IMAM BUKHARI: THE FAMOUS EXAM

 Imam Bukhari’s intellect and ability to learn by heart were very strong and his teachers had great respect for him and were very afraid of making mistakes in front of him. Fath ibn Nuh Nishapuri said: “When I have gone to Ibn Madani, I saw Muhammad ibn Ismail Bukhari sitting to his right side. Ibn Madani used to look at him when he recited a hadith for fear of making a mistake.”[1].  Muhammad ibn Salom said: “I was amazed and terrified when Muhammad ibn Ismail Bukhari came to me. That is, I was afraid to make a mistake in front of him.” [2].  Abu Amr Xafof said: “If I was reciting a hadith, I will be frightened if Muhammad ibn Ismail Bukhari entered through this door.”[3]. In that time the tests that took place to assess the strength of Imam Bukhari’s intelligence and ability to learn by heart have been taken from several sources.

Baghdad

 The tests had taken place in Baghdad, the center of the caliphate at the time. The scholars of Baghdad have heard many reports about the strength of Imam Bukhari’s intelligence and ability to learn by heart. These messages were widespread in Islamic countries and the popularity of the news grew up day by day.

Then they wanted to test Imam Bukhari. In those days, the Imam of the Hadith, Imam Bukhari was in the capital of the caliphate and knowledge Baghdad. Muslim ibn Ibrahim said, “I wrote a hadith from eight hundred sheiks without leaving Iraq.” [4]. In other words, there were eight hundred sheiks in Baghdad who reached the rank of a sheik. In fact, in that time hadith scholars, faqihs, and mutakallims came from all over the world and gathered in Baghdad. At that time, the number of doctors taking the medical certificate exam in Baghdad had reached nine hundred. Again, there were many doctors who did not come to the exam for their popularity. So we are not able to know the number of hadith scholars and faqihs, and mutakallims there. It was not insignificant for Imam Bukhari to enter Baghdad in a state of great fame and prestige. Many muhaddithin in Baghdad agreed to test the strength of Imam Bukhari’s intellect and ability to learn by heart and devised a plan for this.

They took a hundred hadiths and exchanged their texts and sanads. They put the text of ten sanads in another sanads and the text of ten texts in another text and gave them to ten muhaddithin. Each muhaddithin had ten hadiths. They were assigned to narrate these hadiths to Imam Bukhari at the beginning of the meeting. They agreed with Imam Bukhari on the place and time of the meeting and they all gathered. Many people also gathered from Khorasan and other cities. At the beginning of the meeting, one of the ten muhaddith stood up and asked Imam Bukhari about one of those hadiths. Imam Bukhari said, “I do not know.” Then he asked about another hadith. Imam Bukhari said, “I do not know.” He asked about ten hadiths in a row. Imam Bukhari continued, “I do not know.” The scholars present at the meeting looked at each other and said, “Imam Bukhari knows.” Those who did not know the incident ruled that is not a strength of Imam Bukhari’s intelligence and ability to learn by heart. Then another of the ten muhaddith stood up and asked Imam Bukhari about one of those replaced hadiths. Imam Bukhari said, “I do not know.” He then asked Imam Bukhari about another. Imam Bukhari said, “I do not know.” He asked Imam Bukhari about ten hadiths in a row. Imam Bukhari continued, “I do not know.” He then asked one by one until the third, fourth, and tenth. In fact, they were all asking about their altered hadiths. Imam Bukhari did not add anything, only said “I do not know.” When Imam Bukhari knew that their questions were over, he turned to the first muhaddith and said, “But this is your previous hadith is not true, this is the right form of it, this is your second hadith is wrong, this, its right form of hadith, this is the third, this is the fourth.” He put each text correctly in its own sanad and each sanad in its own text. So, the same continued until the end. Then the people acknowledged the strength of Imam Bukhari’s intellect and ability to memorize and acknowledged his virtue [5].  The owner of the book Mirqot said, “People were amazed and recognized the virtue of Imam Bukhari.”

In the eyes of all scholars and critics, the correction of altered documents is proof that the muhaddithin is extremely perfect. But more importantly and remarkably, Imam Bukhari had once heard a hundred altered documents that he had heard. He then repeated them in the order in which he heard them, and explained to them one by one that so-and-so was wrong, so-and-so was so-and-so, and so-and-so was so-and-so.

 

Samarkand

 When Imam Bukhari arrived in Samarkand, another exam was held. There were four hundred great scholars in Samarkand. They received news about the strength of Imam Bukhari’s intelligence and ability to learn by heart. Then they gathered and tried their best to make a mistake of Imam Bukhari, but they could not stop him by mistake. Muhammad ibn Abu Hatim al-Warraq al-Bukhari said: I heard it from Sulayman ibn Mujahid. He said, “I heard it from Abul Azhar.” Abul Azhar said: “Four hundred muhaddithin gathered in Samarkand for seven days and tried to mislead Muhammad ibn Ismail Bukhari. They changed the date of Damascus to the date of Iraq, the date of Iraq to the date of Damascus, the date of Yemen to the date of Haramayn (Mecca and Medina), and the date of Haramayn (Mecca and Medina) to the date of Yemen. They could not stop Imam Bukhari with any mistake in the sanad or in the text. ”[7] The life and scientific legacy of Imam Bukhari, known in the Islamic world as the “Sultan of the Science of Hadith”, has not lost its value over time. So, studying the life and work of Imam Bukhari, delivering it to our people, and educating our youth as worthy heirs to our ancestors is one of the important tasks before us today.