# Is criticising Sahih al-Bukhari an attack on Imam al-Bukhari?

*Not against Bukhari: a human masterpiece, shorter narratives, and the myth BukhariGate critiques*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ksqksrxndnw/s/15/
- Date: 2020-04-22 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Shaykh Dr. Shabir Ally | Juxtaposing the Quran, Jumbling Aisha's age & Jinn Possession | MindTrap#16 (1:11:36–1:15:32)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsQKsrXndNw&t=4296s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ksqksrxndnw/

**Topics:** Sahih al-Bukhari (BukhariGate); Hadith collections and their history; Guest conversations

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Imam al-Bukhari deserves credit for sifting hadith and his shorter narratives are usually the more authentic, but he was a human being and his book is not the Quran. Mufti Abu Layth says BukhariGate critiques the myth of an untouchable gold standard, not the man.

## Longer summary

The guest answers the worry that these positions make them opponents of Bukhari or deniers of something essential to the faith: on the contrary, they give great credit to Imam al-Bukhari for sifting hadith. Comparing a Bukhari narrative with its version in Ibn Majah shows the later text grown longer with insertions, so the shorter version is usually the more authentic, since people tended to add explanations rather than take away; Bukhari's work checks that tendency. But that does not make Bukhari an angel or his book comparable to the Quran, which would be a travesty he would not have accepted himself: the introduction to the English translation records that he prayed two units before including each hadith, which the guest reads as his way of asking Allah's forgiveness for any mistake. Mufti Abu Layth clarifies that his lengthy two-part BukhariGate video begins by distinguishing three phenomena: the man Imam al-Bukhari, whom he regards as great despite his sufferings at the end of his life, the book, and the myth of Bukhari as the untouchable gold standard; it is the myth he critiques, not the man. He then raises the next subject: exorcisms and demonic possession.

## Sources and names cited

- Dr Shabir Ally (guest)
- Sahih al-Bukhari
- Imam al-Bukhari
- Sunan Ibn Majah
- idraj (insertion)
- report: al-bukhari prayed two rakahs before including each hadith in his book

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:11:36–1:15:32)

[1:11:29] heard taken as a part away from the whole it happens to be a misunderstanding so so in the end oh I think you know the question was people are gonna think that if we if we take the the positions that we have taken here that we are somehow like against bihari or we are disbelieving in something that is essential to the face or something like this and the answer to that is no we are actually first of all giving great credit to the great scholars among Hardware I'm Allah he did the great work

[1:12:08] of sifting hadith and in fact if we compare the Hadees of Bihari with those of heaven Imagi we will see the the insertions that are therein even imagine and and we can see that the Bihari hadith is shorter usually a more precise whereas we can see that the narrative has become more extensive by the time you get to even imagine and that shows that the most authentic version of the narrative is usually a shorter version and that makes sense because people tended to add things rather than to take away from the original narrative they tended to add explanations we see the explanations in

[1:12:47] the later narratives so Lehmann Bukhari Imola gave us a masterpiece that brings in to check the the tendency of effete narrators to add things and expand upon it and make it more like make a mountain out of a molehill but that does not mean and that an imam bukhari rahim allah was an angel or that he is God himself and so that his work has to be treated the same way as the Quran no that would be a travesty I don't think he Mamba Hari himself would agree with that assessment of his work in fact it is narrated in the introduction to Sahil Bihari in the

[1:13:26] English translation that when an imam Buhari included a hadith in his work he would pray 2 rakaats of Prayer now that they had explained why is 2 rakaats of prayer but obviously it's Imam bahar is way of saying to Allah Arab I did what I could and now I'm leading the rest to you forgive me if there is any mistake here so he recognized him is himself to be a human being and his work to be the the work of a human being we should recognize it no absolutely and I just to clarify that and for any interested I do

[1:14:06] have a very lengthy video called behayelit on YouTube on my channel and in fact it's in two parts but I do begin that by highlighting that it's EC Bihari is 3 this is this three phenomena that that there are in my perspective one is the man himself Imam Bihari one is the book and then three the myth that has been created Hari as the gold standard this untouchable kind of book this whole myth and it's the myth that I'm critiquing I do highlight that imam mahdi himself I

[1:14:45] feel was somebody you know was a great man although he suffered extensively at the end of his life but I do mention that this is not you know great tribute to him I mean you know credit to him as an individual pursuing his his his gold this is not about him this is about what becomes of this book much later but yeah chef on this note speaking of what people do and when people have already said made up their mind and they set things it doesn't matter sometimes what you show them even if it's not so clear sometimes in tradition like to kind of

[1:15:23] open the Pandora's box on things like exorcisms demonic possessions I know you've spoken on this in the past I've spoken on it as well I mean I've not really believed in these in saying that the Quran and some that does not show these to be true even though it is the wide while widely held as a belief by Muslims yet if anything the Koran seems to show the the opposite to be true what are

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment KsQKsrXndNw/s/15. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ksqksrxndnw/s/15/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.