إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ وَإِنَّمَا لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى
Sahih al-Bukhari, compiled by Imam Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari (194–256 AH), is universally regarded as the most authentic collection of Hadees after the Quran. Imam al-Bukhari spent 16 years verifying over 600,000 narrations, ultimately selecting only 7,275 authentic hadiths.
Imam Bukhari’s Methodology
Imam al-Bukhari applied the strictest standards of hadith criticism. He required that each narrator in a chain (isnad) must have: (1) personally met the narrator above them, (2) been known for reliability and good memory, and (3) lived a life free of major sins. These three criteria were rarely found together, which is why only 7,275 out of 600,000 hadiths passed his test.
The Opening Hadith
Sahih Bukhari opens with the famous hadith: “Actions are judged by intentions, and every person will get what they intended.” Scholars note this was a deliberate choice — Bukhari begins his monumental work by reminding the reader to have sincerity in their quest for knowledge.
Global Recognition
For over 1,200 years, Muslim scholars across the world — Sunni and otherwise — have accepted Sahih Bukhari as the benchmark of hadith authenticity. It has been taught in madrasas from Morocco to Indonesia without interruption, a testament to its foundational status in Islamic scholarship.