The compiler of the greatest books of hadith

Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ismaeel bin al-Mughirah al-Bukhari was born on 13th Shawwal 194AH in Bukhara. a town in modern-day Uzbekistan.

His father died while he was still in his infancy and his upbringing was left entirely to his mother, who looked after his health and education very carefully and spared nothing in order to provide him with the best education.

Early in life, Imam Bukhari's intellectual qualities became noticeable. He had great piety and an extremely good memory and devotion to learning. It is said that while still in his teens he knew by heart 70,000 Sayings of the Prophet (SAW).

Imam Bukhari sought the company of great scholars in order to learn and discuss the Ahadith of the Holy Prophet. He visited various countries, travelling to Damascus, Cairo, Baghdad, Basra. Mecca, Medina. During all these travels, Imam Bukhari had one aim: to gather as much knowledge as possible and to make the greatest possible collection of the Traditions of the Holy Prophet. He wrote profusely; he once said that, “l have written about 1800 persons, each of whom had a Saying of the Prophet, and I have written only about those who have passed my test of truthfulness."

The Imam possessed an amazing memory, and his contribution to the science of the Ahadith remains unequalled. He wrote several books on Ahadith but in his book: "Al-Jami-al-Sahih': the Imam recorded all the Sayings of the Prophet which he found to be genuine after thorough examination and scrutiny. He spent sixteen years in research and examined more than sixty thousand Sayings from which he selected some 7,275 Sayings whose genuineness and accuracy he established beyond the slightest doubt. Deducting duplicates, the Imam's collection contain about four thousand distinct Sayings.