yourself, why
don't you wake me up?" He replied: "You are a
young man, and I don't like to ruin your sleep."
Al-Farabari said: Muhammad ibn Isma`il said to me:
"I never included in the Sahih a hadith except I made
a ghusl (major ablution) and prayed two rak`at
beforehand."
Ibrahim ibn Ma`qil said: I heard him say: "I was with
Ishaq ibn Rahawayh (his shaykh), and a man said:
"Why don't you compile an epitome (mukhtasar) of
the prohetic ways?" This stayed with me, and was
the reason why I compiled this book (the Sahih)."
[M.M. Azami wites: "Al-Bukhari did not claim that
what he left out were the spurious, nor that there
were no authentic traditions outide his collection. On
the contrary, he said: "I only included in my book
_al-Jami`_ those that were authentic, and I left out
many more authentic traditions than this to avoid
unnecessary length." He had no intention of
collecting all the authentic traditions. He only wanted
to compile a manual of _Hadith_, according to the
wishes of his shaykh Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, and his
function is quite clear from the title of his book
_Al-Jami`, al-Musnad, al-Sahih, al-Mukhtasar, min
umur Rasul Allah wa Sunanihi, wa ayyamih_ [The
Compendium Linked Back Sound and Epitomized of
the Matters of the Messenger of God, His Ways, and
His Times]. The word "al-mukhtasar," epitome, itself
explains that al-Bukhari did not make any attempt at
a comprehensive collection." "Studies in Early Hadith
Literature" p. 304-305]
Our shaykh Abu `Abd Allah the hafiz said (this is
al-Dhahabi): "It has been narrated through two firm
channels of transmission that Bukhari said: "I
extracted this book from about 600,000 (sound)
hadiths, and I compiled it over sixteen years, and I
made it a plea for what lies between myself and
Allah."
Khalaf al-Khayyam said: I heard Abu `Amr Ahmad
ibn Nasr al- Khaffaf say: "Muhammad ibn Isma`il is
twenty degrees more knowledgeable in hadith than
Ahmad (ibn Hanbal) and Ishaq (ibn Rahawayh), and
whoever has doubts about it, let him be cursed by me
1,000 times!"
Abu `Isa al-Tirmidhi said: `Abd Allah ibn Munir said
to Muhammad ibn Isma`il when he was about to
leave him: "O Abu `Abd Allah, nay Allah make you
the adornment of this Community!" Abu `Isa said:
His wish has been granted.
Blessings and Peace on the Prophet Muhammad, his
Family, his Companions, and upon the adornment of
this Community and the custodian of the Way of the
Prophet, Muhammad ibn Isma`il al-Bukhari, and upon
all of Allah's Friends and Saints and their followers.
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Ja`far ibn Muhammad al-Mustaghfiri in "Tarikh
Nasaf" [History of Nasaf] said, mentioning Bukhari:
"If I had to choose I would say he is superior to all
his shaykhs, and I would say that he never met his
like."
Ibrahim al-Khawass said: "I saw Abu Zur`a sitting
like a boy at the feet of Muhammad ibn Isma`il,
asking him questions about what makes a hadith
weak."
Ja`far ibn Muhammad al-Qattan said: I heard
Muhammad ibn Isma`il say: "I wrote hadith from
1,000 shaykhs or more, from each of them 10,000
hadiths or more, and there is not with me one hadith
except I remember its chain of transmission." [Note:
This is a total of over 10,000,000 different chains of
transmission.]
One of them said: I was visiting Muhammad ibn
Sallam al-Bikandi, at which time Muhammad ibn
Isma`il entered. After he went out again, Muhammad
ibn Sallam said: "Every time this boy comes to see
me I become perplexed, and the matter of hadith
becomes full of ambiguities for me. I remain afraid
(to speak) until he leaves!"
Muhammad ibn Abu Hatim said: I heard Muhammad
ibn Yusuf say: I was visiting Abu Raja' -- he meant
Qutayba -- and he was asked about the divorce
pronounced by the drunk (i.e. is it valid?). He replied:
"Here is Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn al-Madini, and Ibn
Rahawayh all wrapped in one, and Allah has brought
him to you." And he pointed to Muhammad ibn
Isma`il. (The answer was: divorce does not take
effect from one who is deprived of his mental
faculties and does not remember what happened to
him in his drunkenness.)
Al-Farabari said: I saw the Prophet (s) in my sleep
and he said to me: "Where are you going?" I replied:
"To see al-Bukhari." He said: "Give him my salam."
Bukhari used to recite the entire Qur'an once every
day, and recite one third of it in the period before
dawn. Thus his daily wird (devotional practice)
consisted in one khatma and a third.
He was stung by a hornet seventeen times while at
prayer one day, but he neither interrupted his prayer
nor did he even budge.
Al-Hakim Abu `Abd Allah said: I heard Abu Nasr
Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Warraq say: I heard
Ahmad ibn Hamdun say: I heard Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj
(the author of Sahih Muslim) say, when he came to
see al-Bukhari, after kissing his forehead: "Allow me
to kiss your feet, O teacher of teachers and rampart
of hadith scholars and physician of the hadith in its
minute defects!"
Nasj ibn Sa`id said: "On the first night of every month
of Ramadan his companions would gather around
Bukhari and he would lead them in prayer and recite
in every rak`at twnty verses, and so on until he
finished the Qur'an. He used to recite one third daily
at every pre-dawn period, and he would recite the
entire Qur'an daily in the day-time. He would finish it
at the time of breaking fast every evening. He used
to say: "At every khatm (time of finishing the entire
recitation of Qur'an) there is an invocation that is
answered."
Bakr ibn Munir said: I heard Bukhari say: "I hope to
meet my Lord without being taken to account for
slandering anyone." Our shaykh Abu `Abd Allah the
hafiz (this is al-Dhahabi) said: "A witness to this is
his manner of speech in the criticism and
authentication of hadith. He would say, at most,
about the sub- narrator wo is abandoned for
unreliability: "Fihi nazar-- He needs investigation"; or:
"Sakatu `anh-- The authorities don't mention him."
He would not say: "So-and-so is a liar," nor: "He is a
forger." That was due to his strong fear of God."
Al-Subki says: "The most weakening judgment he
would give about an unreliable sub-narrator is:
munkar al-hadith-- his narrations are rejected."
Ibn al-Qattan said: Al-Bukhari said: "Anyone about
whom I say: munkar al-hadith, it is not permissible to
narrate from him."
Abu Bakr al-Khatib (al-Baghdadi) said: Al-`Abbas
ibn al-Fadl al- Razi al-Sayigh was asked: "Who has
memorized more, Abu Zur`a or Bukhari?" He replied:
"I met Bukhari between Hulwan and Baghdad and I
travelled with him for a while. I did my best to
mention one hadith that he did not know, and I
couldn't. I can puzzle Abu Zur`a as many times as I
have hairs on my body."
Muhammad ibn Ya`qub al-Akhram said: "I heard our
companions say that when Bukhari came to Nisabur
he was welcomed by 4,000 men on horseback, not
counting those that rode mules or donkeys, and not
counting those that were on foot."
Al-Warraq said: I heard Muhammad ibn Isma`il say:
"It is not meet for a Muslim to face a difficulty and
not be granted his supplication, if he supplicates."
Al-Warraq continues: I heard him say once: "I
travelled to see Adam ibn Abu Iyas, and I ran out of
expense money. I began to eat gass without telling
anyone. On the third day a stranger came up to me
and handed me a purse full of dinars saying: "Spend
on yourself."
Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Jabir said: al-Dhuhli
said to us when Bukhari came to Nisabur: "Go and
see that pious man, and listen to his narrations." The
people went to him and began to take hadith from
him, until al-Dhuhli's circle was depleted. At that
time the latter began to envy him and speak against
him.
Abu Muhammad ibn`Adi said: "Many shaykhs
mentioned to me that when Muhammad ibn Isma`il
(al-Bukhari) came to Nisabur and was attended by
the throngs of people, some of the shaykhs began to
feel jealous of him and said to the authorities in
hadith: Muhammad ibn Isma`il says: "Pronouncing
the Qur'an is created," so investigate him." When the
people gathered, one man got up and asked him: "O
Abu `Abd Allah, what do you say about pronouncing
the Qur'an, is it created or uncreated?" He ignored
him and did not reply, so the man repeated the
question, so he ignored him again, so he repeated it
again, at which point Bukhari turned to him and said:
"The Qur'an is Allah's speech and is uncreated; the
actions of servants are created; and investigating
someone is an innovation." At this the man cried out,
there was a general uproar, the crowd dispersed, and
Bukhari sat alone in his house."
Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Farabari said: I heard
`Ubayd Allah ibn Sa`id say: I heard Yahya ibn Sa`id
say: "I still hear our Companions saying: "The actions
of servants are created." Al- Bukhari said: "It is said:
"So-and-so's recitation is excellent," and "So-and-so's
recitation is bad." It is not said: "His Qur'an is
excellent" or "His Qur'an is bad." And to the servants
is the recitation attributed, for the Qur'an is Allah's
speech, while the recitation is the act of the servant,
and no- one can legislate concerning Allah without
knowledge as some have claimed who said that the
Qur'an is one with our pronouncing it, and that our
pronouncing it is one thing together with it, and that
declamation (tilawat) is itself the thing declaimed
(matlu), and recitation (qira'at) the thing recited
(maqru'). Such a one is told: declamation is the act of
the reciter and the deed of the one declaiming."
Bukhari was of those who used to say: "My
pronunciation of the Qur'an is created." Muhammad
ibn Yahya al-Dhuhli said: "Whoever claims that my
pronunciation of Qur'an is created, he is an innovator
whose company is shunned, and whoever claims that
the Qur'an is created has committed disbelief."
Subki: Muhammad ibn Yahya only meant -- and God
knows best -- what Ahmad ibn Hanbal meant,
namely to forbid from entering into that subject. He
did not mean to contradict Bukhari. If he did mean to
contradict him and to claim that the pronunciation
which comes out of his own created lips is
pre-eternal, that would be an enormity. One should
think that he meant other than that and that both he,
Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and other (anti-kalam) imams
only meant to prohibit people from entering into
problems of kalam (speculative theology). For us,
Bukhari's words are to be understood as a
permission to mention kalam if it is needed, since the
use of kalam in case of necessity is a legal obligation
(wajib), and to keep silence about kalam in case
other than necessity is a sunna.
Understand this well, and leave the rantings of
historians, and ignore once and for all the distortions
of the misguided who think that they are scholars of
hadith and that they are standing on the Sunna when
in fact they couldn't be further from it. How could
anyone possibly think that Bukhari has anything in
common with the position of the Mu`tazila when it
has been authentically reported from him by
al-Farabari and others that he said: "I hold as
ignorant whoever does not declare the Jahmis to be
disbelievers."
Undoubtedly Muhammad ibn Yahya suffered from
the defect of envy, from which none is safe except
those who are immune to sin. Indeed some asked
Bukhari about him and he said: "How can envy
concerning learning possess Muhammad ibn Yahya,
when learning is Allah's wealth which He gives
whomever He pleases?"
Bakr ibn Munir ibn Khulayd al-Bukhari said: The
emir Khalid ibn Ahmad al-Dhuhli, governor of
Bukhara, sent the folowing message to Muhammad
ibn Isma`il: "Bring the "Jami` al-sahih" and the
"Tarikh" and others, and come and read before me."
He replied through the messenger: "I do not debase
learning nor do I carry it to the doors of people. If
you need learning from me come to my place of
worship or my house. I you don't like this you are the
sultan and you may forbid my stay here so that I will
have an excuse before Allah on the Day of the
Rising that I did not conceal knowledge." This is the
origin of the coldness between them.
Abu Bakr ibn Abu `Amr al-Bukhari said: The reason
for Bukhari's estrangement was that Khalid ibn
Ahmad, who represented the Zahiri school (of
Dawud al-Zahiri d. 270) in Bukhara, asked him to
come to his house and read the "Jami` al-sahih" and
the "Tarikh" to his children, but he refused. Then he
wrote him asking him to teach his children privately
but he refused saying: I don't give private lessons to
anyone. Then he (Khalid ibn Ahmad) had recourse
to Hurayth ibn Abu al-Warqa' and others against
Bukhari; they spread rumors against him concerning
his doctrine (madhhab), after which the governor
expelled him. Then Bukhari invoked God against
them. Not a month passed before the Zahiris ordered
that Khalid be publicly denounced, and he was jeered
out of Bukhara on a she-ass. As for Hurayth he was
severely tried in marital matters and saw things that
cannot be decently mentioned. As for So-and-so he
was tried in his children. Al-Hakim narrated it from
Muhammad ibn al-`Abbas al- Dabbi, from Abu Bakr.
Hurayth ibn Abi al-Warqa' was one of the great
jurists of the school of personal juridical opinion (ra'i)
in Bukhara.
Bukhari gave a sample of his great intelligence when
in reply to Abu `Amr al-Khaffaf who said to him:
People are examining your words "My pronunciation
of Qur'an is created" Bukhari said: "O Abu `Amr,
remember what I say to you: Whoever claims,
among the people of Nisabur, Qamus, Rayy,
Hamadhan, Baghdad, Kufa, Basra, Mecca, and
Madina, that I ever said: "My pronunciation of
Qur'an is created," he is a liar; truly I never said it.
All I said is: The actions of servants are created."
Subki: Observe his words well and see how
intelligent he is! Its meaning -- and God knows best
-- is: "I did not say that my pronunciation of Qur'an is
created for to say such would constitute entering into
problematics of dialectical theology (kalam) and of
the attributes of God wherein it is unfitting to enter
except due to necessity; what I said is: the actions of
servants are created, and it is a general foundation
which exempts one from mentioning the aforesaid
problematics specifically. For every rational person
understands that our ponunciation is part of our
actions, and our actions are created, therefore our
pronunciation is created."
He has made this meaning explicit in another sound
narration reported from him by Hatem ibn Ahmad
ibn al-Kindi who said: I heard Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj
say -- and he recounted the narration in which is the
following: "A man stood before Bukhari and asked
him about the pronunciation of Qur'an, and he
replied: Our actions are created, and our
pronunciation is part of our actions." The story also
mentions that the people at that time differed
concerning Bukhari, some saying that he had said:
My pronunciation of Qur'an is created, others
denying it. I say: The only ones to blame are those
who indulge in discourse concerning the Qur'an.
In conclusion we repeat what we said in the
biography of al- Karabisi: Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and
others of the masters of learning to whom Allah has
granted success, forbade people to discourse
concerning Qur'an although they did not differ (with
Bukhari) on the question of pronunciation. This is
what we believe about them with due respect for
them, based on their sayings in other narrations, and
in order to exonerate them from saying something
which neither reason nor transmitted evidence
support. Furthermore, Al-Karabisi, Bukhari, and
others of the imams to whom Allah has granted
success have made it explicit that their pronunciation
is created when they felt the necessity to make it
explicit, if it is established that they actually took such
an explicit position. We have otherwise related to the
reader Bukhari's saying whereby whoever relates
that he said such a thing, he has reported something
false from him.
The reader may ask: If it is the truth then why did he
not say it explicitly? I answer: Glory to God! We
have told you that the gist of this matter is their
insistence prohibiting discussions of dialectical
theology lest such discussions take them to unseemly
consequences. Not every science can be explicited,
therefore remember what we impart to you and hold
on to it tightly.
I like what Ghazali quotes in "Minhaj al-`abidin" and
he attributes it to one of the Ahl al-bayt (Zayn
al-`Abidin `Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn `Ali):
I keep the jewels of my knowledge concealed Lest
the ignorant see Truth and turn away. How many an
essential knowledge, if I divulged it, I would be told
for it: You are of the idol-worshippers; And righteous
men would deem licit my blood And think well of the
ugly deed they would commit. This is what Abu
al-Hasan (`Ali) had already Advised al-Husayn and,
before him, al-Hasan.
Ibn `Adi said: I heard `Abd al-Quddus ibn `Abd
al-Jabbar al- Samarqandi say: Bukhari came to
Khartenk -- a village in Samarqand two parsangs
from the main town -- to see relatives with whom he
used to stay. I heard him say in his invocation one
night after the late-night prayer: "O God, the earth
and its welcome have become narrow for me, so
take me back to You." The month was not over yet
when Allah took him back, and his grave is in
Khartenk.
>From `Abd al-Wahid ibn Adam al-Tawawisi: I saw
the Prophet (s) in my sleep with a group of his
Companions. I greeted him and he returned my
greeting, then I said: "What are you waiting for, O
Messenger of God?" He replied: "Muhammad ibn
Isma`il al- Bukhari." After a few days I heard news
of the latter's death. He had died on the very hour
that I saw the Prophet (s) in my dream.
Al-Hakim Abu `Abd Allah (al-Nisaburi) said: I heard
Abu Salih Khalaf ibn Muhammad ibn Isma`il
al-Bukhari say: I heard Abu Hassan Mihnab ibn
Sulaym al-Karmani say: Muhammad ibn Isma`il died
in our village -- may Allah have mercy on him -- the
night of `Eid al-Fitr, the first night of Shawwal in the
year 256. He had reached the age of 62 years less
twelve days. He was born in Shawwal of 194. He
was alone in a house, and we found him the morning
after he died.
Al-Warraq said: I heard Ghalib ibn Jibril -- with
whom Bukhari spent his last days -- say: "Abu `Abd
Allah stayed with us for a few days and took ill, then
his state worsened, until the messenger came to
Samarqand with the order of expulsion. Bukhari got
up and got ready to travel. He wore his two khuffs
(leather socks) and his turban. He walked about
twenty steps and I was supporting him while another
man was bringing the animal for him to ride. Then he
said --may God have mercy on him: "Leave me, I
feel too weak." He began to invoke God at length,
then he took to his bed and he died -- may God have
mercy on him. An indescribable amount of
perspiration came out of him. When this abated, we
shrouded him. We followed his instructions in this as
he had said: "Wrap me in three white cloths, without
shirt nor turban." This we did.
"When we buried him an ineffable smell exuded from
the earth of his grave which lasted for days, and
facing the grave white leaping phenomena oblong
and reaching up to the heaven were seen, so people
began to visit his grave in astonishment. [Arabic:
thumma `alat suwwara? bidun fi al-sama'i
mustatilatun bi hidha'i qabrihi, fa ja`ala al-nasu
yakhtalifun wa yata`ajjabun.]
"People began to take for themselves handfuls of
earth from his grave until the grave lay open again. It
was impossible to protect it even with the posting of
guards. We were overwhelmed, so we built over it a
wooden lattice (khasaban mushabbak) which
prevented access to the grave itself.
"The sweet smell lasted for a long time and was the
talk of the people of the region who were amazed at
this.
"Those who had opposed him before realized his
status after he died. Some of them came to his grave
and showed the marks of repentence and remorse."
Muhammad said: "Ghalib did not live long after this,
and was buried at Bukhari's side."
Al-Hafiz Abu `Ali al-Ghassani said: Abu al-Fath
Nasr ibn al- Hasan al-Sakani al-Samarqandi came to
us in 464 and said: "We had a drought in Samarqand
some years ago. The people made the istisqa' prayer
but they did not get rain. A saintly man named
al-Salah came to the judge and said to him: "I have
an opinion I would like to show you. My opinion is
that you come out followed by the people and that
you all go to the grave of Imam Muhammad ibn
Isma`il al-Bukhari and make istisqa' there. Perhaps
Allah will give us rain." The judge said: "What a good
opinion you have." He came out and the people
followed him, and he prayed for rain in front of them
at the grave while people wept and sought the
intercession of the one that was in it. God sent such
heavy rain that those who were in Khartenk could
not reach Samarqand for seven days because of the
rain's abundance."
Subki: As for the "Jami` al-sahih" itself and its
property as a recourse against difficulties and a
proven means for the fulfillment of needs, it is a
well-known matter. Should we engage in mentioning
its many excellences and what is agreed upon
concerning it, it would take us to inordinate lengths.
Al-Hakim cites the following lines from the poetry of
Bukhari:
Avail yourself in leasure of the benefit of a rak`at
For it may happen that your death will be
sudden.
How many a sound one did I see without ailment
Whose sound soul departed unexpectedly!
They are like the
beasts who see not their ends
Until driven to the slaughterhouse to be sacrificed.
If you wish to stay (in the world)
you
will be quickly helped by all your dear ones
And the annihilation of your soul
-- it cares not for you -- is faster.
He
who grows old finds in himself
What he would wish for his enemies.
And here comes the reward of a man
Whose peers
departed before him:
Wish then for spaciousness of time.
