Scholarly Response to the Allegation of Weak Narrators in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārīماخوذ: فتاویٰ علمیہ، جلد 3 — اصول، تخریج الروایات اور ان کا حکم، صفحہ 236
✦ A Refutation to Claims Against Weak or Deviant Narrators in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī
❖ Summary of the Allegation:
A member of the Barelwī sect, affiliated with Tāhir-ul-Qādrī’s group, raised two claims:
➊ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī contains narrators with deviant beliefs—Qadarī, Rāfiḍī, or Murji’ī—and some narrators are weak, rejected, or delusional.
➋ Imām al-Bukhārī allegedly narrated from individuals whom he himself critiqued in other works.
As examples, he cited:
- A narration from Bāb al-Istinǧāʾ bi al-Māʾ, which includes ‘Aṭā’ ibn Abī Maymūnah
- A narration from Kitāb al-Maghāzī, which includes Ayyūb ibn ‘Āiḍ
The objection is that Imām al-Bukhārī, in his book al-Ḍuʿafāʾ, mentioned these narrators due to their beliefs (Qadarī or Murji’ī).
❖ Scholarly Response:
✦ Beliefs vs. Reliability in Ḥadīth Transmission
According to the principles of ḥadīth science:
❖ A narrator’s deviant belief (like being Qadarī, Rāfiḍī, or Murji’ī) does not automatically disqualify his narrations, provided he is truthful (ṣadūq) and trustworthy (thiqah) in his transmission.
▶ When the majority of scholars (jumhūr) accept a narrator as trustworthy, mere accusations of heresy or deviation are not sufficient to label him weak.
✦ Opinions of Prominent Ḥadīth Imāms:
✔ Imām Ibn Khuzaymah said:
"ʿAbbād ibn Yaʿqūb, though accused in belief, is trustworthy in ḥadīth."
(Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Khuzaymah 2/376-377, Ḥadīth 1497)
✔ Imām Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said:
"A Shīʿī can be thiqah; a Qadarī can be thiqah."
(Suʾālāt Ibn al-Junayd, 617)
✔ Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī:
"Kūfī, trustworthy, Murji’ī."
(al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl 2/145)
✔ Similar statements are found in the works of:
Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān, al-ʿIjlī, Ibn Shāhīn, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Abū Ḥātim, al-Dhahabī, Ibn Ḥajar, and others.
Case Analysis of Individual Narrators
❖ ① ‘Aṭā’ ibn Abī Maymūnah
➤ Criticism (Jarḥ):
From Abū Ḥātim, al-Bukhārī, al-ʿUqaylī, Ibn Saʿd, Ibn al-Jawzī, and Ibn ʿAdī (6 scholars)
➤ Validation (Taʿdīl):
By Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, Abū Zurʿah, Ibn Saʿd, Ibn Ḥibbān, Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān, al-ʿIjlī, Ibn Shāhīn, al-Bukhārī, and Muslim (9 scholars)
➤ Ibn Ḥajar:
"Thiqah, but accused of Qadar."
(Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb, #4601)
➤ al-Dhahabī:
"Ṣadūq"
(al-Kāshif 2/233, #3861)
Conclusion: The majority of scholars consider him reliable and sound.Imām al-Bukhārī only mentioned him in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ due to his beliefs, not due to flaws in narration.
❖ ② Ayyūb ibn ‘Āiḍ
➤ Criticism: Only mentioned for his Murji’ī belief, with no valid criticism regarding his ḥadīth transmission.
➤ Validation (Taʿdīl):
Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, Abū Ḥātim, al-Bukhārī, Muslim, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn al-Madīnī, Ibn Ḥibbān, Ibn Shāhīn, al-ʿIjlī (9 scholars)
➤ Imām al-Bukhārī:
"He held the belief of Irjāʾ and was ṣadūq."
(al-Ḍuʿafāʾ, verified: 25)
Conclusion: There is no valid criticism of his narrations.Even the claim that al-Dhahabī “hid” Imām Bukhārī’s statement in Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl is incorrect and unproven.
Other Accused Narrators and Clarification:
The objector also attacked:
- Zuhayr ibn Muḥammad al-Taymī
- ‘Abdullāh ibn Kabīr
- ‘Abd al-Wārith ibn Saʿīd
- Kahmas ibn Minhāl
- ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Aʿyān
- ‘Aṭā’ ibn Yazīd
- Marwān ibn Ḥakam
➤ All these narrators are accepted as thiqah or ṣadūq by the majority of scholars, hence these objections are rejected.
➤ ‘Abdullāh ibn Kabīr is not even a narrator in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī—possibly a misreading or scribal error.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī’s
Definition:
Narrations where Imām al-Bukhārī does not include a complete chain and mentions the statement directly from a Ṭābiʿī or Ṣaḥābī.
➤ Ibn Ḥajar in Taghlīq al-Taʿlīq provided complete isnāds for all these muʿallaqāt.
Status of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī Among Scholars
✔ al-‘Aynī al-Ḥanafī:
“After the Book of Allāh, the most authentic books are Bukhārī and Muslim.”
(ʿUmdat al-Qārī 1/5)
✔ Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī:
Ṣaḥīḥayn hold a status of “talaqqī bi al-qubūl” (universal scholarly acceptance)
(Mirqāt al-Mafātīḥ 1/58)
✔ Shāh Walī Allāh al-Dihlawī:
“Every connected, marfū‘ narration in Ṣaḥīḥayn is certainly ṣaḥīḥ.”
(Ḥujjatullāh al-Bālighah 1/242)
✔ Aḥmad Riḍā Khān al-Barelwī:
“The ḥadīths of al-Bukhārī are the noblest and loftiest.”
(Aḥkām al-Sharīʿah, Part 1, Pg 62)
✔ ‘Abd al-Samīʿ Rāmpūrī, Muḥammad Karam Shāh al-Azharī:
Both declared Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī as “Aṣaḥḥ al-Kutub baʿda Kitābillāh” (the most authentic book after the Qur’ān)
Final Response to the Accuser:
The claim that Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī contains 18 weak narrations is false and baseless.
We challenge:
❖ Present even a single connected marfū‘ narration from Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī that is weak according to the principles of ḥadīth and the judgment of the majority of scholars.
❖ Present just three mursal or connected marfū‘ narrations from Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī that are weak by scholarly consensus.
If you fail to do so—and you certainly will, by Allāh’s permission—then you must:
⚠ Refrain from making slanders against Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī
⚠ And prepare for accountability in the hereafter
ھٰذَا مَا عِنْدِي، وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
