22. IMAM BUKHĀRĪ

22. IMAM BUKHĀRĪ

          Imam Bukhārī was a famous and respected scholar of Ḥadīth. His name was Abū ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl known as “al- Bukhārī” “the native of Bukhārā” in Uzbekistan where he was born on Friday 13^th Shawwal 194/21^st July 810, and died on 30 Ramadan 256/21^st  August 870 in Khartank, a village near Samarqand. His father Ismā‘īl was also a scholar of Ḥadīth who was the student of Imam Mālik ibn Anas, Ḥammād ibn Zayd, and Ibn al-Mubārak. His father died while he was still quite young.  

          Bukhārī had lost his eyes while he was still a child. His mother prayed earnestly to Allah to restore his eyesight. One night she had a dream where Prophet Abraham a.s. told her that Allah had answered her prayer. In the morning she found out that her son had his eyesight restored.

 The young and orphan Bukhārī began learning Ḥadīth at early age, before reaching his ten years old. One day a scholar read the narrators of a ḥadīth to people, saying, “Sufyān from Abū Zubayr from Ibrāhīm.” Bukhārī corrected him, saying, “Actually, Abū al-Zubayr did not report from Ibrāhīm.” The man reproved him, so he said to him: “Go back to the original one if you have it.” The man did, and said: “What is then the correct one, boy?” So, he said: “It is al-Zubayr ibn ‘Adī from Ibrāhīm.” The man made the correction and said to him, “You are right.” When he was asked how old he was at that time, he said that he was eleven years old.

 At the age of sixteen he was discredited and criticized, and this led him to memorize many books of early scholars, such as of Ibn Mubārak and Wakī‘. Besides memorizing the ḥadīths and books of early scholars, he also learned the biography of all narrators who took parts in the transmission of any ḥadīth, including their date of birth, death and place of death.

Then Bukhārī went to pilgrimage with his mother and elder brother Aḥmad, and after performing the pilgrimage his brother returned to Bukhara where he died, whereas he stayed for two years to pursue his study. He was then eighteen years old when he moved to Madinah, where people also discredited, criticized and defamed him.   So he wrote books and spent his nights next to the Prophet’s grave compiling the books, Qaḍāya ’l-Ṣaḥābah wa ’l-Tābi‘īn (The Issues Concerning the Prophet’s Companions and the People of the Following Generation) which is now non-existent, and al-Tārīkhu ’l-Kabīr ("the Large Compendium) using the moonlight as lighting.

          After staying in Hijaz for six years Bukhārī journeyed to     Iraq (Baghdad Kufah, and Basrah), Nishapur, Balkh, Rayy, Merv, Khorasan, Ascalon, Egypt and Syria, and learned from over 1000 men, and collected over 6,000 ḥadīths (traditions). Among his teachers were: Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh, Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241/855), Ibnu ’l-Madīnī (d. 234/849), and Ibn Ma‘īn (d. 233/848).

          In Baghdad scholars gathered to examine his strong memory. They appointed ten men, each with ten ḥadīths to read, but with changed isnād (chain of transmitters) and put in different matns (texts). When all of these one hundred invented ḥadīths were read to him, he admitted that he did not recognize any of them, as if he had bad memory. At the end of the question, he explained to them which isnād belong to which matn of ḥadīth.

          Bukhārī was extremely careful in choosing the shaykh from whom he could listen and receive a ḥadīth. There is story that he wanted to receive ḥadīths from somebody, but he changed his mind when he found that the person was cheating an animal (probably a horse) with an empty bucket to catch it.

          When Bukhārī saw a few published books on ḥadīths in which he found some weak ḥadīths in them, an idea came to him to compile strong ḥadīths only, namely those with sound isnads. His teacher Ibn Rāhawayh encouraged him to do so. He also saw in his dream that he had a fan in his hand to get rid of flies from resting upon the Prophet. He asked several dream interpreters. They said that in future he would cleanse the Prophet from lies spoken by people through narrating misunderstood ḥadīths.

          Bukhārī started the compilation of ḥadīths in 217/832, when he was merely 23 years old. It took him a period of 16 years to finish it after editing it three times. He showed the manuscript to his teachers for their approval, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn Madīnī and Ibn Ma‘īn. He called itالْجَامِعُ الْمُسْنَدُ الصَّحِيْحُ الْمُختَصَرُ مِنْ أَمُوْرِ رَسُوْلِ اللّه وَسُنَنِهِ وَ أَيَّامِهِ  which means “The  abridged collection of sound reports with chains of narration going back all the way to the Prophet regarding matters pertaining to the Prophet, his practices and his times”  or simply called  صَحِيْحُ الْبُخَارِي Ṣaḥīḥ al-Būkhārī, or Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ. It is said that he made its framework while he was in the Masjid al-Ḥarām (the Inviolable Mosque) in Makkah, continually worked on it and made the final draft in the Mosque of the Prophet in Madinah. Before selecting a ḥadīth to be put in his Ṣaḥīḥ he used to take a bath and pray two rak‘ahs recommended prayer, and then made an stikhārah supplication, asking Allah for proper guidance in selecting the ḥadīth. After being satisfied he put it in his book. Before he started writing again after a period of time he wrote Bismillah (“in the name of Allah”), probably following the ḥadīth “Every important matter not started with In the name of Allah will have little or no blessing in it.”

          The number of ḥadīths in Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ is 7658 (some say 9,082), but without repetition the number is 2,602. This number does not include the mawqūf (discontinued) ḥadiths, namely, the sayings of the Prophet’s companions and the successors, not his sayings, which are about 160 in number.

          Bukhārī laid down the strictest conditions for acceptance of ḥadīths          for his Ṣaḥīḥ. The narrator must have high standard in personal character, memory, literacy and academy. There must be positive information about the narrators, that each of them met one another as students and teachers of ḥadīths. Imām Muslim in this case is more lenient, namely, as long as the two narrators lived in the same place where there was possibility of meeting and learning from each other, then their ḥadīths were accepted for him, as long as they did not practice fraudulence. Bukhārī insisted that there have to be positive information that they had met, and learned ḥadīths from each other.

          People highly respected Bukhārī as a scholar.  When he came to Nishapur four thousand horsemen welcomed him, beside those who were on donkeys and on foot. Imam Muslim said to him; “I bear witness that there is no body like you in this world,” and kissed his forehead. He said further to him: “Let me kiss your legs, O teacher of teachers, and master of scholars of ḥadīths, and O the physician of unsound ḥadīths!”

Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ was highly appreciated by the Prophet through a dream. Abu Zaid Marwazi reported that he was once asleep between the Black Stone and the Maqām Ibrāhīm in Masjid al-Ḥarām when the Prophet s.a.w. appeared in his dream, he said to him: “O Abū Zayd! For how long shall you teach Imam Shāfi‘ī’s book? When shall you start teaching my book?” Abū Zayd asked him: “O Mesengger of Allah, which book is yours?” He replied: “Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl’s al-Jāmi‘u ’l-Ṣaḥīḥ.

          Imam al-Nawawī said that all scholars in Islam had agreed that Ṣaḥīḥ of Bukhārī of being the most authentic after the Holy Qur’ān. This does not mean that its authenticity is equal to that of the Qur’ān. The verses of the Qur’ān were recorded the moment they were revealed to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. by his scribes who dictated to them. Their number is between 13 and 48, among whom were Zayd ibn Thābit and Ubayy ibn Ka‘b. Besides, the verses of the Qur’ān were also memorized and studied after being revealed. They were also cited in the prayers. In addition, Allah protects it from corruption and being lost (Q. 15:9). Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ was recorded by human who is not free from committing error. Yet, Bukhārī was the most careful in collecting ḥadīths.

The scholar of the sixth/twelfth century, Ḥāzimī divided the Ḥadīth into five categories:

1.    Those who possessed the high quality of accuracy (excellent memory) and a lengthy companionship with their teachers. Bukhārī’s ḥadīths mostly belong to this category.

2.    Those who also possessed the high quality of accuracy, but did not spend sufficient time with their teachers. Some of Bukhārī’s ḥadīths belong to this category.

3.    Those who spent enough time with their teachers, but have been criticized by scholars. Bukhārī’s ḥadīths do not belong to this category, but Muslim’s does.

4.    Those did not spend enough time with their teachers, and have been criticized by scholars, so they were considered weak.

5.    Those who were considered weak narrators or unknown to early scholars. They were rejected narrators.

Bukhārī divided his Ṣaḥīḥ into 98 Books, and each book is divided into chapters. Book One is the Book of Revelation containing 6 chapters and every chapter contains one ḥadīth. Chapter One: How the Divine Inspiration started to be revealed to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. mentioning the well-known ḥadīth on the authority of ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, as follows:

إِنَّمَا الأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّات ، وإَنمَا لكل امْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى...

The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions

 and every person will get the reward

 according to what he has intended…

This is probably to remind   himself and us that his intention in writing his Ṣaḥīḥ is solely for the sake of Allah.

The last Book, Book 98, the Book of Tawḥīd (Islamic Monotheism) contains 58 chapter. The last chapter, Chapter 58 contains one ḥadīth, no. 7658 which is the last one, on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, namely,

كَلِمَتَانِ حَبِيبَتَانِ إِلَى الرَّحْمَنِ، خَفِيفَتَانِ عَلَى اللِّسَانِ، ثَقِيلَتَانِ

 فِي الْمِيزَانِ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ، سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ الْعَظِيمِ ‏.‏

(There are) two words (or expressions or sayings)

 which are dear to the Most Beneficent (Allah) and very

 easy for the tongue to say, “Subḥānallāhi wa biḥamdihi, Subḥānallāhil ‘Aẓīm” (Glorified be Allah, and praised

 be He, Glorified by Allah, the Most Great).

          The Ṣaḥīḥ of Bukhārī has been translated into many languages, completely or partially. There are also hundreds of commentaries of it, and some exceeding 25 volumes, among the best ones are: Fatḥul-Bārī by Ibn Ḥajar (852/1449) and ‘Umdatul-Qāri’ by Abū Muḥammad Maḥmūd al-‘Aynī (d. 855/1451). These commentaries are very important in order to understand the ḥadīths properly. When a man found that the Nile and the Euphrates were in Paradise, he threw the Ṣaḥīḥ away, thinking that it was a grave mistake to have them in Paradise rather than on the earth. Had he consulted any commentary of it, he would find that the names of the two rivers are also in Paradise is to indicate that people in the areas of these rivers on the earth (Egypt and Iraq) would be blessed with Islam.                               (Civic, 18 December, 2015) 

المصادر:

المكتبة الشاملة

ا.د. محمد عمارة, إفْتِرَاءَاتٌ شِيْعِيَّةٌ عَلَى الْبُخَارِي وَ مُسْلِم. دارالسلام, د.ت.

Azami, Muhammad M., M.A. Ph.D. Studies in Hadīth Methodology and Literature. Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust, 1977.

http://www.al-eman.com/الكتب/صحيح البخاري المسمى بـ «الجامع المسند الصحيح المختصر من أمور رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وسننه وأيامه

http://www.inter-islam.org/Biographies/imam.htm

http://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-en/

 

21. AL-QURȚUBĪ

21. AL-QURȚUBĪ

          Another classical Muslim scholar worthy to mention here in the field of tafsīr (commentary of the Qur’ān) is Abū ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Aḥmad  whose title was  “al-Qurṭubī” (الْقُرْطُبِي) meaning “the native Cordova” in Andalusia (Muslim Spain) where he was born in 610/1214. During his youth he supported his family by carrying clay for use in potteries. He followed the Mālikī school of jurisprudence, the dominant madhhab in Andalusia at that time.

Andalusia (Muslim Spain) in general and Cordova in particular was well-known as the centre of learning, the land of   scholars and men-of-letters from which admirable writings were produced. It was in Cordova where most books were kept in entire Andalusia, and its public libraries were taken with utmost care. It was the best market place for merchandise, that it had ben said: “If a man died in Seville and had books to sell, they were brought do be sold in Cordova.”

In the 10th century the Islamic civilization reached its peak, and in the beginning of the 12^th century the number of Muslims reached to 5.6 million in Andalusia.  In Cordoba alone, there were between 113,000 and 200,000 houses, between 600 and 700 mosques, between 300 and 900 public baths, 10,000 lamps, 50 hospitals, lighted and paved streets. Public baths were introduced for making ablution (wuḍū’) before performing the five-daily obligatory prayers. While the rest of Europe was still in illiteracy more than seventy libraries, bookshops and research institutions had flourished in Muslim Spain. Among great scholars at this golden time of Andalusia were:  Ibn al-Bayṭār who described more than 1,400 medical drugs, philosophers who were also physicians, like Ibn Sina, Ibn Ṭufayl, Ibn Rushd, and the Jewish philosopher Maimonides (Ibn Maymūn). Al-Zahrāwī, entitled “father of surgery” had his work translated into Hebrew, Latin and Castilian. In comparative religions Ibn Ḥazm’s work al-Faṣl fi al-Milal wa al-Nihal was well-known till today. In the 11^th century encyclopedias on Arab scholars produced encyclopedias on various branches of knowledge: medicine, astronomy, biology, zoology, botany, chemistry, physics, mathematics, algebra, geometry, etc.

 The well-known scholar Abū Bakr Ibn al-‘Arabī said about the education of children in Andalusia at that time. He said that it was the duty of the ruler to instruct Muslim children when they had enough intelligence about faith, to teach them writing and arithmetic, to memorize classical Arabic poetry, to learn and understand Arabic grammar, and when they became matured as teen-agers to teach them the Qur’ān and the Ḥadīth of the Prophet. He advised the ruler not to mix in teaching two subjects at the same time, unless the children had good understanding, strong energy, and receptivity to it.

It was in this condition of the city of Cordova where al-Qurṭubī was born. He learned as much as this city could provide for his education. His father Aḥmad died during the Spanish attack in 1230, and six years later King Fernando 1^st captured Cordova in 1236, and many Muslims left the city, and al-Qurṭubī left for Egypt. Although many people moved to Seville to study, he preferred Egypt where many scholars lived. He settled in Alexandria, and after studying Ḥadīth and Tafsīr there he moved to Cairo, and then settled in Munyah ibn Khuṣayb   north of the town Asyūṭ until he died in 671/1273.

          Al-Qurṭubī wrote many books, and the most important one among them was al-Jāmi‘ li-Aḥkām al-Qur’ān  (الْجَامِعُ لأَحْكَام    الْقُرْآن)translated as “The Compendium of Legal Rulings of the Qur’ān”, which has been very popular even today. The title of the book itself indicates that its main objective was to deduce juristic injunctions and rulings from the Qur’an. However, his commentary was not limited to verses dealing with legal issues,  but was a general interpretation of the whole of Quran with a Maliki point of view, the dominant madhdhab in Andalusia (Muslim Spain) in his time.

Al-Qurṭubī was not fanatic with Mālikī school, but he followed what he thought the right one. For example, commenting the verse "It is made lawful for you to have sexual relations with your wives on the nights of the fasts… (Q. 2:187) he said in the 12^th out of 36 issues on the verse, after mentioning the disagreement of scholars about eating on the day of Ramadan out of forgetting, and the view of Imam Mālik that it invalidates the fasting and has to be made up, “according the opinion of other than Mālik, it does not invalidate the fasting  by eating out of forgetting, I say: this is the right one, and it is the opinion of the majority of scholars.”

          Another example of al-Qurṭubī’s open-mind is his commentary on this verse:

وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَارْكَعُوا مَعَ الرَّاكِعِينَ (البقرة: 43)

And perform the prayers and give zakat

 (obligatory charity), and bow down along with

 those who bow down (Q. 2:43)

          Commenting this verse al-Qurṭubī put it in forty-three issues. In the 16^th issue he mentioned the opinion of those accept the possibility of a boy leading the prayer, such as al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh, and those who do not accept it, such as Imām Mālik and al-Thawrī, and others among aṣḥāb al-ra’y (upholders of personal opinion), but he did not follow this view, as he found an evident of its possibility. He said: “It is possible for a boy to lead the prayer if he is qārī’ (a reciter of the Qur’an, namely, he is able to recite the Qur’an properly)”. He based his view on the story of a boy of six or seven whose name was ‘Amr ibn Salamah who led the prayer because he was the only person among them who could recite the Qur’an. Moreover, the Prophet said,يَؤُمُّ الْقَوْمَ أَقْرَؤُهُم لِكِتَابِ اللَّهِ  (“the best reciter of the Qur’an who should lead the prayer”) without excepting ‘Amr ibn Salamah.

          On the last issue, namely, the 43^rd issue al-Qurṭubī mentioned three versions of greeting Allah at the beginning of the tashahhud cited while one is sitting in the prayer, all of them had been taught by the Prophet, as follows:

a.      ‘Umar’s version chosen by Mālik and followers of Mālikī school (North Africa), namely,

التَّحِيَّاتُ لِلَّهِ الزَّكِيَّاتُ لِلَّهِ الطَّيِّبَاتُ الصَّلَوَاتُ لِلَّهِ...

Salutations to Allah, pure actions to

 Allah, good words and prayers [are] to Allah…

b.     Ibn ‘Abbās’s version chosen by al-Shāfi‘ī, al-Layth ibn Sa‘d, and followers of Shāfi‘ī school (Indonesia, Malaysia, and to some extent, Egypt where al-Shāfi‘ī passed away), namely,

التَّحِيَّاتُ اْلمُبَارَكَاتُ الصَّلَوَاتُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ لِلَّهِ ُ...

 Blessed salutations, prayers, good deeds [are] to Allah… 

c.      Ibn Mas‘ūd’s version, chosen by al-Thawrī, the people of Kufah (in al-Qurṭubī’s time), Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (Ḥanbalī school), Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh (teacher of al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dā’ūd, al-Nasā’ī), Dā’ūd (founder of Ẓāhirī school), Abū Mūsā al-Ash‘arī, as well as the Ḥanafī school.  

التَّحِيَّاتُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَوَاتُ وَالطَّيِّبَاتُ...

 Salutations [are] to Allah and prayers and good deed [to Him]

As the four madhdhabs (Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfi‘ī, and Ḥanbalī schools) are taught at al-Azhar high schools,   special books for fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) are used for students following their respective madhhabs.

 Al-Qurṭubī’s methodology in his Tafsīr is as follows:

a.     He mentioned the asbāb al-nuzūl, variant readings, i‘rāb (desinential inflection), nāsikh (abrogating) and mansūkh (abrogated) verses, and explained difficult words.

b.    He frequently appealed to language expression for a legal decision, and frequently cited Arabic poetry.

c.     He refuted the Mu‘tazilah, the Qadariyyah, the Rawāfiḍ (Dissenters), philosophers, and extremist sufis.

d.    He did not totally eliminate legendary stories, but avoided many of them, and occasionally brought some strange Jewish legends.

e.     He frequently reported from people of early generation (companions of the Prophet) based on their authority in the explanation of the Qur’an and in legal judgments referring every view to its viewers.

          Al-Qurṭubī in his Tafsīr was highly influenced by many earlier scholars, and reported their commentaries, especially in legal judgments, as his sources, among them are as follows:

a.     al-Țabarī’s Jāmi ‘ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān, especially the interpretation of the verses of the Qur’an based on the ḥadīths and reports from the companions of the Prophet .

b.    al-Māwardī’s al-Aḥkām al-Sulṭāniyyah (السُّلْطَانِيَّة (الأَحَكَام  translated as The Ordinances of Government. Abū ‘l-Ḥasan al-Māwardī’s (792-1058) was a Shāfi‘ī jurist whose book was considered the most significant classical theoretical explanation of public law in relation to political theory.

c.     al-Naḥḥās’s I‘rāb al-Qur’ān (إِعْرَابُ الْقُرْآن)  translated as The Expression of the Qur’ān and Ma‘ānī al-Qur’ān (مَعَانِي الْقُرْآن), translated as The Meanings of the Qur’ān. Abū Ja‘far Aḥmad al-Naḥḥās (d. 338/950) was an Egyptian grammarian, a writer, and a commentator of the Qur’an.

d.    Ibn ‘Aṭiyyah’s al-Muḥarrir al-Wajīz fi ‘l-Tafsīr (الْمُحَرِّرُ الْوَجِيْزُ فِي تَفْسِيرالْكِتَابِ الْعَزِيْز) translated as The Brief Editor in the Commentary of the Noble Book, or simply Tafsīr Ibn ‘Aṭiyyah. Al-Qāḍī Abū Muḥammad ‘Abd al-Ḥaqq ibn ‘Aṭiyyah (d. 542/1147 or 546/1151) was a native of Granada who studied from scholars of Andalusia commentary of the Qur’ān and its variant readings, Arabic linguistic and  grammar, rhetoric, and Islamic law from which al-Qurṭubī got benefit in his Tafsīr.

e.     Ibn ‘Arabī’s Aḥkām al-Qur’ān (أَحْكَامُ الْقُرْآن), translated as The Principles of the Qur’ān. Abū Bakr ibn al-‘Arabī (d. 543/1148) was born in Seville in 468/1075 where he was educated and studied variant readings on the Qur’ān. Then in 485/1092 he and his father moved to Syria when he continued his study, then he continued his study in Baghdad, and Egypt.

          Al-Qurṭubī’s Tafsīr greatly influenced many later Qur’ān commentators, among them are as follows:

a.     Ibn Kathīr’s Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-‘Aẓīm (تَفْسِيْرُ الْقُرْآنِ الْعَظِيم), translated as The Commentary of the Glorious Qur’ān, or simply called Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr. Abū ‘l-Fīdā‘īl ibn Kathīr was a student of Ibn Taymiyyah and al-Dhahabī. He died in Damascus in 774/1373 in Damascus and was buried next to that of his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah. His Tafsīr contained many ḥadīths of the Prophet and the sayings of the ṣaḥābah cited usually in explaining the verses of the Qur’an.

b.    Abū Ḥayyān’s al-Baḥru ’l-Muḥīṭ (الْبَحْرُ الْمُحِيْط), translated as the Comprehensive Sea (i.e. the Qur’an). Abū Ḥayyān al-Gharnaṭī (the native of Granada) was born in 654/1256. He was a commentator of the Qur’an, an Arabic grammarian and a linguist. He travelled extensively in pursue of knowledge: to Tunisia and Egypt (Alexandria, Cairo, Damietta, and Minya). He was said to have memorised the book of Sībawayh on Arabic grammar. He taught the science of Qur'anic exegesis at the college named after Mamluk Sultan al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn in Alexandria and in the Mosque of Ibn Țūlūn in Cairo where he died in 745 /1344.

This is a glimpse of al-Qurṭubī’s life and works.

                                        (CIVIC, 11 December, 2015)

المصادر:

المكتبة الشاملة

( تفسيرالقرطبى (ت. 671 هـ

https://ar.wikipedia.org/شمس_الدين_القرطبي

http://www.alukah.net/culture/0/76537/#ixzz3tmZOh94Y

http://www.alukah.net/culture/0/76537/

http://www.hasbunallah.com.au/tafseer-e-qurtubi-arabic-al-jame-al-ahkam-al-quran/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qurtubi

http://www.hispanicmuslims.com/andalusia/andalusia.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.shtml