Sahih / al-Bukhari

{ahl bu-kah'-ree}

Muhammad Ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, b. July 21, 810, d. Aug. 31, 870, was an Arabic scholar who compiled the sayings of Muhammad in a book, Al-Jami al-sahih, ranked second only to the Koran in influence among Muslims. Born in Bukhara, he made a pilgrimage to Mecca as a teenager and then spent 16 years traveling through Asia to listen to Muslim authorities, gathering traditions and sayings of the Prophet. Al-Bukhari's tomb, near Samarkand, is an important shrine for pilgrims.

Sahih / al-Bukhari

al-Bukhari (full name Muhammad Ibn-Ismail al-Bukhari (810-70) was an Arab scholar, born in Bukhoro (now in Uzbekistan). As a youth he began traveling throughout the Muslim world collecting the oral traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. Of the more than 600,000 traditions he collected, he compiled 7275 of them in al-Sahih (The Genuine). Al-Sahih is regarded by orthodox Muslims, the Sunnites, as being surpassed in importance only by the Qur'an (Koran).

Following a theological dispute, al-Bukhari was banished to Kartank, near Samarqand (now in Uzbekistan), where he died. His tomb has been the destination of many pilgrimages.