Bismillah, wasalatu wasalamu ‘ala rasoolilah, 
This is part one of the Mukhtasar Saheeh AlBukhari series mentioned here
We start off with the life of Imam Bukhari rahimahullah.
His real name:
Abu Abdillah Muhammad bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin Al-Mughirah bin Bardizbah. He was born in the city of Bukhara – present day Uzbekistan.
His parents:
His father was a great muhhadith and ascetic, however his father passes away when he was an infant. Imam Bukhari was blinded at an early age and the many different treatments from various doctors did not help his cause. His mother was a very pious and righteous person and would stay up and make dua for her son constantly. One beautiful morning her dua for her sons sight to come back was answered and Imam Bukhari awoke to see again.
His young age and studies:
He began to develop an amazing speed and accuracy in his memory to the point where he didn’t even write notes down in classes anymore. Once while in class the other students criticized Imam Bukhari for not taking notes and wasting time in class. Imam Bukhari responded by reciting every hadeeth they had written down along with their chains. Afterwards he asked them “Do you still think that I come here for nothing and waste my time?”
His travels:
At the age of 16 Imam Bukhari along with his brother and mother went for Hajj. Afterwards he began his search for knowledge. He traveled to lands that were known for their knowledge such as Basrah, Egypt, Hijaz, Kufah and Baghdad.
His works:
Imam Bukhari’s most famous work is his collection of authentic ahadeeth named: al-Jami al-ai al-Musnad min adith Rasulillah wa Sunanihi wa Ayyamihi.
However he also has many works, almost all of which are related to the subject of ahadeeth. Here are some of his other works:
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-Al-Jami’ al-Sahih (الجامع الصحيح), also known as Sahih Bukhari
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-Al Adab Al Mufrad الأدب المفرد- Book discussing the character and manners of the Prophet.
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-al-Tarikh al-Kabir, The big history, containing biographies of narrators, with a rating of each
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-al-Tarikh al-Saghir – The Little History, an abridged account of the lives of the Prophet, the Sahaba, the Taabi’oon and the Taba Taabi’oon
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-Ad-Du’afaa As-Saghir – Book containing a list of the names of weak narrators and reasons why this narrator is considered to be weak.
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-Asaamee As-Sahaabah – Book containing the names, lineages and biographies of the Prophet’s Companions.
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-Kitab al-Waihdaan – Biographies of lesser known Companions that each related one hadeeth each.
- -Kitab Al-Kuna – Book containing a list of kunya of hadeeth narrators so that one is able to differentiate between them.
His last years:
At the age of 54, he traveled to a city called Neyshabour. He began to teach there the sciences of hadeeth and it was there that he met a man by the name of Abul Husayn Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj Qushayri al-Nisapuri (the author of Saheeh Muslim). He left Neyshabour due to political reasons and traveled back to a city near Bukhara called Khartank. It is there that he passed away and left us the legacy of Imam Bukhari.
A few last notes of Sahih Bukhari:
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Imam Bukhari was not only a muhaddith, but he was a faqeeh as well.
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Imam Bukhari’s fiqh positions are made known by the titles in his book. If the title is open ended then that means Imam Bukhari had not yet made a decision on the matter.
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Imam Bukhari as mentioned is from the schools of Hijaaz, and you can see that some of his opinions were refutations of the Hanafi opinions.
Our copy of the Mukhtasar:
Imam Az-Zubaidi did not use his own language, rather he took the isnad’s off and left out repeated ahadeeth. He did this because Imam Bukhari would break up the larger ahadeeth and use different pieces under different subjects.
Imam Az-Zubaidi’s mukhtasar is considered ¼ of the entire Sahih al-Bukhari.
I know that this isn’t the best article to capture Imam Bukhari’s life, and I humbly believe that this piece doesn’t even come close to giving his life work justice. If there is anything that I have said that is true it is due to the blessings from Allah ‘azza wa jall, and if there’s any mistake or error then please forgive me and correct me as I have done this out of ignorance.
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Next lesson will include:
o The Book of Revelation
