Sahih al-Bukhari

The Arabic word hadith literally means “story.” As used in Islam, the Hadith are stories about the prophet Muhammad (d. 632), the founder of Islam. The Hadith report the Sunna, or practices of Muhammad, including what he said, what he did, and what he tacitly approved of. Each Hadith has two parts: the text reporting Muhammad’s words and actions, called matn in Arabic, and the chain of narrators, or isnad. The chain of narrators begins with the narrator from whom the compiler of a collection of Hadith received the report and is traced back through the generations, ending with the narrator who reported witnessing what Muhammad said or did. Each person in the chain of narrators reports the story on the authority of the person from whom he or she received it. The Arabic word sahih means “sound,” and the book of Hadith known as the Sahih al-Bukhari was an attempt to collect only those stories that the compiler considered to be sound, or authentic—that is, stories that he viewed as reliable because they could be traced back to Muhammad through an unbroken chain of trustworthy narrators.

Muslims generally refer to the canonized collections of Hadith as the “Six Books.” In reality, though, nine works are recognized by Sunni Muslims as sources of authoritative Hadith. The most important of the nine canonized collections is the Sahih of Muhammad ibn Abu Abdullah ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, which is considered the most influential book after the Qur'an in Sunni Islam (that is, the dominant, orthodox branch of Islam, so called because of its reliance on the Sunna). In some ways, it can be said to be even more influential than the Qur'an itself, for Hadith add details and concepts to Islamic belief and doctrine that may not be found, or that are only alluded to, in the Qur'an.

Like all Hadith collections, the Sahih al-Bukhari is not meant to be read from beginning to end like a novel. It is meant to be used as a reference by those who want to find quickly and easily what Muhammad said or did in relation to day-to-day issues of belief and practice. It is divided into more than ninety chapters arranged by topics, from the opening chapter on revelation to the final chapter on the oneness of God. The topical arrangement allows Muslims to quickly find the answers they seek. The chapter under discussion here, “Iman” (translated as “Belief/Faith”), contains forty-nine Hadith that provide details of faith and practice that have helped to define Sunni Islam.