The Jurists of Islam were divided into two principal divisions, one was called the Ahl –ar-Ra’y, or the people of intellect, and the other was the Ahl-al-Hadith, or the people of Hadith. Those jurists who used to put more emphasis on intellect and free exercise of conscience were from the first group, and those who adhered to Hadith or Sunnah, putting less emphasis on free intellect, were of the second group. Imam Abu Hanifah belonged to the first group. They were also known respectively as “Iraqi” and “Hijazi”

Imam Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ismail Al-Bukhari was born in 809 AD, and in his childhood, he learnt the Qur’an by heart and then devoted himself to learning Hadith. His memory was so sharp that if he heard a hadith once, he could remember it with all its lines of narrations throughout his life. He lived in Basra, Kufa, and Madinah for several years and dedicated himself to learning Hadith, including its methods of collection and chains of transmission. He came in contact with Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and became his student. He also came into contact with and exchanged ideas with the famous hadith writers Ibn Mubarak and Wuqay, and several other muhaddiths of his age. He learnt by heart all the books of Hadith written by Ibn Mubarak and Wuqay

When he was twenty or twenty-five, he wrote two famous and influential books, As-Sahabah wa at-Tabi’un and At-Tarikh Al-Kabir. It is said that he wrote Al-Tarikh while sitting near the tomb of the Prophet on moonlit nights, and his hunger for history was so strong that he knew, at least, one incident about each historical personage.

Thereafter, he went out in search of knowledge to Damascus, Egypt, Basra, Baghdad, Kufah, and came into contact with many of the Muslim scholars and Hadith reciters of his age. Whenever he heard the name of a Hadith reciter, he would rush to him without caring about the distance or difficulties of the road. Hunger for knowledge and hadith collection were his aims in life, and he dedicated his life totally and wholeheartedly to the realization of these aims. It is said that Imam Al-Bukhari collected six hundred thousand hadiths, of which he learnt by heart two hundred thousand. Out of all these, he accepted only one thousand hadiths as absolutely authentic in his Al-Jami’ as-Sahih, and the rest he rejected.

He used to take very special care in selecting a Hadith. Once, he went a distance of some hundred miles to collect a hadith. On arrival, he found the hadith reciter busy taming his horse by the false ploy of using a bag without fodder in it. He thought a man who could deceive his conscience by telling a lie. And so he turned back without hearing the Hadith from him.

While he was busy collecting hadith during his forty years of travels in Iran, Iraq, Egypt, and the Hijaz, he met more than one thousand hadith reciters, sat with them, observed their ways of life, and then heard their hadith. It is said that before writing a Hadith, he used to do ablution, say two rak’ats, and then record the Hadith.

His Jami’ as-Shahih is considered to be the greatest of the Hadith collections and is the pride of the entire Muslim ummah. Hundreds of books were later written on this book by hundreds of Muslim writers and scholars, of which Al-Kawabib ad-Darari by Shamsuddin Muhammad Yusuf Al-kirmani (1348 AD), Fath al-Bari by Imam Al-asqalani (1448 AD), and ‘Umdat al-Qari’ by Imam Shaikh Badruddin Al-Ayni (1451 AD) are famous.

While Imam Al-Bukhari was busy writing down the authentic Hadith of the Prophet, there were a few more dedicated souls who also made their marks by recording the true Hadith of the Prophet. Many of the Hadith recorded by them were similar to each other, and so their authenticity became doubly sure. The five most famous Hadith writers after Imam Al-Bukhari were: Imam Abu al-Husayn Muslim ibn Al-Hajjaj An-Nishapuri (817-878 AD), Imam Abu Dawud (818-888), Imam Abu Musa At-Tirmidhi (823-893), Imam Muhammad ibn Majah (823-886), and Imam Abdu ar Rahman Ahmad An-Nasa’i (828-915).

Imam Al-Bukhari and these five Hadith writers are called the Sihha as-Sittah, and they are well-known in Islamic history as the most authentic Hadith compilers.

It is undoubtedly true that if these dedicated souls had not devoted their whole lives to collecting, analyzing, and selecting Hadith, separating the true from the false, we would not have been able to benefit from the golden blessing of the sayings of the Prophet.

The true position of the Sunnah after the Holy Qur’an would have disappeared had not these stalwarts of Islam dedicated their lives to its study. Humanity has learnt the true teachings of Islam through the services of these imams, and their scientific approach to the collection and selection of Hadith has impressed even the staunch and declared enemies of Islam.

M. Atiqul Haque