بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

His Birth and Lineage

Abū ‘Abd Allāh al-Bukhārī, Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mughīrah ibn Bardizbah, and it is (also) said Badhdizbah, which is a Bukhāran word meaning “the farmer.”

Bardizbah was a Persian [Magian] who followed his people’s religion, then embraced Islām at the hands of al-Yamān al-Ju’fī – the governor of Bukhārah – along with his son Al-Mughīrah, and came to Bukhārah.

Al-Bukhārī was called ‘al-Juʿfī’ because his great-grandfather accepted Islām at the hands of the great-grandfather of ʿAbd Allāh al-Musnadī (i.e. Al-Yamān). And al-Yamān was a Juʿfī, so he (al-Bukhārī) was affiliated to him. And ʿAbd Allāh was called ‘al-Musnadī’ because he used to seek the musnad (connected chains of narration to the Prophet) from his youth.

And Ismā’īl ibn Ibrāhīm (i.e. Imām al-Bukhārīs father) was a seeker of knowledge. Ismāʿīl died when Muhammad was young, so he grew up under his mother’s care.

Ishāq ibn Ahmad ibn Khalaf narrated to us that he heard al-Bukhārī say: “My father heard from Mālik ibn Anas, and he met Hammād ibn Zayd, and he shook hands with Ibn al-Mubārak…”

al-Hasan ibn al-Husayn al-Bazzāz in Bukhārāh said: I saw Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm – a thin-bodied shaykh, neither tall nor short. He was born on Friday after the Friday prayer, on the thirteenth night that had passed of the month of Shawwāl in the year one hundred and ninety-four (194H). He died on Saturday night at the time of the ʿIshāʾ prayer, the night of [ʿĪd] al-Fitr, and was buried on the day of al-Fitr after the Dhuhr prayer on Saturday, the first of Shawwāl in the year two hundred and fifty-six (256H). He lived sixty-two years minus thirteen days.

The restoration of his eyesight

Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Fadl al-Balkhī narrated to us, (saying): I heard my father say: “The eyes of Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl went (blind) in his childhood, so his mother saw in a dream Ibrāhīm al-Khalīl (the Friend of Allāh, i.e. Prophet Abraham) and he said to her: ‘O woman, Allāh has restored your son’s eyesight because of the abundance of your weeping,’ or ‘the abundance of your supplication’—al-Balkhī was uncertain. So we awoke and (found that) Allāh had restored his eyesight to him.”

The beginning of his quest for knowledge/hadīth and writings

Muhammad ibn Abī Hātim narrated: I said to Abū ‘Abd Allāh: “How was the beginning of your affair (i.e. your life in seeking hadīth)?” He said: “I was inspired to memorise hadīth while I was in the kuttāb (schools, i.e. Qur’ān schools).” So I said: “How old were you?” He said: “Ten years old, or less.

Then I left the school after (turning) ten, and I began frequenting (the gatherings of) al-Dākhilī and others. One day he said, among what he was reading to the people: ‘Sufyān (narrated), from Abū al-Zubayr, from Ibrāhīm.’ So I said to him: ‘Indeed, Abū al-Zubayr did not narrate from Ibrāhīm.’ So he scolded me. I said to him: ‘Return to the source (manuscript).’ So he entered and looked at it, then came out and said to me: ‘How is it, O boy?’ I said: ‘It is al-Zubayr ibn ‘Adī, from Ibrāhīm.’ So he took the pen from me, corrected his book, and said: ‘You are correct.’ So it was said to al-Bukhārī: ‘How old were you when you corrected him?’ He said: ‘Eleven years old.’

When I reached sixteen years (of age), I had memorised the books of Ibn al-Mubārak and Wakī’, and I knew the speech (i.e. teachings) of these (scholars). Then I went out with my mother and my brother Ahmad to Makkah. When I performed Hajj, my brother returned with her (to Khurāsān), and I stayed behind seeking hadīth.”

Al-Bukhārī said: “I used to go to the jurists in Marw while I was a boy. When I would come, I was shy to greet them. So a teacher from among its people said to me: How many (hadīths) did you write today? I said: Two – and I meant by that two hadīths. So those present in the gathering laughed. A shaykh among them said: Do not laugh, for perhaps he will laugh at you one day!”

Al-Bukhārī said: “I entered upon (Imām) al-Humaydī when I was eighteen years old, and there was a disagreement between him and another about a hadīth. When al-Humaydī saw me, he said: One has come who will decide between us. So they presented (the matter) to me, and I decided in favor of al-Humaydī (for the truth was with him) over the one who disagreed with him. If his opponent had persisted in his disagreement and then died upon his claim, he would have died as a disbeliever.”

Abū Bakr al-A’yan narrated to us. He said: “We wrote from al-Bukhārī at the door of Muhammad ibn Yūsuf al-Firyābī, and there was not a hair on his face. So we said: How old are you?” He said: “Seventeen years old.”

Al-Bukhārī said: “When I entered eighteen (years of age), I compiled the book ‘Judgments/Verdicts of the Companions and Successors’ (Qadāyā al-Sahābah wa-l-Tābiʿīn), then compiled ‘The History’ (al-Tārīkh) in Madīnah at the Prophet’s grave and I would write it on moonlit nights.” He said: “”Rarely is there a name in the History except that it has a story, but I disliked making the book too long.”

Hāni’ ibn al-Nadr narrated: “We were with Muhammad ibn Yūsuf – meaning al-Firyābī – in Syria, and we would do what young men do in eating berries and the like. Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl was with us, but he would not compete with us in anything we were doing, and he would devote himself to knowledge.”

Sahl ibn al-Sirrī said: Al-Bukhārī said: “I entered Syria (al-Shām), Egypt (Misr), and al-Jazīrah (largely modern day Irāq/Syria and Turkey) twice, Basrah (city in Irāq) four times, and stayed in the Hijāz (Western Saudi Arabia) for six years. I cannot count how many times I entered Kūfah and Baghdād with the hadīth scholars.”

His teachers

Muhammad ibn Abī Hātim narrated from him [al-Bukhārī], he said: “I wrote from one thousand and eighty people, and there was not among them except (that they were) a person of hadīth.” He also said: “I did not write except from one who said: Faith (al-īmān) is statement and action.”

Hāfidh ibn Hajr said: His tachers are confined to 5 levels/classes:

(The First Class): Those who narrated to him from the Successors (al-Tābiʿīn), such as Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ansārī – he narrated to him from Humayd; and such as Makkī ibn Ibrāhīm – he narrated to him from Yazīd ibn Abī ʿUbayd; and such as Abū ʿĀsim al-Nabīl – he narrated to him from Yazīd ibn Abī ʿUbayd also; and such as ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā – he narrated to him from Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid; and such as Abū Nuʿaym – he narrated to him from al-Aʿmash; and such as Khallād ibn Yahyā – he narrated to him from ʿĪsā ibn Tahmān; and such as ʿAlī ibn ʿIyāsh and ʿIsām ibn Khālid – they both narrated to him from Hurayz ibn ʿUthmān. The shaykhs of all of these [people] were from among the Successors (al-Tābiʿīn).

(The Second Class): Those who were in the era of these [first generation] but did not hear from the reliable Successors, such as Ādam ibn Abī Iyās, Abū Mushir ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Mushir, Saʿīd ibn Abī Maryam, Ayyūb ibn Sulaymān ibn Bilāl, and their likes.

(The Third Class): This is the middle [generation] of his shaykhs, and they are those who did not meet the Successors but rather took from the senior Successors of the Successors, such as Sulaymān ibn Harb, Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd, Nuʿaym ibn Hammād, ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, Yahyā ibn Maʿīn, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, Abū Bakr and ʿUthmān the two sons of Abī Shaybah, and the likes of these. This generation – Muslim shared [with al-Bukhārī] in taking from them.

(The Fourth Class): His companions in seeking [knowledge] and those who heard [from the shaykhs] a little before him, such as Muhammad ibn Yahyā al-Dhuhlī, Abū Hātim al-Rāzī, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Rahīm Sāʿiqa, ʿAbd ibn Humayd, Ahmad ibn al-Nadr, and a group of their peers. He only brings out [narrations] from these [people] what escaped him from his shaykhs or what he did not find with others.

(The Fifth Class): A people in the category of his students in age and chain [of transmission]. He heard from them for benefit, such as ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hammād al-Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī al-ʿĀs al-Khwārizmī, Husayn ibn Muhmmad al-Qabbānī, and others. He narrated from them [only] a few things.

He acted in narrating from them according to what ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah narrated from Wakīʿ, [who] said: “A man is not [considered] a scholar until he narrates from one who is above him, and from one who is his equal, and from one who is below him.”

From al-Bukhārī, that he said: “The hadīth scholar is not complete until he writes from one who is above him, and from one who is his equal, and from one who is below him.”

His students

Al-Dhahabī said: “A great multitude narrated from him, among them: Abū ‘Īsā al-Tirmidhī, and Abū Hātim, and Ibrāhīm ibn Ishāq al-Harbī, and Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunyā, and Abū Bakr Ahmad ibn ‘Amr ibn Abī ‘Āsim, and Sālih ibn Muhammad Jazarah, and Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Hadramī Mutayyan, and Ibrāhīm ibn Ma’qil al-Nasafī, and ‘Abd Allāh ibn Nājiyah, and Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Ishāq ibn Khuzaymah, and ‘Umar ibn Muhammad ibn Bujayr, and Abū Quraysh Muhammad ibn Jum’ah, and Yahyā ibn Muhammad ibn Sā’id, and Muhammad ibn Yūsuf al-Firabrī the narrator of the “Sahīh,” and Mansūr ibn Muhammad Mizbazdah, and Abū Bakr ibn Abī Dāwūd, and al-Husayn and al-Qāsim the two sons of al-Muhāmilī, and ‘Abd Allāh ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ashqar, and Muhammad ibn Sulaymān ibn Fāris, and Mahmūd ibn ‘Anbar al-Nasafī, and multitudes (who) cannot be enumerated.

And Muslim narrated from him in other than his “Sahīh.” And it was said that al-Nasā’ī narrated from him in (the chapter on) fasting from his “Sunan,” but (this) was not authenticated, however al-Nasā’ī did relate in his book “al-Kunā” (The Kunyahs) some things from ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ahmad al-Khaffāf, from al-Bukhārī.”

His memory and other virtues

Hāshid ibn Ismāʿīl said: “Al-Bukhārī used to attend with us the circles of the scholars of Basrah when he was a youth, but he would not write. This went on for some days. We reproached him after sixteen days, and he said: ‘You have criticised me much, so present to me what you have written.’ We brought it out to him – more than fifteen thousand hadīths – and he recited them all from memory, so that we began verifying and correcting our books from his memorisation.”

Abū Bakr ibn Abī ʿAyyāsh  al-Aʿyan said: “We wrote from Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl when he was a beardless youth (amrad) at the door of Muhammad ibn Yūsuf al-Firyābī.” Ibn Hajr said: Al-Firyābī died in the year 212H, and al-Bukhārī was then about eighteen years old or less.

Muhammad ibn al-Azhar al-Sijistānī said: “I was in the gathering of Sulaymān ibn Harb, and al-Bukhārī was with us listening but not writing. Someone said to one of them: ‘What is wrong with him that he doesn’t write?’ He said: ‘He will return to Bukhārah and write from his memory.'”

The scribe/copyist of al-Bukhārī said: I saw him lie down while we were in Qarbūr during the compilation of his Book on the chapter of Qurʾānic Commentary (Tafsīr), and he had tired himself that day in extracting and verifying [hadīths]. I said to him: “I heard you say: ‘I never did anything without knowledge,’ so what is the benefit in lying down?” He said: “I tired myself today, and this is a frontier region. I feared that some incident might occur from the enemy’s affair, so I wanted to rest and take precautions, so that if the enemy attacked us suddenly, we would have strength.”

His scribe said: “He used to ride out to archery frequently, and I do not know that I saw him, in all the time I accompanied him, miss his arrow from the target except twice. Rather, he would hit every time and not be surpassed.”

He said: “We rode out one day to archery while we were in Qarbūr, and we went out to the lane that leads to the port. We began shooting, and Abū ʿAbd Allāh’s arrow hit a stake of the bridge that was over the river, and the stake split. When he saw that, he dismounted from his mount, extracted the arrow from the stake, abandoned archery, and said to us: “Return.” So we returned. He said to me: “O Abā Jaʿfar, I have a need from you,” while sighing deeply. I said: “Yes.” He said: “Go to the owner of the bridge and say: ‘We have damaged the stake, and we would like you to permit us to set up a replacement for it, or [that] you take its price, and make us lawful (halāl) (i.e. forgive and absolve us) regarding what [damage] came from us.'” The owner of the bridge was Humayd ibn al-Akhdar. He said to me: “Convey greetings (salām) to Abū ʿAbd Allāh and say to him: ‘You are absolved regarding what came from you, for all of my property is a ransom for you.'” So I conveyed the message to him, and his face became cheerful, and he showed much happiness, and he read that day to the visitors five hundred hadīths and gave in charity three hundred dirhams.”

His scribe said: I heard al-Bukhārī say: “I have not backbitten anyone ever since I knew that backbiting is forbidden (harām).”

I [Ibn Hajr] say: Al-Bukhārī has in his speech about men excessive caution and profound care, [which] appears to whoever contemplates his words regarding criticism (jarh) and authentication (taʿdīl). Most often he says: “They were silent about him,” “There is consideration [regarding] him,” “They abandoned him,” and the like. Rarely does he say: “Liar” or “Fabricator”. Rather, he says: “So-and-so declared him a liar,” “[So-and-so] accused [him],” meaning of lying.

Abū Bakr ibn Munīr, he said: Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī was one day praying, and a hornet stung him seventeen times. When he finished his prayer, he said: “Look [to see] what this thing is that harmed me in my prayer.” They looked, and behold, the hornet had caused him to swell in seventeen places, yet he did not interrupt his prayer.

I [Ibn Hajr] say: We also narrated it from Muhammad ibn Abī Hātim, his scribe, and he said at its end: “I was in the (middle of) a (Qur’ānic) verse, and I loved to complete it.”

His scribe said: He was very little in eating, very generous in kindness to students, and excessively generous (in giving charity).

Abū al-Hasan Yūsuf ibn Abī Dharr al-Bukhārī related that Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl fell ill, and they presented his urine to the physicians. They said: “This urine resembles the urine of some of the Christian monks, for they do not eat condiments. ” Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl confirmed them and said: “I have not eaten condiments for forty years.” They asked about his treatment, and they said: “His treatment is condiments.” He refused until the shaykhs and people of knowledge pressed him, so he responded to them by eating a piece of sugar with bread.

Muhammad ibn Abī Hātim al-Warrāq said: When I was with Abū ʿAbd Allāh on a journey, we would be gathered in one house, except in extreme heat. I would see him rise during one night fifteen to twenty times. In all of that, he would take the flint, strike fire with his hand, light [a lamp], bring out hadīths, mark them, then put his head down [to sleep]. I said to him: “You burden yourself with all this and do not wake me?” He said: “You are young, so I do not like to spoil your sleep.”

He said: He would pray at the time of pre-dawn thirteen units (rakʿah), performing the odd-numbered prayer (witr) with one of them.

Al-Khatīb said: ʿAlī ibn Muhammad al-Jurjānī wrote to me from Isfahān that he heard Muhammad ibn Makkī say: I heard al-Firabrī say: “I saw the Prophet (ﷺ) in sleep, and he said to me: ‘Where are you going?’ I said: ‘I intend [to go to] Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl.’ He said: ‘Convey my greetings (salām) to him.'”

Statements of scholars regarding him

Sulaymān ibn Harb said, looking at him one day: “This one will have fame.” Likewise, Ahmad ibn Hafs said something similar. Al-Bukhārī said: “When I would enter upon Sulaymān ibn Harb, he would say: ‘Clarify for us the errors of Shuʿbah.'”

Hāshid ibn Ismāʿīl said: Abū Mus’ab Ahmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Zuhrī said to me: “Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl is more learned in jurisprudence with us and more knowledgeable of hadīth than Ahmad ibn Hanbal.” A man from his companions said to him: “You have exceeded the limit.” Abū Mus’ab said to him: “If you had met Mālik and looked at his face (Ibn Hajr said: i.e. contemplated his knowledge) and the face of Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl, you would say both of them are one in hadīth and jurisprudence.”

ʿAbdān ibn ʿUthmān al-Marwazī said: “I have not seen with my own eyes a youth more knowledgeable than this one,” and he pointed to Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl.

Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd said: “I sat with the jurists, the ascetics, and the worshippers, but I have not seen since I gained reason [anyone] like Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl. He is in his time like ʿUmar among the Companions (of the Prophet (ﷺ)).”

Muhammad ibn Yūsuf al-Hamdānī said: We were with Qutaybah (ibn Sa’īd)… Qutaybah was asked about the divorce of the intoxicated person. Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl entered, and Qutaybah said to the questioner: “This is Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, and ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī – Allāh has brought them to you,” and he pointed to al-Bukhārī.

Abū ʿAmr al-Kirmānī said: “Qutaybah spoke truthfully. I saw him with Yahyā ibn Maʿīn, and the two of them would go together to Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl, and I saw Yahyā compliant to him in knowledge.”

Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: “Khurāsān has not produced [anyone] like Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl.”

Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm al-Dawraqī and Nuʿaym ibn Hammād al-Khuzāʿī said: “Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī – in him is this community (ummah).” Bundār – Muhammad ibn Bashshār – said: “He is the most learned in jurisprudence of Allāh’s creation in our time.”

Salīm ibn Mujāhid said: “I was with Muhammad ibn Salām, and he said to me: ‘If you had come before, you would have seen a youth who memorises seventy thousand hadīths.'”

Hāshid ibn Ismāʿīl said: I saw Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh sitting on the pulpit, and al-Bukhārī was sitting with him, and Ishāq was narrating (hadīth). He passed by a hadīth, and Muhammad rejected it. Ishāq returned to his [al-Bukhārī’s] statement and said: “O group of companions of hadīth, look at this young man and write from him, for if he had been in the time of al-Hasan ibn Abī al-Hasan al-Basrī, [people] would have needed him for his knowledge of hadīth and his jurisprudence.”

Abū Bakr al-Madīnī said: “We were one day with Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, and Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl was present. Ishāq passed by a hadīth and mentioned its Companion as ʿAtāʾ al-Kīkhārānī. Ishāq said to him: ‘O Abā ʿAbd Allāh, what is Kīkhārān?’ He said: ‘A village in Yemen. Muʿāwiyah had sent this man, the Companion, to Yemen, and this ʿAtāʾ heard from him two hadīths.’ Ishāq said to him: ‘O Abā ʿAbd Allāh, it is as if you witnessed the people.'”

Hāshid said: I saw ʿAmr ibn Zurārah and Muhammad ibn Rāfiʿ with Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl, and they were asking him about the defects (ʿilal) of hadīth. When they stood up, they said to those who were present at the gathering: “Do not be deceived about Abī ʿAbd Allāh, for he is more learned in jurisprudence than us, more knowledgeable, and more victorious.” He said: “We were one day with Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh and ʿAmr ibn Zurārah, and he was dictating to Abī ʿAbd Allāh, and the companions of hadīth were writing from him, and Ishāq was saying: ‘He is more knowledgeable than me.’ Abū ʿAbd Allāh at that time was a young man.”

Al-Bukhārī said: “I did not consider myself small in the presence of anyone except in the presence of ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, though sometimes I would surprise him [with knowledge].” Hāmid ibn Ahmad said: “This statement was mentioned to ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, and he said to me: ‘Leave his statement. He has not seen [anyone] like himself.'”

Al-Bukhārī said: “The companions of ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī al-Fallās discussed a hadīth with me, and I said: ‘I do not know it.’ They were pleased by that and went to ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī. They said to him: ‘We discussed a hadīth with Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl, but he did not know of it.’ ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī said: ‘A hadīth that Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl does not know is not a hadīth.'”

Al-Husayn ibn Hurayth said: “I do not know that I have seen [anyone] like Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl. It is as if he was not created except for hadīth.”

Ahmad ibn al-Dawʾ said: I heard Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah and Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr saying: “We have not seen [anyone] like Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl.” Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah used to call him: “Al-bāzil,” meaning the complete one (al-kāmil).

Ibrāhīm ibn Muhammad ibn Salām said:  “Indeed, a group from the people of hadīth, such as Sa’īd ibn Abī Maryam, Nu’aym ibn Hammād, al-Humaydī, Hajjāj ibn Minhāl, Ismā’īl ibn Abī Uways, al-‘Adanī, al-Hasan al-Hulwānī in Makkah, Muhammad ibn Maymūn the companion of Ibn ‘Uyaynah, Muhammad ibn al-‘Alā’, al-Ashajj, Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mundhir al-Hizāmī, and Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsā al-Farrā’ – they used to revere Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl and give him preference over themselves in knowledge and examination (of Hadīth).”

Abd Allāh ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Dārimī said: “Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl is the most knowledgeable of us, the most learned in jurisprudence of us, the most probing of us, and the most abundant of us in seeking (knowledge). And “Muhammad’s seeking of hadīth was not like our seeking. When he examined the hadīth of a man, he would exhaust it.”

Muhammad ibn Ishāq ibn Khuzaymah said: “I have not seen under the sky of heaven anyone more knowledgeable of the hadīth of the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) and more memorising of it than Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl.”

Muslim ibn al-Hajjāj said to al-Bukhārī: “Only an envious person hates you. I bear witness that there is no one in the world like you.”

The testing of him by the people of Baghdād

Abū ʿAlī Sālih ibn Muhammad al-Baghdādī said: “Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl used to sit [and teach] in Baghdād, and I would dictate for him, and more than twenty thousand would gather in his gathering.”

Muhammad ibn Yūsuf ibn ʿĀsim said: “I saw Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl have three dictators in Baghdād, and there gathered in his assembly more than twenty thousand men.”

Abū Ahmad ibn ʿAdī say: I heard several shaykhs relate that Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī came to Baghdad. The companions of hadīth heard about him, so they gathered and took one hundred hadīths, reversed their texts and chains, made the text of this chain (in place) for another chain, and the chain of this text (in place) for another text. They gave [these] to ten persons – to each man ten hadīths – and commanded them when they attended the gathering to present that to al-Bukhārī.

They set an appointment for the gathering. The gathering was attended by a group of people of hadīth from the visitors from the people of Khurāsān and others, and from the Baghdādīs. When the gathering settled with its people, one man from the ten came forward and asked him about a hadīth from those hadīths. Al-Bukhārī said: “I do not know it.” He asked him about another, and he said: “I do not know it.” He kept presenting to him one after another until he finished his ten, and al-Bukhārī was saying: “I do not know it.”

The scholars/jurists among those present at the gathering would turn to one another and say: “The man understands (what’s happening).” Those who were otherwise among them would judge al-Bukhārī as incapable, deficient, and of little understanding.

Then another man from the ten came forward and asked him about a hadīth from those reversed hadīths. Al-Bukhārī said: “I do not know it.” He asked him about another, and he said: “I do not know it.” He asked him about another, and he said: “I do not know it.” He kept presenting to him one after another until he finished his ten, and al-Bukhārī was saying: “I do not know it.”

Then the third and fourth came forward to him, up to the completion of the ten, until they all finished the reversed hadīths, and al-Bukhārī would not add to them more than “I do not know it.”

When al-Bukhārī knew that they had finished, he turned to the first of them and said: “As for your first hadīth, it is such-and-such; your second hadīth is such-and-such; the third and fourth” – in order – until he came to the completion of the ten. He returned each text to its chain, and each chain to its text. He did with the others likewise, and returned all the texts of the hadīths to their chains, and their chains to their texts.

The people acknowledged his memorisation and submitted to him in virtue. Ibn Sāʿid, when he would mention Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl, would say: “The charging ram!”

The compilation of Sahīh al-Bukhārī

Khalaf al-Hayyām said: I heard Ibrāhīm ibn Ma’qil (say): I heard Abū ‘Abd Allāh say: “I was with Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, and some of our companions said: If only you would compile an abridged book of the Sunan of the Prophet (ﷺ). This fell into my heart, so I began compiling this book.” – meaning the book al-Jāmi’ (i.e. Sahīh al-Bukhārī).

Al-Firabrī say: I heard Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī say: “I did not place a hadīth in the book al-Sahīh except that I performed ghusl (ritual bath) before that and prayed two rakʿahs (units of prayer).”

ʿUmar ibn Muhammad ibn Bujayr al-Bujīrī said: I heard Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl say: “I compiled my book al-Jāmiʿ in the Sacred Mosque (al-Masjid al-Harām), and I did not include a hadīth in it until I sought guidance from Allāh, The Most-High, prayed two rakʿahs, and became certain of its authenticity.”

Al-Bukhārī said: “I compiled al-Jāmiʿ from six hundred thousand hadīths over sixteen years, and I made it a proof between me and Allāh.”

Abū Jaʿfar al-ʿUqaylī said: When al-Bukhārī compiled the book al-Sahīh, he presented it to Ibn al-Madīnī, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Yahyā ibn Maʿīn, and others. They approved of it and testified to its authenticity except for four hadīths. Al-ʿUqaylī said: And the [correct] statement regarding them is the statement of al-Bukhārī, and they are authentic.

Abū al-Hasan al-Dāraqutnī the  said: “Were it not for al-Bukhārī, Muslim would neither have come nor gone.”
He also said: “Muslim only took the book of al-Bukhārī and made from it a mustakhraj (extractedwork), and added to it hadīths.”

Why Sahīh al-Bukhārī is considered the most authentic book after the Qur’ān

Hāfidh (Ibn Hajr) said: “The qualities upon which authenticity revolves in the book of al-Bukhārī are more complete than those in the book of Muslim, and more rigorous. His conditions regarding them are stronger and more stringent.

As for its superiority with regard to chain connection (ittisāl): (Al-Bukhārī) stipulated that the narrator must have proven meeting with the one from whom he narrates, even if only once, whereas Muslim was satisfied with mere contemporaneity (between narrators).

As for its superiority with regard to uprightness/integrity (ʿadālah) and precision (dabt): The men (i.e. narrators) who were criticised among the men of Muslim are greater in number than the men who were criticised among the men of al-Bukhārī. Moreover, al-Bukhārī did not narrate abundantly from them [the criticised ones]; rather, most of them are from his shaykhs from whom he took [directly] and whose hadīth he practiced [evaluating], unlike Muslim in both these matters.

As for its superiority with regard to the absence of irregularity (shudhūdh) and defects (iʿlāl): The hadīths criticised from al-Bukhārī are fewer in number than those criticised from Muslim.

This, [combined] with the agreement of the scholars that al-Bukhārī was more eminent than Muslim in the sciences (of Hadīth), more knowledgeable of the craft of hadīth than him, and that Muslim was his student and his graduate. [Muslim] continued to benefit from him and follow his traces, to the point that al-Dāraquṭnī used to say: “Were it not for al-Bukhārī, Muslim would neither have come nor gone.” (Nukhbatul-Fikr Fī Mustalah Ahlul-Athar with explanation of al-San’ānī pg. 229)

Imām al-Bukhārīs death

Muslim ibn al-Hajjāj say: “When Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl came to Naysābūr, I did not see a governor or scholar (receive treatment like) what the people of Naysābūr did to him – they received him (at a distance of) two or three stations. Muhammad ibn Yahyā said in his gathering: ‘Whoever wants to receive Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl tomorrow, let him receive him.’ So Muhammad ibn Yahyā and most of the scholars received him. He stayed at the house of the Bukhāriyyīn (people from Bukhārāh).”

Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ya’qūb al-Hāfidh said: “When al-Bukhārī settled in Naysābūr, Muslim ibn al-Hajjāj frequented him much. When what occurred between al-Dhuhlī and al-Bukhārī occurred regarding the matter of lafdh, and he proclaimed against him and prevented people from him, most people cut off from him except (Imām) Muslim…And Ahmad ibn Salamah followed him…

…when Muslim and Ahmad ibn Salamah stood up from al-Dhuhlī’s gathering, al-Dhuhlī said: ‘This man (i.e. Imām al-Bukhārī) shall not dwell with me in the town.’ So al-Bukhārī feared and traveled.”

Bakr ibn Munīr ibn Khalīd ibn ‘Askar said: “The Amīr Khālid ibn Ahmad al-Dhuhlī, the governor of Bukhārāh, sent to Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl (saying): ‘Bring to me the book “al-Jāmi'” (i.e. Sahīh al-Bukhārī) and “al-Tārīkh” and others so I may hear from you.’ He said to his messenger: ‘I do not humiliate knowledge, nor do I carry it to the doors of people. If you have need of something from it, then come to my masjid or my house. If this does not please you, then you are a ruler (sultān), so prevent me from the gathering, so that I may have an excuse before Allāh on the Day of Resurrection, because I do not conceal knowledge due to the statement of the Prophet (ﷺ): “Whoever is asked about knowledge and conceals it will be bridled with a bridle of fire.”‘ So this was the cause of the estrangement between them.”

Sahl ibn Shādhawayh narrated: “Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl used to dwell in Sikkat al-Dahqān, and a group would frequent him, showing the signs of the People of Hadīth such as singular iqāmah (call to prayer), raising the hands in prayer, and other than that. So Hurayth ibn Abī al-Warqā’ and others said: ‘This is a divisive man, and he is corrupting this city for us. Muhammad ibn Yahyā has expelled him from Naysābūr, and he is the imām of the People of Hadīth.’ So they used ibn Yahyā as proof against him and sought help from the ruler in expelling him from the town, so he was expelled. Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl was pious, avoiding the ruler and not entering upon them.”

Abū Bakr ibn Abī ‘Amr al-Hāfidh al-Bukhārī said: “The cause of the disagreement with Abū ‘Abd Allāh was that Khālid ibn Ahmad al-Dhuhlī, the Amīr and khalīfah (deputy) of the Tāhirids in Bukhārāh, asked that he come to his house and read “al-Jāmi'” and “al-Tārīkh” to his children. He refused to attend at his place, so he corresponded with him to hold a gathering for his children that none other than them would attend. He refused and said: ‘I do not single out anyone [for knowledge].’ So the Amīr sought the help of Hurayth ibn Abī al-Warqā’ and others, until they spoke about his madhhab (doctrine), and expelled him from the town.

Ibn ‘Adī said: I heard ‘Abd al-Quddūs ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbār al-Samarqandī say: “Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl came to Khartank – a village two farsakhs from Samarqand – and he had relatives there, so he stayed with them. We heard him one night supplicating after he had finished the night prayer: ‘O Allāh, indeed the earth has become narrow for me despite its vastness, so take me to You.’ The month had not ended until he died, and his grave is at Khartank.”

Muhammad ibn Abī Hātim said: I heard Abū Mansūr Ghālib ibn Jibrīl, and he is the one at whose place Abū ‘Abd Allāh stayed, say: “He stayed with us for days, then he became ill, and the illness intensified upon him, until he sent a messenger to the city of Samarqand regarding the departure of Muhammad. When (the messenger) arrived, he prepared to mount, so he put on his khuffs (leather socks), and put on his turban. When he had walked about twenty steps or so – and I was holding his upper arm, and a man with me was leading him to the mount to ride it – he said, may Allāh have mercy on him: ‘Release me, for I have weakened.’ So he supplicated with supplications, then he lay down, and passed away, may Allāh have mercy on him. Sweat flowed from him in a way that cannot be described, and the sweat did not cease from him until we wrapped him in his garments. Among what he said to us and advised us: ‘Shroud me in three white garments, with neither a shirt nor a turban.’ So we did that. When we buried him, a fragrance emanated from the dust of his grave more pleasant than musk – that continued for days…”

Ibn ‘Adī said: I heard al-Hasan ibn al-Husayn al-Bazrār al-Bukhārī say: “Al-Bukhārī died on Saturday night, the night of (Eid) al-Fitr, at the time of ‘Ishā’ prayer, and was buried on the day of (Eid) al-Fitr after Dhuhr prayer, in the year two hundred and fifty-six, and he lived sixty-two years minus thirteen days.”

(Unless stated otherwise in the text, all the above has been taken from Introduction to Sahīh al-Bukhārī by Ibn Hajr pg. 861-886. Siyar al-‘Alām al-Nubalā of Imām Al-Dhahabī 10/77-119. Tārīkh al-Baghdād of Imām al-Khātīb al-Baghdādī 2/322-357)