# Bukhari in his own chain, and the other students whose copies did not reach us

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/x6sffyrljey/s/11/
- Date: 2018-08-30 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: BukhariGate Part 1: Sahih Bukhari is NOT so Sahih -Mufti Abu Layth (1:02:26–1:10:18)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6SfFYRljeY&t=3746s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/x6sffyrljey/

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

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Sahih al-Bukhari reaches us through Farabri alone, although other students transmitted it. Nasafi's copy survives only in a summary of twelve hundred hadith, little of Hammad ibn Shakir's remains, Bazdawi's did not reach us, and Bukhari even appears in a chain in his own book.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says that although Bukhari had other students who transmitted the Sahih, their versions were incomplete or did not reach later generations, so the book in fact reaches us through Farabri alone.

**Evidence, his words at 1:09:40:** “there's been a lot of claims that we have sahil bukhari through all of these sources now that's a lie” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6SfFYRljeY&t=4180s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth shows a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari whose chain includes Imam Bukhari himself as the second narrator, transmitted by his own student, which he calls comedy in a book whose narrators are all supposed to be sound. He then introduces Farabri from Siyar A'lam al-Nubala: al-Dhahabi says he heard the Sahih from Bukhari twice, in 248 and 252, well before Bukhari's death, and that Farabri also claimed to have heard from Qutayba [?], which Mufti says is impossible given his age. He cites al-Khatib al-Baghdadi's chain in which Farabri claims ninety thousand people heard the Sahih from Bukhari but that only he remains to transmit it. He reviews the other students: Ibrahim ibn Ma'qil al-Nasafi [?], vouched for by a fifth-century scholar, whose incomplete version survives only through al-Khattabi's summary of twelve hundred hadith out of some seven thousand seven hundred, missing from the book of judgements onward; Hammad ibn Shakir, vouched for by al-Mustaghfiri [?], of whom almost nothing survives; and al-Bazdawi, the last transmitter, declared reliable by Ibn Makula. He says people readily declare these men reliable although they could not have known them, yet Bukhari does not reach us through any of them, and that the claim that we have the Sahih through all these sources is a lie.

## Sources and names cited

- Sahih al-Bukhari
- Imam al-Bukhari
- Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Farabri
- Siyar A'lam al-Nubala
- al-Dhahabi
- Qutayba ibn Said [?]
- al-Khatib al-Baghdadi
- Ibrahim ibn Ma'qil al-Nasafi [?]
- al-Khattabi
- Hammad ibn Shakir
- al-Mustaghfiri [?]
- al-Bazdawi
- Ibn Makula

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:02:26–1:10:18)

[1:01:57] people were refusing to promote him refusing to transmit hadith from him hence none of these people transmit hadith from him at that point imam muslim boycotts him all these people boycott him now if he had continued to teach up until his dying breath maybe more people would have transmitted bukhari now bukhari is only transmitted really through one person muhammad ibn yusuf al-farabri and this is the key part we want to come to now check this out people imam bukhari everything in his book is so um

[1:02:36] he puts obviously everything in his book uh all the narrators are supposed to be absolutely sound in imam buhari's book they're supposed to be absolutely but i've got a little surprise here right in right hadith on the section of 62 coming down huh wait a minute this is imam bukhari's book but foreign

[1:03:16] imam bukhari is in his own book he is in his own chain in his own book so this is his book but yet his student is in his book and then he's he's not even narrating from himself he's the second person in the chain [Laughter] right so this this is the kind of comedy we've got to put up with so that's the just in case people didn't catch that and just in case you know all this ah right so that's in kitab but i'll let it go i mean i showed it

[1:03:56] it's there earlier on right so he is in his own book and he's not even the he's not even the first person he's the second person in the chain [Laughter] that's one awesome way to to vouch for yourself everybody in this book is sound oh i'm in there as well by the way right so who is so now we'll wonder who is okay one interesting some interesting points i just want to clarify because a lot of people have been saying that look i'm getting this stuff i'm

[1:04:35] misquoting and doing things like this so i'd like to kind of clarify is really the key transmitter of this is taken from sir alam in noble right so imam that they're calling him imam fabri he's it's not okay if you want to use imam doesn't bother me but he heard from imam bukhari twice zahabi says he heard from him now and

[1:05:15] there's a problem by the way he also claims see check this out he made a claim that he heard from kotay ba timna right so now some people say okay well that's because some people made that claim but and that isn't even possible because he's just a little kid at that point but okay let's not be paid let's let's let that go it's not an issue is he heard the jamie of sahih

[1:05:49] right in the year uh 240 what is it 248 and then once again in the year 252 now that's imam bukhari dies around why is it 264 265 around that time so this is years before like much before imam bukhari has actually kind of passed away or anything like this okay now so is this person farabri reliable now first of all imam bukhari had many students okay according to fabri himself khatib al-baghdadi brings a chain

[1:06:28] quoting fabry to say there were 90 000 people who transmitted sahil bukhari from imam bukhari and then he goes on to say but none of them are alive today doing it except me and that's like uh okay mate if you say so but that's slightly uh but there were many others who transmitted and i'll just you know before digressing let's just show some of them so here is an here is one of them ibrahim ibn matal now ibrahimakal

[1:07:06] is one of the main early senior transmitters of imam bukhari he was a scholar of hadith and he is vouched now you see a scholar in the 5th century 400s says he's vouched for not a problem the issue is ibrahimovic did transmit the uh his version of sahih bukhari but it was incomplete and although some people did go on to so this here is right it reaches us

[1:07:45] parts of it through hatabi in a summary that he did but in this summary of khattabi there are only 1200 hadith and even in the introduction he writes that by the way uh the entire copy of ibrahimovic did not reach me even though there's only one person between them his teacher is the student of him he says that there was from kitab akam the rest there's a few hadith and then it's all missing now you may say maybe there's a substantial amount there fine but what he preserves in his summary is only 1200 hadith

[1:08:24] out of 77 100 700 which are found in the normal transmissions so so that's one uh thing so ibn markel doesn't really reach us uh and i'll come back to this claim in a moment there's another scholar by the name of uh hamad abner once again vouched for by al mustafiri by the hafiz who who's in the 400s again so he vouches for him says he's a reliable scholar yet hardly nothing really reaches us through ibn shakir

[1:09:02] that is bissama that is taught that is taught okay now people might say yes but fabri was the the most junior student of imam bukhari that's why aha but you wrong once again imam al-bazdawi okay [Music] he is the final person to transmit the sahih bukhari

[1:09:40] and he was declared a thick abba ibn markula once again from the 400s he was declared reliable although some people problematized him but he was there so look people have no issue in declaring those people reliable even though one could question did they even know them but yet buhari does not reach us through these people there's been a lot of claims that we have sahil bukhari through all of these sources now that's a lie i just want to highlight that this is

[1:10:15] in his introduction to fatalbari had you sari okay he writes he's going through all the transmissions of bukhari that reach him so he mentions look what ibrahimovic right okay so he says a piece of it is missing but okay fine he says

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment X6SfFYRljeY/s/11. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/x6sffyrljey/s/11/

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