Imam Bukhari is a
Muslim scholar who is quite popular from the past to the present.
His name is quite familiar to Muslims because of the authentic hadith of al-Bukhari which he compiled during his lifetime.
So, who is this Islamic figure, Imam Bukhari?
Imam Bukhari's family life
Imam Bukhari's full name is Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin Al-Mughirah bin Bardizbah Al-Bukhari. The history of the development of Islamic teachings is very close and cannot be separated from the life of Imam Bukhari.
Born in the Bukhara region of Uzbekistan on 13 Shawwal 194 Hijriah (20 July 810 AD) from a family of devout scholars. His father, Ismail, was a popular scholar at that time and his mother, Fatimah.
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Iman Bukhari's father belonged to the Maliki school of thought because he was a student of the famous Imam Maliki at that time and was an expert scholar in the field of jurisprudence. He died when Bukhari was still kid.
Since he was only 9 years old, Imam Bukhari has shown extraordinary talent in memorizing hadiths. He had an extraordinary memory so he was able to memorize thousands of hadiths without making the slightest mistake.
This is an invaluable gift that Allah SWT has given to the young Imam Bukhari which children his age rarely had at that time.
Education Period
Imam Bukhari's character is known to be quite diligent in studying and he studied with many teachers in several cities such as Bukhara, Mecca, Kufa, Medina and Baghdad.
He studied various disciplines related to the interpretation of the Koran, Islamic law (figh), matters of aqidah, history and Arabic language and hadith.
Because Imam Bukhari had a fairly sharp brain, he was able to learn from many teachers in a number of cities such as Bukhara, Kufah, Mecca, Medina and Baghdad.
In a book entitled Imam Bukhari's biography by Hanif Luthfi, Lc.MA, a number of Imam Bukhari's hadith expert teachers were described where he had studied. Here are some of them:
1. City of Mecca
In this city Imam Bukhari studied with Abu Al-Walid Ahmad, Abdullah bin Yazid, Ismail bin Salim, Abu Bakr al-Humaidi Abdulah
2. City of Medina
His teachers were Ibrahim bin Al-Mundzir Al-Hazami, Yahya bin Qadzah, Mutharrif bin Abdulah, Abu Sabit Muhammad, Abdul Aziz bin Abdilah.
3. Baghdad city
His teachers were Muhammad bin Isa, Muhammad bin Sabiq, Ahmad bin Hambal, Suraih.
Compilation of Bukhari hadith
Imam Bukhari's most famous monumental work is Sahih Al-Bukhari. This complete collection of hadiths is entitled al-jami al-musnad as-shahih al-mukhtasar min the age of Rasulilahwa Sunanih wa ayyamih.
The idea to compile the Sahih Al-Bukhari book actually came from Imam Bukhari's teacher, Sheikh Ishag, as told in a book entitled Study of Hadith Books written by Muhammad Misbah in 2020.
Teacher Bukhari said, you should compile a book that specifically contains the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet.
It was on this teacher's recommendation that Imam Bukhari began hunting for hadiths in various places for approximately 16 years. Still in the same book, interestingly, while hunting for hadiths he was not careless.
There are special criteria that Imam Bukhari set, namely based on his sanad. The characteristics are that there is a direct meeting between the person telling the hadith and his teacher, then between the teacher and the previous person until it ends with the Prophet Muhammad SAW.
Another criterion is that the people involved in the hadith story must have noble morals, be honest, fair, thorough and have studied with someone for a long time.
Even though he had met these two criteria, it was narrated by his student Imam Bukhari that before entering a hadith in his book, he always performed the istikharah prayer first to ensure that the hadith was authentic.
The Sahih Bukhari book consists of nine volumes with more than 7000 authentic hadiths in it. The process of collecting 7000 hadiths, which he carried out almost throughout his life, was quite tiring and took a long time.
Every time he heard a hadith of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, Imam Bukhari would immediately hunt him down even though he was quite far away.
Ironically, during the period of compiling the hadith he was slandered so that in the last few years before his death he suffered difficulties. Imam Bukhari died on 1 Shawwal 256 Hijiriah (870 AD) or the eve of Eid al-Fitr in the Khartank region of Uzbekistan at the age of 60 years.
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