10 Facts about Sahih Bukhari which Muslims generally don’t know

As we all know that Sahih Bukhari is a collection of our beloved Prophet’s Hadith (his saying, his actions, habits and some events related to his life) that are compiled by Imam Mohammad Al- Bukhari commonly known as Imam Bukhari.

Sahih Bukhari is recognized by all Muslims of the world as the most authentic collection of Hadith. Imam Bukhari was a renowned Islamic scholar of Islamic history and his father was also a well-known Muhaddis of his time.

Sahih Bukhari is a beautiful combination of all the Hadith that Imam Bukhari collected after staying in Makkah for six years and then traveling to different countries to collect some authentic saying and actions of our Prophet PBUH.

Almost all of us know about Sahih Bukhari but unfortunately, most of us have not even bothered to read it once. These are some of the facts of Sahih Bukhari which you being a Muslim should know;

1-Sahih Bukhari contained a collection of 9082 Hadith among which 2602 Hadith are without repetition. This book has 97 books (chapters) and that each chapter or book has subchapter called Abwaab.

2-The book was compiled after collecting a large number of Hadith, that is 600,000 Hadith

3-All the hadiths in Sahih Bukhari are authentic. It means it does not have any weak or unauthentic Hadith.

4-Imam Bukhari only collected from the best of the best source. As we mentioned earlier, he collected 600,000 Hadith from different sources but compiled only 9,000 in Sahih Bukhari.

5- To summarize there were three criteria of Hadith collection and that were fully connected chains, good Muslim and excellent memory.

6-Sahheh Bukhari is not just a book of Hadith it begins with Quranic verses. This book has no introduction and it moves straight to the material.

7-When we see some difference in some numbers of the Hadith it is due to different publisher and there is no change in its actual content.

8- 9-Sometimes the Hadith are repeated with an only relevant section of the narrations and not to overwhelm the readers.

9-Imam Bukhari started writing this book when he was just 22 years old and finished this book when he was 38. Imam Bukhari compiled this book in 16 long years. He spent his last 24 years of his, life to teach this book.

10-Imam Bukhari triple checked this book and wrote it three different times. Before selecting any Hadith for this book, Imam Bukhari would pray 2 rakat of Istikhara prayer.