[aabbaDE]

الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، أما بعد:

I thank Allah (A'za wa Jal) for giving me these moments (through illness) in order for me to answer the requests of many of you who would like to be more informed regarding the asaneed (chains of narration) of the major books of Hadith. I had previously touched on this subject in a previous post and in this post I will attempt to provide as many extant auditory asaneed of Imam al-Bukhari's Sahih as I am aware of, starting with those that I have obtained through sitting at the feet of these great Ulama. I warmly welcome your contribution to this thread in order to learn from you, but request that any comments or suggestions be directly related to the subject.

فأبدأ مستعيناً بالله تعالى

First of all, it is worthwhile pointing out that even though there are many paths going back to Imam al-Bukhari (RA) the most commonly used and rigorously accepted path is from the greatest Muhaddith of his era; al-Hafidh, al-Hujjah, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajr al-Asqalaani (RA).

It has been established to contain the complete audio transmission of al-Jami al-Sahih from the first Hadith on Niyyah (Intentions) to the last Hadith on the 'two light words upon the tongue' from scholar to scholar all the way back to Imam al-Bukhari (RA).

As we can see below, there are 7 people between Ibn Hajr (RA) and Imam al-Bukhari (RA) and even though there are asaneed with fewer intermediaries it remains to be established whether they have complete auditory transmission of the text.

1. Muhammad ibn Isma’il al-Bukhari (194-256 H)

2. Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Firabri (231-320 H)

3. Abdullah ibn Ahmad al-Sarkhasi (293-381 H)

4. Abd al-Rahman al-Bushanji (374-467 H)

5. Abul Waqt Abd al-Awwal al-Sijzi (458-553 H)

6. Husain ibn Mubarak al-Zubaydi (545-631 H)

7. Ahmad ibn Abi Talib al-Hajjar al-Hafni (624-730 H)

8. Ibrahim ibn Ahmad al-Tanukhi (709-800 H)

9. Ahmad ibn Ali Ibn Hajr al-Asqalaani (774-852 H)

Now, that we know that, we simply need to trace the asaneed of our shoyoukh back to Ibn Hajr (RA) and the fewer the number of intermediaries going back to him the more elevated the isnaad.

As is tradition amongst Ahlal Athar (People of narration/Hadith), I will start with an Isnaad from a teacher of my birthplace and move through different regions of the world that Allah has blessed me to travel to and obtain asaneed from, with the intention of preserving the Sunnah and this most unique and salient feature that only Muslims can be proud of as no other religion has a system even similar to it.

I start by saying that Allah blessed me with the Taufeeq of sitting at the feet of Shaikh Ahmed Ali Surati (RA) both in England and then in Kuwait and participating in both reading and listening to the complete text of Imam al-Bukhari's Sahih without missing even a single letter and this is his (RA) Isnaad:

20) Shaikh Ahmed Ali Surati (RA)
19) Who narrates the complete Sahih from: Abdur Rahman al-Amrohi
18) Who may[i] narrate a part of it from: Fadlur Rahman Ganjmuradabadi
17) Who narrates a part of it from: Shah Abdul Aziz al-Dihlawi
16) Who narrates to Kitab al-Hajj[ii] from: Shah WaliUllah al-Dihlawi
15) Who narrates the complete Sahih from Abu Tahir Madani
14) Who narrates the complete Sahih from Hasan Ujaymee
13) Who narrates the complete Sahih from Easa Tha'alabi al-Ja'fri
12) Who narrates the complete Sahih from Ahmed ibn Khaleel Subki
11) Who narrates the complete Sahih from Najm Mohammed al-Gheeti
10) Who narrates the complete Sahih from Zakariyyah al-Ansari
9) Who narrates much of the text from Ibn Hajr al-Asqalaani

Which means that between this feeble person and Imam al-Bukhari there are 20 intermediaries which is the highest sanad in the world.[iii] Furthermore, it means that there are only 23 intermediaries between our Beloved Apostle (Salahu alayhi wasalam) and I in the Thulathiyaat[iv] narrations of Imam al-Bukhari (RA)

Insha Allah, in my next post we will continue this journey throughout the world and until next time, I request you all to continue remembering me in your prayers.

Servant of Allah
Mohammed Daniel

[i] It has not been established yet, if Shaikh Abdur Rahman al-Amrohi actually heard any portion of the text.
[ii] Shah Abdul Aziz completed the rest of the text with his father's main student Nurullah Siddeeqi
[iii] This is the highest isnaad in the world that contains auditory transmission in most tabaqaat, however it is not the best in terms of quality owing to the lack of information regarding the 18th and 19th narrators.
[iv] Twenty-two narrations that are regarded as the pride of Imam al-Bukhari compilation as there are only three people between the Beloved (salahu alayhi wasalam) and Imam Bukhari (RA)

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