In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
O you who recite the words of the Prophet and explain them,
How beautiful is your voice when it calls to guidance!
The biographies of the authors of the Six Books,
Six biographies filled with beauty and majesty,
Summarized with care from that unique and magnificent book,
Biographies of the most noble of the noble,
By Imam al-Dhahabi, may Allah have mercy on him.
Prepared by Shaykh Muhammad al-Muhanna, may Allah preserve him.
Imam al-Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him.
Abu 'Abdullah al-Bukhari.
Muhammad ibn Isma'il ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Mughirah ibn Bardizbah.
"Bardizbah" is a Bukharan term meaning "the farmer."
His grandfather, al-Mughirah, accepted Islam at the hands of al-Yaman al-Ju'fi, the governor of Bukhara.
His father, Isma'il ibn Ibrahim, sought knowledge.
Ishaq ibn Ahmad ibn Khalaf said:
I heard al-Bukhari say:
My father heard from Malik ibn Anas,
And he saw Hammad ibn Zayd,
And he shook hands with Ibn al-Mubarak with both his hands.
Abu 'Abdullah was born in Shawwal in the year 194 AH.
Ibn Abi Hatim said:
I said to Abu 'Abdullah:
How did your journey begin?
He said:
The love for memorizing hadith was inspired in me while I was still in primary school.
I asked, "How old were you?"
He replied:
"Ten years old or less."
Then I left school after I turned ten.
I began attending the sessions of al-Dakhili and others.
One day, al-Dakhili said:
"Sufyan narrated to us, from Abu al-Zubayr, from Ibrahim."
I said to him:
"Abu al-Zubayr did not narrate from Ibrahim."
He scolded me.
I said to him:
"Check your original source."
He went in, looked at it,
Then came out and said to me:
"How is it, young man?"
I said:
"It is al-Zubayr ibn 'Adi, from Ibrahim."
He said, "You are correct."
Al-Bukhari was asked:
"How old were you when you corrected him?"
He said:
"Eleven years old."
He said:
"When I reached sixteen,
I had already memorized the books of Ibn al-Mubarak and Waki',
And I was familiar with their views."
Then I went out with my mother and my brother Ahmad to Makkah.
After I performed Hajj,
My brother returned with my mother,
And I remained behind to seek hadith.
Mention of his teachers and companions.
Al-Bukhari heard hadith in Bukhara before he traveled,
From 'Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah al-Ju'fi,
And Muhammad ibn Salam al-Baykandi,
And a group who were not among his major teachers.
Then he heard in Balkh from Makki ibn Ibrahim,
Who was one of his teachers with the highest chains of narration.
And in Nishapur from Yahya ibn Yahya and others.
And in Baghdad,
When he arrived in Iraq at the end of the year 210 AH,
From Muhammad ibn 'Isa ibn al-Tabba',
And Surayj ibn al-Nu'man and 'Affan.
And in Basra from Abu 'Asim al-Nabil and al-Ansari,
And Hajjaj ibn Minhal and several others.
And in Kufa from 'Ubaydullah ibn Musa and Abu Nu'aym,
And Khalid ibn Makhlad and Talq ibn Ghannam.
And in Makkah from Hassan ibn Hassan al-Basri,
And Abu al-Walid al-Azraqi and al-Humaydi.
And in Madinah from 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Uwaysi,
And Ayyub ibn Sulayman ibn Bilal,
And Isma'il ibn Abi Uways.
And in Egypt from Sa'id ibn Abi Maryam,
And 'Abdullah ibn Yusuf,
And Asbagh and several others.
And in the Levant from Abu al-Yaman,
And Adam ibn Abi Iyas,
And 'Ali ibn 'Ayyash.
He also heard from Abu al-Mughirah 'Abd al-Quddus,
And Ahmad ibn Khalid al-Wahbi,
And Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Firyabi,
And Abu Mushir, and many others.
His scribe, Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim, said:
I heard him say:
"I entered Balkh,
And they asked me to dictate to them a hadith for everyone I had written from.
So I dictated one thousand hadiths for one thousand men from whom I had written."
He said: I heard him a month before his death saying:
"I wrote from one thousand and eighty men,
None of whom were anything but scholars of hadith.
All of them used to say:
'Faith is speech and action; it increases and decreases.'"
He said: I heard al-Bukhari say:
"I entered Baghdad eight times,
And each time I sat with Ahmad ibn Hanbal."
In the last meeting when I bade him farewell, he said to me:
"O Abu 'Abdullah,
You are leaving knowledge and the people to go to Khurasan?"
A great number of people narrated from him,
Among them Abu 'Isa al-Tirmidhi,
And Abu Hatim,
And Ibrahim al-Harbi,
And Ibn Abi al-Dunya,
And Ibn Abi 'Asim,
And Ibn Khuzaymah,
And Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Farabri,
The narrator of the Sahih,
And countless others.
Muslim also narrated from him in works other than his Sahih.
Our teacher, Abu al-Hajjaj al-Mizzi, has arranged
The teachers and companions of al-Bukhari alphabetically, as is his custom,
And he mentioned a great many of them.
Mention of his travels, his studies, and his works.
Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim said:
I heard Abu 'Abdullah,
Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari, say:
"I performed Hajj with my brother and my mother,
And my brother returned with my mother,
While I remained behind to seek hadith."
"When I turned eighteen,
I began to compile the legal rulings of the Companions and the Tabi'un and their opinions.
I also compiled the book of History (al-Tarikh),
At that time, near the grave of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
On moonlit nights."
"There is no name in the History,
Except that it has a story,
But I disliked making the book too long."
"I used to attend the sessions of the jurists in Marw when I was a boy.
When I arrived, I would be too shy to greet them."
A teacher from among them said to me:
"How much have you written today?"
I said, "Two."
Meaning two hadiths.
Those present in the gathering laughed.
A shaykh among them said:
"Do not laugh,
For perhaps he will one day make you laugh [at your own ignorance]."
"I visited al-Humaydi when I was eighteen years old,
And there was a disagreement between him and another man regarding a hadith.
When he saw me, al-Humaydi said:
'The one who will settle our dispute has arrived.'
They presented it to me,
And I ruled in favor of al-Humaydi against the one who disagreed with him."
Abu Bakr al-A'yan said:
We came to al-Bukhari and wrote from him,
And there was not a single hair on his face [he was so young].
We said to him:
"How old are you?"
He said:
"Seventeen years old."
Al-Bukhari said:
"Whenever I wrote from a man,
I would ask him his name, his kunya,
His lineage, and his status in hadith,
If the man was intelligent.
If he was not intelligent,
I would ask him to show me his original source."
Al-'Abbas al-Duri said:
I have never seen anyone who knew how to seek hadith
Like Muhammad ibn Isma'il.
He would not leave a root or a branch [of a chain of narration],
But he would extract it.
Al-Bukhari said:
"I was with Ishaq ibn Rahwayh,
And some of our companions said:
'If only you would compile a concise book
Of the Sunnah of the Prophet, peace be upon him.'
That suggestion settled in my heart,
So I began to compile this book."
Al-Farabri said:
Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari said to me:
"I did not include a single hadith in the Sahih,
Except that I performed ghusl before it,
And prayed two rak'ahs."
Ibrahim ibn Ma'qal said:
I heard al-Bukhari say:
"I have not included in this book
Anything but what is authentic,
And I left out some authentic hadiths,
So that the book would not become too long."
Muhammad ibn Yusuf said:
I was with Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari
At his house one night,
And I counted that he got up and lit his lamp
To recall things and make notes,
Eighteen times in one night.
Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim the scribe said:
Abu 'Abdullah,
Whenever I was with him on a journey,
We would share one room.
I would see him get up in a single night
Fifteen to twenty times.
Each time he would take his flint,
He would kindle a fire and light a lamp.
Then he would bring out hadiths and mark them.
Al-Bukhari said:
"I compiled the Sahih over sixteen years,
and I made it a proof between myself and Allah the Exalted."
Al-Najm ibn al-Fudayl said:
"I saw the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
in a dream as if he were walking,
and Muhammad ibn Isma'il was walking behind him.
Whenever the Prophet, peace be upon him, raised
his foot, Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari would place
his own foot in the exact spot where the Prophet,
peace be upon him, had lifted his from."
A mention of his memorization, vast knowledge, and intelligence.
'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Bukhari said:
"I heard Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari
say: 'I met more than a thousand men
from the people of the Hijaz, Iraq, al-Sham, and Egypt.
I met them multiple times;
the people of al-Sham, Egypt, and the Jazirah twice,
the people of Basra four times,
and I spent six years in the Hijaz.
I cannot count how many times I entered Kufa and Baghdad.'"
Then he said:
"I never saw one of them disagree on these matters:
that faith is both speech and action,
and that the Qur'an is the word of Allah."
Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim al-Warraq said:
"I heard Hashid ibn Isma'il and another man saying:
'Abu 'Abd Allah al-Bukhari used to accompany us
to the scholars of Basra while he was still a youth,
yet he would not write anything down.
This continued for several days,
so we said to him:
"You accompany us but do not write;
what are you doing?"
After sixteen days, he said to us:
"You have pressed me and insisted too much;
so present to me what you have written."
We brought out what we had,
and he read it all back to us from memory.'
Then he said:
'Do you think I attend in vain and waste my days?'
We realized then that no one could surpass him."
He said:
"And I heard them both say:
'The knowledgeable people of Basra
would follow him in pursuit of hadith while he was still a young man,
until they would overwhelm him
and make him sit in the middle of the road,
where thousands would gather around him,
most of whom were writing down from him,
even though he was a youth whose facial hair had not yet grown.'"
Abu Ahmad 'Abd Allah ibn 'Adi al-Hafiz said:
"I heard several scholars narrate
that when Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari arrived in Baghdad,
the hadith scholars heard of him,
so they gathered and selected one hundred hadiths,
then they swapped their texts and chains of narration,
attaching the text of one chain to another,
and the chain of one text to another.
They gave ten hadiths to each of ten men,
to present them to al-Bukhari in the assembly.
The people gathered,
and one of them stood up
and asked al-Bukhari about one of his ten hadiths.
He replied, 'I do not know it.'
He asked him about another,
and he said, 'I do not know it.'
And so it went until he finished his ten.
The jurists began looking at one another,
saying, 'The man understands.'
Those who did not know better judged al-Bukhari to be incapable.
Then another stood up,
and did as the first had done,
with al-Bukhari saying, 'I do not know it.'
Then the third,
and so on until the tenth,
and he would add nothing more than 'I do not know it.'
When he knew they had finished,
he turned to the first of them and said:
'As for your first hadith, it is such-and-such,
the second is such-and-such,
the third is such-and-such,'
continuing to the tenth.
He restored every text to its proper chain,
and did the same for the others.
The people then acknowledged his mastery."
Muhammad ibn Khamirawayh said:
"I heard Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari say:
'I have memorized one hundred thousand authentic hadiths,
and I have memorized two hundred thousand non-authentic hadiths.'"
A mention of the praise of the Imams for him.
Sulaym ibn Mujahid said:
"I entered upon Muhammad ibn Salam al-Baykandi,
and he said:
'Had you come earlier,
you would have seen a boy who memorizes seventy thousand hadiths.'
He said:
'I went out in search of him until I caught up with him,
and I said to him:
"Are you the one who says
that you memorize seventy thousand hadiths?"
He said, "Yes, and more.
I will not bring you a hadith from the Companions or the Tabi'un
without telling you the birth, death, and residence of most of them."'"
Yahya ibn Ja'far said—
he is al-Baykandi—
"If I could add to the life of Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari from my own, I would have done so,
for my death would be the death of one man,
while his death would be the loss of knowledge."
Qutaybah was asked about the divorce of an intoxicated person,
and he said to the questioner:
"This is Ahmad ibn Hanbal,
Ibn al-Madini, and Ibn Rahawayh;
Allah has brought them to you,"
and he pointed to Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari.
Nu'aym ibn Hammad said:
"Muhammad ibn Isma'il is the jurist of this Ummah."
Al-Farabri said:
"I heard al-Bukhari say:
'I have never felt humbled before anyone
except 'Ali ibn al-Madini.'"
Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Salam said:
"We mentioned the statement of Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari
regarding 'Ali ibn al-Madini,"
meaning his statement,
"and 'Ali ibn al-Madini said: 'Leave this, for Muhammad ibn Isma'il has never seen the likes of himself.'"
'Umar ibn 'Ali al-Fallas said: "A hadith that Muhammad ibn Isma'il does not know is not a hadith."
'Ali ibn Hajar said: "Khurasan produced three: Abu Zur'ah, Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari,
and 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Darimi; and in my view, Muhammad ibn Isma'il is the most insightful, knowledgeable, and learned of them."
'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: "I heard my father say: 'Khurasan has not produced the likes of Muhammad ibn Isma'il.'"
Mahmud ibn al-Nadr al-Shafi'i said: "I entered Basra, al-Sham, the Hijaz, and Kufa,
and I saw their scholars, whenever Muhammad ibn Isma'il was mentioned, preferring him over themselves."
Muhammad ibn Bashshar said: "The masters of the world are four: Abu Zur'ah in Rayy, al-Darimi in Samarkand,
Muhammad ibn Isma'il in Bukhara, and Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj."
'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: "I heard my father say: 'The pinnacle of memorization reached four men from the people of Khurasan:
Abu Zur'ah al-Razi, Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari, 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Samarqandi,
and al-Hasan ibn Shuja' al-Balkhi.' Ibn al-Ash'ath said: 'I narrated this to Muhammad ibn 'Aqil al-Balkhi,
and he praised Ibn Shuja'. I said to him, "Why is he not famous?" He replied, "Because he was not granted a long life."'"
'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Darimi said: "Muhammad—meaning al-Bukhari—is the most intelligent of Allah's creation.
He understood from Allah what He commanded him with and forbade him from in His Book and upon the tongue of His Prophet.
When Muhammad read the Qur'an, he engaged his heart, his sight, and his hearing, reflecting on its parables and knowing its lawful and unlawful."
Qutaybah said: "If Muhammad ibn Isma'il had been among the Companions, he would have been a sign."
Qutaybah was asked about Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari, so he lowered his head, then raised it toward the sky and said:
"I have looked into hadith, I have looked into legal opinion, and I have sat with jurists, ascetics, and worshippers;
I have not seen the likes of Muhammad ibn Isma'il since I attained reason."
Ibn Khuzaymah said: "I have not seen under the canopy of the sky anyone more knowledgeable of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
or more memorized than Muhammad ibn Isma'il."
Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Hafiz said: "I heard my father say: 'I saw Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj,
the author of the Sahih, before al-Bukhari, asking him questions like a student.'"
Abu Hamid Ahmad ibn Hamdun al-Qassar said: "Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj came to al-Bukhari,
kissed him between his eyes, and said: 'Let me kiss your feet, O master of masters,
leader of the hadith scholars, and physician of hadith.'"
Al-Tirmidhi said: "I have not seen in Iraq or Khurasan
anyone more knowledgeable in the matters of 'Ilal (hidden defects), history, and the knowledge of chains of narration than Muhammad ibn Isma'il."
A mention of his worship, virtue, piety, and righteousness.
Musabbih ibn Sa'id said: "Muhammad ibn Isma'il would complete a full reading of the Qur'an every day during the daylight hours of Ramadan,
and he would stand in prayer after Tarawih every three nights, completing another full reading."
Bakr ibn Munir said: "I heard Abu 'Abd Allah al-Bukhari say:
'I hope to meet Allah without Him holding me accountable for backbiting anyone.'"
I say: He spoke the truth, may Allah have mercy on him. Whoever looks at his words in the science of Jarh wa Ta'dil (criticism and appraisal)
will know his brilliance in speaking about people, even when he is critical of those he deems weak.
He rarely says more than 'his hadith is rejected,' 'they remained silent about him,' 'there is some consideration regarding him,' and the like.
It is rare for him to say, 'So-and-so is a liar' or 'he used to fabricate hadith.'
He even said: 'If I say of someone that "there is consideration regarding his hadith," it means he is accused and weak.'
This is the meaning of his statement: 'Allah will not hold me accountable for backbiting anyone.'
This, by Allah, is the pinnacle of piety. Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim al-Warraq said:
"Abu 'Abd Allah—meaning al-Bukhari—would pray thirteen rak'ahs during the time of the pre-dawn (Sahar).
He would not wake me for every prayer, so I said, 'I see you burdening yourself, yet you do not wake me.'
Meaning: Why do you not wake me to serve you by bringing water for ablution and the like?
He replied: 'You are a youth, and I do not like to spoil your sleep.'"
He said: "One day he dictated many hadiths to me, and fearing I might grow weary, he said: 'Be at ease,
for the people of entertainment are in their entertainment, the people of crafts are in their crafts,
the merchants are in their trade, and you are with the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his Companions.'"
Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim said: "Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari was invited to the orchard of one of his companions.
When he led the people in the Dhuhr prayer, he stood to perform voluntary prayers. When he finished his prayer, he lifted the hem of his shirt
and said to some of those with him, 'Look, do you see anything under my shirt?'
It turned out a wasp had stung him, and his body had swollen from it.
Some of the people said to him, 'Why did you not leave the prayer the moment it stung you?'
He replied, 'I was in a Surah and I wanted to finish it.'"
'Abd Allah ibn Sa'id said: "I heard the scholars in Basra saying:
'There is no one in the world like Muhammad ibn Isma'il in knowledge and righteousness.'"
Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim said: "I heard al-Bukhari say:
'I have never eaten leeks.' I asked, 'Why is that?'
He replied, 'I disliked offending those who were with me.' I asked, 'And the same for raw onions?'
He said, 'Yes.'"
Muhammad ibn al-'Abbas al-Farabri said:
"I was sitting with al-Bukhari in the mosque, and I picked a speck of dirt the size of a grain from his beard.
I intended to throw it in the mosque, but he said, 'Throw it outside the mosque.'"
A mention of his generosity, magnanimity, character, and other traits.
Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim said: "He had a piece of land that he would lease every year for seven hundred dirhams.
The tenant would sometimes bring Abu 'Abd Allah a cucumber or two from it,
because Abu 'Abd Allah was fond of ripe cucumbers.
He would give the man one hundred dirhams every year for occasionally bringing him cucumbers."
He said: "We were in Farabr,
and Abu 'Abd Allah was building a ribat (fortified lodge) near Bukhara.
A large number of people gathered to assist him, and he was carrying bricks.
I used to say to him, "You have done enough, Abu 'Abdullah."
He would reply, "This is what benefits us."
Then he began to carry the baskets himself.
By "baskets," I mean the containers used to collect dirt and the remnants of digging and construction.
He had slaughtered a cow for them.
When the pots were ready—meaning the food had cooked—he invited the people to eat.
We had brought bread with us, which we placed before them.
Everyone present ate, and there were still loaves of bread left over.
He said that Abu 'Abdullah would sometimes go the entire day,
without eating a single piece of bread.
He would only eat, at times, two or three almonds.
He said that he used to give much in charity.
He would take a needy person from among the people of hadith by the hand,
and slip him between twenty and thirty [dirhams],
sometimes less or more, without anyone noticing.
His purse never left his side.
I saw him give a man, on several occasions,
a pouch containing three hundred dirhams.
The man later informed me of the exact amount that had been inside it.
The man wanted to pray for him,
but Abu 'Abdullah said to him, "Be gentle."
He then busied himself with another hadith so that no one would know about what he had done.
Al-Hasan Ibn al-Husayn al-Bazzaz said:
"I saw Muhammad Ibn Isma'il,
a thin, elderly man,
neither tall nor short."
Regarding the mention of his death:
'Abd al-Quddus Ibn 'Abd al-Jabbar al-Samarqandi said:
"Muhammad Ibn Isma'il came to Khartank,
which is a village two leagues from Samarqand.
He had relatives there,
so he stayed with them.
One night, I heard him supplicating after he had finished his night prayer:
'O Allah, the earth, despite its vastness, has become constricted for me,
so take me unto You.'
The month had not yet ended before he passed away.
His grave is in Khartank."
The reason for this was that he was afflicted by the enmity of some of his contemporaries.
Muhammad Ibn Yahya al-Dhuhli and some of his students were hostile toward him,
and then Khalid Ibn Ahmad, the governor of Bukhara, was hostile toward him.
They tested him until he was expelled from Bukhara.
He then headed, grief-stricken, to Khartank,
in the outskirts of Samarqand,
where he passed away.
Al-Hasan Ibn al-Husayn al-Bazzaz said:
"Al-Bukhari passed away on the night of Saturday,
the night of Eid al-Fitr,
in the year 256 AH."
He lived for 62 years,
minus 13 days.
[Poetry:] You travel among the authors of the books of the Saturday [the Sabbath of knowledge],
at times I am filled with grief, and at times I am smiling.
You have been comforted, yet humility appeared upon you,
at times boasting of the Sunnah of Ahmad,
at times ascetic with a gentle soul.
Read, for I have made myself a ransom for you, and I wish,
that if you read, your entire voice would be a minaret.
I have bound my veins to the hadith and its people,
so open your Sahih collections and quench my thirst with the chains of narration.
With the "he said," and "he narrated," and "he informed us,"
and the eloquent, precise, and comprehensive words.
For his words—peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—carry majesty,
and his words possess authority over all other speech.
Upon them is a light illuminated with tranquility,
which flows into my soul and remains a source of joy.