Sahih al-Bukhari

Sahih al-Bukhari stands as the most revered collection of hadith in Islamic literature, compiled by Imam Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari (194-256 AH/810-870 CE). Born in Bukhara, present-day Uzbekistan, Imam Bukhari dedicated sixteen years to meticulously gathering and authenticating prophetic traditions. From over 600,000 narrations he examined, only 7,563 were selected based on the strictest criteria of authenticity. Each hadith underwent rigorous scrutiny of its chain of narrators (isnad) and content (matn). The collection is organized into 97 books covering creed, worship, transactions, manners, and prophetic biography. Scholars universally regard it as the most authentic book after the Quran. The compiler's extraordinary memory and unwavering dedication to truth established a methodology that shaped Islamic scholarship for centuries.