Bukhari Shareef Ka Taruf
TAG: Al-Bukhari
Why Should I Study Islam?
Many years ago in Uzbekistan, a baby boy was born blind. His mother, the strong believer that she was, did not lose sight of He who had the power to cure him. She prayed and prayed for her son’s sight, and within a few years, the boy regained his eyesight. But furthermore, she was widowed, and the boy an orphan. Regardless, she traveled with him to Makkah so that he could receive an Islamic education. She arranged for him to attend the circles of the scholars. He began excelling in the science of Hadith. He traveled to distant villages in search of the most authentic sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him). His mother named him Muhammad Ibn Isma’il. Many of us know him today by the book he compiled – the book that stands after the Qur’an in authenticity – Saheeh Al-Bukhari.
Another scholarly name we are familiar with is Imam Suyuti. What many of us may not know is that he authored his first book, Tafseer Bismillaah Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem, when he was in the 2nd grade!
Why should we try to follow in the footsteps of these stars of Islam? The knowledge they had was unlike anything else. It was the law of Allah and the inheritance of the Prophets. It is our duty to preserve and protect the estate of the Prophet (peace be upon him), and that cannot happen without there being serious and sincere brothers and sisters spending long days and nights reading, reflecting, and teaching others.
A sincere man once stood on the beach shore watching the waves thrashing a fish up and down. The man decided that he must save the fish. He thrashed into the water and grabbed the fish by the tail. Then he went back to the shore and threw the fish on the beach, satisfied that he had saved it from the water! When we work for the sake of Allah without knowledge of what the path of Allah is, many times we do as this young man did.
We are living in an age of information. We have publishing houses when only yesterday our ancestors wrote the books they owned with their own hands. We have CDs to search the Hadith archives when our scholars spent days upon days searching for proof and evidence in their libraries. Knowledge should increase with all this ease, but it has not.
When a prize is great, the responsibility and work required for it shall also be great. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“Whoever seeks out a path to acquire knowledge (of the deen), Allah makes easy a path for him to Jannah” (Muslim)
He also told us that sincere scholars have a place with Allah no one else can reach. He (peace be upon him) said:
“The virtue of the scholar to a worshipper (‘aabid) is similar to the virtue of the moon when it is full to the rest of the stars.” (Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah – Authentic)
One of the Hadith scholars that Imam Bukhari took from, Hisham ibn Ammar narrates an incident that happened to him when he was 8 years old. He said, “My father sold a house of his for 20 dinars so that I could go for Hajj (and study Islam). When I arrived in Madina, I went to the circle of Imam Malik. He was sitting amongst his students like a king. People would ask him questions and he would answer. When I entered the crowd and my turn came up I said, ‘Haddathani (recite to me)!’
“He said, ‘Rather you read.’
“I said, ‘No, you haddathani!’
“Imam Malik said, ‘No you read!’
“When I talked back and argued, he got angry and said to another student, go outside with me and hit me 15 times! That student took me outside and hit me 15 times with a stick and then brought me back to Imam Malik. I said, ‘You have wronged me! My father sold his house so that I could come to you and be honored by listening to your teaching and seeking knowledge from you. But you smacked me 15 times without any crime on my part. I shall not forgive you!’
“Imam Malik then said, ‘What is the expiation for this wrong?’
“I said, ‘You have to recite 15 Hadith to me as expiation.’
“So Imam Malik began reciting the Hadith to me until he completed 15. When he ended I told him, ‘Beat me more and read more Hadith to me.’
“Imam Malik laughed and said, ‘Be off.”
(Ma’rifat Al-Qurraa’ Al-Kibaar by Imam Adh-Dhahabi)
From the beginning of time, there has been a race between the doers of good and the doers of evil.
‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) once said, “I seek Allah’s protection from the Jalad (the strength and enthusiasm) of the sinner, and the laziness of the God-fearer.” It is as if he was contemplating the time that we are now living in.
Why are we too lazy to pray 2 Rakat at night, when the people of the Dunya spend the entire night watching movies?
Some of the Fuqahaa’ who came before us said, “For years I desired to eat Hareesah (a sweet dish) and I wasn’t able to because it was only sold during class time.”
Imam Su’bah said, “If I ever saw someone running in the streets of the village I would only think one of two things: He was either crazy or a student of Hadith!”
To correct the situation we must reflect on the following:
· We must be sincere in our desire to learn Islam. It is not a coincidence that the first Hadith in Saheeh Al-Bukhari is, “Verily actions are (judged) by their intentions…” The scholars are reminding us from page one that our path to learning must be for the sake of Allah. Allah ordered us to be sincere to Him in our actions:
“And they were commanded not, but that they should worship Allah, and worship none but Him Alone (abstaining from ascribing partners to Him), and perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat) and give Zakat: and that is the right religion.” (Qur’an, 98:5)
· We should understand that we are in a continuous war with Satan and that he does not want us to succeed in this studying. Allah says:
“So when you want to recite the Qur’an, seek refuge with Allah from Shaitan (Satan), the outcast (the cursed one).” (Qur’an, 16:98)
One way Satan will sit in your path is by making you procrastinate. He will tell you that you are busy now and that later in your life you shall take the time out to study Islam. Life will pass and the ‘after’ shall live forever.
· We should never forget to pray to Allah to bless us with His Mercy in succeeding in our intentions to learn Islam for His sake. Allah says:
“And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad) concerning Me, then (answer them), I am indeed near (to them by My Knowledge). I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me (without any mediator or intercessor). So let them obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may be led aright.” (Qur’an, 2:186).
Imam Bukhari: The Founder Of Hadith Science
Imam Bukhari is a name that creates a sense of reverence and respect in every Muslim’s heart. He was one of the greatest scholars of Islam and the founder of Hadith science. His prestigious compilation named Jame Al-Sahih is regarded as the second authentic book of Islam after the Holy Qur’an.
It was in the second century Hijrah when most of the Sahaba who had learned Islam from the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) directly were diminishing one after another. The last of the Prophet’s companions passed away in 110 A.H. Subsequently, a possibility of misquoting the Prophet (peace be upon him) by some people with vested interest was quite apparent. So it was essential to collect and authenticate true Hadiths without the sponsorship of any ruling authority, regional or national. It was a gigantic work to collect all the prevailing statements and to classify them into the relevant categories, as authentic, good, poor, and false.
This was a great task, which Imam Bukhari, a non-Arab from Khorasan, shouldered. He spent 16 years searching, collecting, and refining the material of Hadith. Not only this, he fixed the most rigid rules to evaluate and authenticate any circulating Hadith. Thus he is known as the Founder of Hadith science. The rest of his life was spent teaching and propagating the Hadith literature. One of his students, Imam Muslim, rose to the second position in the world in the Hadith compilation.
Imam Bukhari was born in Bukhara in 196 A.H. (810 A.D.) now in Uzbekistan). His father died when he was still young. He had lost his sight in infancy but his mother’s prayers and invoking blessed him a sharp sight and sharp memory that enabled him to read and write in the moonlight and if he had read or heard something, it would remain in his memory forever.
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 18, 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.
While returning to Bukhara after 16 years he began to compile Jame Al Sahih. He judged 7,275 Hadith from his large collection and arranged them in 93 chapters. Though Imam Bukhari wrote many books, he shot to prominence because of Tarikh Al-Kabeer, Adab Al-Mufrad, and Sahih Al-Bukhari. The first one he wrote in full moon nights at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. Imam Bukhari had a very sharp memory. He memorized 70,000 Hadiths at an early age and later in his life, this figure reached 300,000. Among those 100,000 Hadiths were Sahih and 200,000 were Hasan, Da`îf, etc.
In 250 A.H. he settled at Neshapur where he met Muslim ibn Al Hujjaj as his disciple who compiled Sahih Al-Muslim which is regarded only second to Bukhari in the Muslim world.
Imam Bukhari’s book on Hadith is regarded as the top of Sahah Sitta which are the most authentic six books of Hadith collected during 200-300 AH. These are:
• Sahih Bukhari by Imam Bukhari (D. 256 A.H.),
• Sahih Muslim by Muslim ibn Al Hujjaj (D. 261 A.H.),
• Sunan Al-Sughra by Al-Nasa’i (D. 302 A.H.)
• Sunan Abu Dawood by Abu Dawood (D. 274 A.H.)
• Jami Al-Tirmidhi by Al-Tirmidhi (D. 278 A.H.)
• Sunan ibn Majah by Ibn Majah (D. 273 A.H.)
Hafiz Ahmad bin Adi has described that when Imam Bukhari reached Baghdad, the leading scholars tried to test him and mixed 100 Hadith between the narrators’ chain and the text and gave to 100 persons to ask the authenticity of such Hadiths. Imam Bukhari said he never heard any Hadith like this. Then he repeated the incorrect Hadith as quoted by each questioner and then recited the corrected Hadith for each person separately. The people were astonished at the depth of his knowledge and paid great respect to him.
Imam Bukhari was a rich person but he lived the life of a very simple man giving most of his income to the poor. Mohammed Hatim Warraq, one of his disciples said that when Imam was establishing a Sarai (inn) near the city of Bukhara, he was laying bricks with his own hands. When Warraq said to him, leave this job for me, he replied, “On the Day of Judgment this work will be of benefit to me.” Regarding his worship, it is said that Imam recited the entire Qur’an daily in Ramadan and recited one-third of it in the night prayers.
In 250 A.H., Imam Bukhari moved to Neshapur where he was well received. Imam Muslim Neshapuri said he had never seen such a grand reception given to any scholar or ruler. Imam Bukhari began his lectures, which were attended by thousands. His popularity irritated the local ruler and Imam Bukhari decided to leave Neshapur for Bukhara where again he was received with great enthusiasm. He began his lectures and also established a school for regular teaching. But after some time due to differences with the local ruler, he decided to leave his hometown for Samarqand.
But when he was still a few miles away from the city he was prevented from entering it. 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 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 a 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 (PBUH) in my dream.”
Sahih Al Bukhari is regarded as the most authentic collection of Hadiths, which covers almost all aspects of human life in providing proper guidance from the Holy Prophet. As for piety, Imam Al-Bukhari never wrote any Hadith in this book without performing two rakah salat of guidance from Allah and when he was sure of its authenticity, only then he wrote it in the book.
Imam Bukhari lived for 62 years only but during his span of life, he did a marvelous work, which has been guiding the Ummah for the last 1,200 years. Tens of commentaries have been written on his treatise and hundreds of scholars are teaching Bukhari to thousand of students daily around the world. May Almighty Allah grant him the best reward.
– by ABU TARIQ HIJAZI
The Life And Time Of Imam Muslim
THE full name of Imam Muslim is Abul Husain Muslim Ibn Al-Hajjaj Al-Qushairi An-Naisaburi. He belonged to the Qushair tribe of the Arabs, an offshoot of the great clan of Rabi’ah. He was born in Nishapur in AH 202/817 CE or AH 206/821 CE. His parents were religiously minded persons and as such he was brought up in a pious atmosphere. This left such an indelible impression on his mind that he spent the whole of his life as a God-fearing person and always adhered to the path of righteousness. He was in fact a righteous man of high caliber. His excellent moral character can be well judged from the simple fact that he never indulged in backbiting, a very common human failing.
Imam Muslim traveled widely to collect Traditions in Arabia, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq, where he attended the lectures of some of the prominent scholars of his time such as Ishaq Ibn Rahwaih, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Ubaidullah Al-Qawariri, Qutaibah Ibn Sa’id, Abdullah Ibn Maslamah, Harmalah Ibn Yahya, and others.
Having finished his studies, he settled down at Nishapur. There he came into contact with Imam Al-Bukhari and was so much impressed by his vast knowledge of Hadith and his deep insight into it that he kept himself attached to him up to the end of Al-Bukhari’s life. He was an ardent admirer of another great teacher of Hadith, Muhammad Ibn Yahya Adh-Dhuhali and attended his lectures regularly. But when the difference of opinion between Muhammad Ibn Yahya and Imam Al-Bukhari, on the issue of the creation of the Qur’an, sharpened into hostility, Imam Muslim sided with Imam Al-Bukhari and abandoned Muhammad Ibn Yahya altogether. He was thus a true disciple of Imam Al-Bukhari.
Imam Muslim wrote many books and treatises on Hadith, but the most important of his works is the collection entitled Al-Jami’ As-Sahih. Some Hadith commentators are of the opinion that in certain respects it is the best and most authentic work on the subject.
Bed Time Sunnahs
Revive a Sunnah
Say, If you (really) love Allah, then follow me (Sall-Allahu alayhe wasallam), [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
(Noble Quran 3:31)
Bed Time Sunnahs
1- Recite the bedtime Du’as from the Masnun Du’as such as Allah-humma bismka amutu wa ahya (Oh Allah, with your name I die and live)
2- Recite the 3 Quls 3 times: One should put his hands together, then, blow into them and recite Surah Ikhlas, Surah Falaq, and Surah Naas then, saying that, wipes as much as he can of his body, starting with his head, his face and the front of his body. He should do this three times. [Narrated by Al-Bukhari]
3- Recite Ayat-ul-Kursi (the verse of the Throne): The fruit (reward) of reciting this ayah is that who recites it, the protection from Allah remains over him, so that no devil can approach him. [narrated by Al-Bukhari]
4- Reciting the last two verses of Surat Al-Baqarah Aamanar-Rasulu: This who recites them at night, they suffice him. [narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
· Scholars have different views about the meaning of (they suffice him): it has been said: they are sufficient for him, as it is equal to praying Tahajjud of that night. Also, it has been said that they protect him against every evil and adversity. Imam Nawawi said, it may mean both things.
5- Recite Tasbeeh Fatimah: Subhan Allah thirty-three times, Al-Hamdulillah thirty-three times, and Allahu Akbar thirty-four times. [Narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
6- Reciting Surah Kafirun: as one of its fruits is that it is a protection from polytheism.
7- Make wudhu: One should be pure, for the hadith says if you go to bed, have an ablution.
8- Sleep on the right side then lie on your right side ). [Narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
9- One should put the right hand under his cheek: when he (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) lay down, he used to put his right hand under his cheek. [Narrated by Abu-Dawoud]