The Major Sources of Sahih al-Bukhari

[Abu_Abdallah]

Bismillah,

There is a very interesting work, written in Turkish, entitled: Buhâri'nin Kaynaklari, i.e. Bukhari's sources. It is written by the well-known bibliographer Dr. M. Fuad Sezgin, and published in Istanbul 1956.

Unfortunately, the work is only in Turkish. Yet, it is a very useful book. It deals particularly with the written sources - books, collected writings etcetera - which Imam al-Bukhari used or may have used, or which are reflected in his Sahih by utilizing authorities who transmitted written works.

I'm not aware of a book or study that deals with this subject alone, i.e. the written sources of Sahih al-Bukhari. The difficulty students at some Islamic universities have in finding appropiate thesis subjects to write about is strange; I mean, one can create tons of questions or problems and solve them. This subject is of great importance, especially in the West.

He divided the work in four parts. The fourth part is divided in 4 appendices:

1) Bukhari's sources. This contains great references to all the narrators functioning in the Sahih, above the Tabi'in. Sometimes he mentions also the Tabi'in. He gives for each narrator the number of narrations and the charter of the authorities.

2) The relationship between the Muwatta of Imam Malik and the Sahih. Herein he draws attention to the fact that the Sahih's major source are Malik's narrations from the Muwatta'. According to Malik's fucntioning, I counted - with the help of Sezgin's appendix of course - 588 narrations from the Imam of Dar al-Hijrah. He is probably the largest 'written' source.

3) The relationship between the Majâz al-Qur'an of the famous Lughawi Abu 'Ubaydah Ma'mar b. al-Muthanna, who wrote the first book on Majaz, and the Sahih. Ibn Hajar draw incidently attention to al-Bukhari's use of Abu 'Ubaydah's authority. Interestingly, some passages dealing with Attributes are borrowed from this work.

4) The relationship between the Ma'âni al-Qur'an of another famous Lughawi, al-Farrâ', and the Sahih.

The Major Sources / Authorities in the Sahih al-Bukhari

The first layer, i.e. his teachers whom he met and from whom he noted narrations:

1. Musaddad b. Musarhad (d.228) is the greatest authority of Imam al-Bukhari in the Sahih from his teachers. This Basran Hafidh has the honor to function as a narrator of: 381 narrrations.

Most narrations Musaddad took from:

Yahya b. Sa'id al-Qattan - 191
Hammad b. Zayd - 27
Yazid b. Zuray' - 24
Isma'il b. Ibrahim - 21
Bishr b. al-Mufaddal - 20

2. Abdallah b. Yusuf al-Tinnisi (d.218). This is a Syrian Shaykh who al-Bukhari preferred as the best transmitter when it comes to Malik's Muwatta and his narrations, see below. He had the privilege to be second major authority of the Sahih: 335 narrations.

- Malik b. Anas - 272
- al-Layth b. Sa'd - 57

3. Qutaybah b. Sa'id (d.213). One of al-Bukhari's early teachers from Khurasan, I believe Balkh. He travelled alot. He narrated: 304 narrations.

- al-Layth b. Sa'd - 66
- Jarir b. 'Abd al-Hamid - 45
- Sufyan b. 'Uyayna - 32
- Isma'il b. Ja'far - 32
- Malik b. Anas - 20

4. 'Ali b. Abdallah al-Madini (d.234). This is a famous teacher of al-Bukhari, from whom he learned the craft of 'Ilal, the most difficult science of Hadith. His influence on al-Bukhari is probably very large. al-Bukhari himself said that he never belittled himself for anyone, except for Ibn al-Madini! Indeed, someone even alleged that the Sahih of al-Bukhari is nothing but a plagiarism of Ibn al-Madini's 'Ilal sheets! Anyway, it is clear that al-Bukhari had relied on him. The Sahih also gives him the fourth place from among the direct authorities, which is surprising since almost all the authorities of the top ten died before 230 AH. This is nothing but an indication of al-Bukhari's indebtness of him. He narrated: 304 narrations.

- Sufyan b. 'Uyayna - 196
- Yahya b. Sa'id al-Qattan - 9
- Ya'qub b. Ibrahim - 8
- Jarir b. 'Abd al-Hamid - 7
- al-Walid b. Muslim - 5
- Bishr b. al-Mufaddal - 5

5. Adam b. Abi Iyas (d.229). The famous muhaddith who settled in 'Asqalon, Palestine. It is there were al-Bukhari probably met him. He narrated from him: 281 narrations.

- Shu'ba b. al-Hajjaj - 137
- Ibn Abi Dhi'b - 31
- Shayban - 5

6. al-Hakam b. Nafi' Abu'l-Yaman (d.222). The famous Syrian Muhaddith. He had many writings, of which one was very famous which one al-Bukhari used as many other Shuyukh. It was a transcribed copy of a student of Imam al-Zuhri, who copied his master's sheets. He narrated: 257 narrations, all of which are from the famous early document. See below:

- Shu'ayb b. Abi Hamza, who was a scribe who wrote down al-Zuhri's dictations - 257

7. Musa b. Isma'il al-Tabudhaki (d.223). A Basran Muhaddith, well-known. al-Bukhari cited him for: 239 narrations.

- Abu 'Awanah - 52
- Wuhayb b. Khalid - 41
- Abd al-Wahid b. Zayd - 34
- Juwayriyyah b. Asma' - 28

8. Isma'il b. Abi Uways (d.226). The nephew of Imam Malik and his student. al-Bukhari narrated from him: 207 narrations.

- Malik b. Anas - 146

These are the top 8 sources of al-Bukhari. There are approx. ten others who narrated more then 100 times a narration to Imam al-Bukhari.

In the second layer, the greatest authorities beside Malik are: Sufyan b. 'Uyaynah, al-Layth b. Sa'd, Abdallah b. al-Mubarak, Jari b. 'Abd al-Hamid, and many more.

There is a remarkeble difference between al-Bukhari's Sahih and other works of his generation.

For example: the Sahih of Muslim is said to have Zuhayr b. Harb Abu Khaythama as a major authority for over a thousand traditions!

Also: it is said that the Sunan of Ibn Majah has almost a fourth of his narrations from Abu Bakr b. Abi Shaybah's Musannaf, as if it is based on it!

al-Bukhari is much different, for he narrates from a wider and similar range (400, 300, 250, 200 etc.).

It would be good if someone researched this. Insha'Allah.


wa-Salam.

[justabro]

Jazakallahu khayran for this WONDERFUL post... the manner of the development of the hadith literature has always been a topic of tremendous interest to me... it is truly a shame that this work is available only in Turkish.

[Abu Maryam PK]

Bismillah
Jazakallahu khairan.
I wonder why al-humaidi did not feature in his top 10, after all, i remember that it was said that if al-bukhari found a hadith with al-humaidi, he would not narrate it from anyone except him!

Anyway, i found this to be most interesting about the first 2 ahadith of sahih al-bukhari, which shows how careful he was in choosing his shyookh:

Abdullah bin Alzubair Alhumaidi narrated to us , he said Sufyan (bin ’Uyainah) narrated to us, he said Yahya bin Sa’eed Alansaari said Muhammad bin Ibraahim Altaimi informed me that he heard ‘Alqamah bin Waqqas Allaithi say that I heard ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab radhiallahuanhu on the pulpit (minbar), he said : I heard Allâh's Prophet sallallahoalaihiwasalam saying, "The deeds are only upon the intentions and every person has only what he has intended for. So whoever’s emigration was to get the world (i.e. worldly benefits) or for a woman to marry her, then his emigration will be for what he emigrated for."
[Muhsin Khan’s translation with editting].
================================================== =======
Ibn Hajr’s Fathul Baari:

His saying : “Alhumaidi narrated to us”

Al-Humaidi is a relative of the Prophet sallallahoalaihiwasalam and also his wife Khadijah (from her clan). His common ancestor with Khadijah is Asad and with the Prophet sallallaho'alaihiwasallam is Qussai. He is a big Imam, an author, accompanying Al-Shafa'i in seeking knowledge from Ibn 'Uyainah and his contemporaries. He took jurispudence from Al-Shafa'i and travelled with him to Egypt. After Al-Shafa'is death he returned to Mecca and died there in the year 219H.
It seems as if Bukhaari was acting upon the hadith of putting the Quraish forward , so he started his book with a narration from a Qurashi, as Al-Humaidi was the most brilliant Quraishite he took knowledge from. And there is another reason in narrating from Alhumaidi, in the first first hadith of the first chapter of Sahih Al-Bukhari, chapter of “Start of Revelation”, in that Alhumaidi is a Meccan, like his teacher Sufyan bin ‘Uyainah here, because the Revelation started in Mecca and then the next narration that Bukhaari brings in this chapter is from Maalik who is the teacher of the people of Medina, because the Revelation then transferred to Medina, which is second to Mecca in all virtue. Plus, ibn 'Uyainah and Malik are contemporaried who had many of their respective teachers in common. Al-Shafa'i said: Hadn't it been for these two [ibn 'Uyainah and Malik], knowledge would have ceased to exist in Al-Hijaz [province containing Mecca and Medina].

[Abu_Abdallah]

I wonder why al-humaidi did not feature in his top 10, after all, i remember that it was said that if al-bukhari found a hadith with al-humaidi, he would not narrate it from anyone except him!

Abdallah b. al-Zubayr al-Humaydi, the great Hafidh and Imam, narrated according to Sezgin's calculation: 33 narrations.

al-Humaydi narrated:

- from Sufyan b. 'Uyayna 27 of them
- from al-Walid b. Muslim 4 of them
- from Marwan b. Mu'awiya 1 of them
- from Ibrahim b. Sa'd 1 of them

This is all we have in the Sahih al-Bukhari.

I think the reason why al-Bukhari narrated little from al-Humaydi is that the latter narrates mostly from Ibn 'Uyayna, the teacher who stayed for a long time in Makkah were al-Humaydi learned from. And Ibn 'Uyayna has so many students, a lot who are great Huffâdh, that al-Bukhari could choose from many of them.

There are aprox. 380 narrations from Ibn 'Uyayna, maybe even more. I've counted all Sezgin's references to Ibn 'Uyayna, except he was unable sometimes to distinguish between the Sufyan al-Thawri and the Sufyan b. 'Uyayna when only the name 'Sufyan' is written. So when you look at Ibn 'Uyayna's narrations, you see the greatest authorities (i.e. students of Ibn 'Uyayna) who took from him in the Sahih are:

- Abdallah b. Muhammad al-Ju'fi (d.229)

This is one of al-Bukhari's elder teachers, from Khurasan. He is the author of one of the earliest refutations on the Jahmiyyah. Since he studied with him before he travelled, I believe (but not sure), it is apparent that he would narrate from him as much as possible or collect all he knew; al-Bukhari did this with most of his early teachers before heading with his mother and brother to the Hidjaz.

He narrated 42 narrations of Sufyan b. 'Uyayna, and the latter is al-Ju'fi's largest source in the Sahih; al-Ju'fi narrates from Hisham b. Yusuf, the second largest teacher of him in the Sahih, a number of 37 narrations.

- Qutaybah b. Sa'id (d.213)

Similarly, this is one of al-Bukhari's elder teachers from Khurasan.

He narrated 32 narrations from Sufyan b. 'Uyayna.

- Sadaqat b. al-Fadl (d.223 or 226)

Also, this is one of al-Bukhari's elder teachers from Marw.

He narrated from Sufyan b. 'Uyayna 19 narrations.

- 'Ali b. Abdallah al-Madini (d.294)

We've referred to him above. Since Ibn al-Madini was al-Bukhari's most important teacher, in terms of knowledge, it is not suprising he related much from him. Beside, the famous Baghdadi circle of Yahya b. Ma'in, Ibn al-Madini, Ahmad b. Hanbal and Zuhayr b. Ahmad is also the best layer of narrators from the middle Atba' al-Tabi'in, i.e. Ibn 'Uyayna's generation.

He narrated the amazing number of 196 narrations of Sufyan b. 'Uyayna.

So if we count all early teachers, i.e. the Khurasani's from Marw, Bukhara, Balkh etc. they've narrated already altogether: ca. 100 narrations.

Add to it 'Ali b. al-Madini's 200, we come to the rough figure of 300.

Though al-Bukhari did not insist persistently on 'uluww al-isnad, he preferred certain chains above others. The Khurasani's mentioned above are not only older in age than al-Humaydi, also his earlier teachers. (1)This is one reason why he probably (pre)(re)ferred to Ibn 'Uyayna's narration thru them, then al-Humaydi and many other reliable and more knowledgeable teachers: such as Ahmad, Ibn Ma'in etc.

(2)Another reason, why we seen less of Humaydi > Ibn 'Uyayna narrations and more others, is that he was a student of Ibn al-Madini. As we know, the most knowledgeable Muhaddith when it comes to 'Ilal - probably that ever created - is Ibn al-Madini. Ibn Ma'in was the most knowledgeable in the Rijal, 'Ali in the 'Ilal and Ahmad combined both sciences and Fiqh al-Hadith. al-Bukhari clenched to Ibn al-Madini, studying his 'Ilal-craft. I think, and this is something these students of Ibn 'Uyayna knew, that the Hafidh of Kufah/Makkah had his mistakes in narrating traditions. Since Ibn 'Uyayna narrated so much, a Hafidh-specialist like Ibn al-Madini would sort out the perfectly sound narrations of Sufyan and those which were affected by wahm.

(3) Another reason, having to do with the aforementioned one is: the scholars of the past use to search out the most reliable students of certain authorities. Thus, Malik, Ibn 'Uyayna, al-Thawri, Ibn Jurayj, Ma'mar etc. all had many students; yet, the reliability of the trusty narrations differs in degree. Malik's most sound narrations from the Muwatta were Yahya b. Yahya al-Laythi's and al-Qa'nabi; al-Bukhari however preferred Abdallah b. Yusuf al-Tinnisi's narrations. Similarly, Ibn 'Uyayna's students differ.

Ahmad b. Hanbal applauded Ahmad b. Salih al-Misri and Muhammad b. Yahya al-Dhuhli, because of their most knowledge of al-Zuhri's narrations. Imagine, al-Dhuhli being praised whil he was a youngster compared to Ahmad and others in Ahmad's days. al-Dhuhli's Zuhriyyât were famous, for their secure wordings and preciseness. For this reason al-Bukhari even narrates in the Sahih from his contemporary who died even after him. So I think, al-Bukhari tried to relate as much as sound - unaffected - narrations of his authorities; Sufyan's Hadiths were does narrated thru the most reliable students.

wa-Allahu A'lam

[justabro]

Not to mention, ibn al-Madini was one of Sufyan ibn 'Uyayna's favorite students.

And speaking of the Zuhriyyat:

http://www.wadod.net/open.php<wbr>?cat=16&book=719 (http://www.wadod.net/open.php?cat=16&book=719)

[Abu_Abdallah]

Not to mention, ibn al-Madini was one of Sufyan ibn 'Uyayna's favorite students.

Barakallahu fik.

I remember the discussion between Ahmad b. Hanbal and Ibn al-Madini, see Sharh al-'Ilal of Ibn Rajab, wherein the latter preferred Sufyan b. 'Uyayna as a more accurate transmitter than Malik b. Anas.

Ahmad contested him, saying that Malik was far more reliable.

So Ibn al-Madini brought up Malik's narrations. He found a few, two I think, which were defective from Malik's narrations.

So Ahmad confronted him with many more defective narrations from Ibn 'Uyayna, defeating Ibn al-Madini in this contest and proving Malik to be more reliable in narrating.

Later, Ahmad recognized Malik's superiority over Ibn 'Uyayna, saying that the latter made mistakes here and there and in such.

Masha'Allah.. and there is another great mudhâkara between Ahmad b. Salih al-Misri the Hafidh and Ahmad b. Hanbal, in Misr.

[zaid_ibn_ali]

mashallah this is a great thread!

[Abu_Abdallah]

Not to mention, ibn al-Madini was one of Sufyan ibn 'Uyayna's favorite students.

And speaking of the Zuhriyyat:

http://www.wadod.net/open.php<wbr>?cat=16&book=719 (http://www.wadod.net/open.php?cat=16&book=719)

Hey, apparently Ibn al-Madini authored a 'Ilal work on Sufyan b. 'Uyayna's narrations!

He must have been a specialist in his narrations.

[Abu Maryam PK]

Bismillah
wel bukhari called ali al-madeeni a'lamu ahli zamanihi (most knowledgeable of his era)[juzz ra'ul yadein]

[abu~Adil as somali]

jazakkum allahu khairan, please abu abdullah, is there anyway you could find out if this book has been translated into english or arabic, am googlin this book and its all in turkish i think..