Did Imam Bukhari (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) relate all Hadith?

 

Did Imam Bukhari (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) relate all Hadith?

 

The fact is that everything seems to indicate that no Hadith-expert could collect all the Hadith.  Thus, even though Imam Bukhari (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) had extraordinary zeal and memory for this task, even he could not get 700,000 Hadith although he was a favorite student of Imam Ahmed (May Allah be well pleased with him).  If 10 million Hadith were not accepted because they were not rigorously authenticated, then at least 700,000 should have been accepted. 

 

Imam Ahmed (May Allah be well pleased with him) was highly reliable in the opinion of Imam Bukhari.  It cannot be said that 700,000 Hadith were taken from Imam Ahmed but 600,000 (suddenly) became weakly authenticated. 

 

The Hadith which Imam Ahmed (May Allah be well pleased with him) would declare as rigorously authenticated, Imam Bukhari would accept it as such.  And Imam Ahmed (May Allah be well pleased with him) was not an obscure person.  He was an Imam of his age and was universally famous.  Also, he had lived long enough to collect millions of Hadith.  Imam Ahmed (May Allah be well pleased with him) passed away in 235 Hijri and Imam Bukhari (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) was a student in 205 Hijri as mentioned in Tabaqaat Al Huffadh.  It is mentioned in the foreword of Fath Ul Bari that Imam Bukhari (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) had read the whole of Sahih Bukhari to ‘Ali bin Madeeni and Imam Ahmed.  Except for 4 Hadith, they appreciated the whole book.

 

Thus all signs indicate that the rigorously authenticated Hadith which Imam Ahmed had should have reached Imam Bukhari as well, but they did not.  Then how can one posit that anyone could collect all the Hadith?  It can be extrapolated that the Hadith received by Imam Azam (May Allah be well pleased with him) from thousands of teachers are more in number than the Hadith which Imam Bukhari received from a thousand teachers.  Also, these Hadith were not the only basis for the Ijtihaad.  In fact, Hadith would be collected from each country and presented before Imam Azam and all of them would be considered when deducing rules of the Shariah.

 

When A’amash was asked a question, he would say:  Go to the circle of Abu Hanifa.  When an issue is presented, they contemplate and ponder over it until it is elucidated.

 

It would not be incorrect if it is said that all the Hadith present in the Islamic world were considered by Imam Azam (May Allah be well pleased with him) when he reasoned and deduced Shariah rulings.  In fact, some Hadith-experts have said that all the knowledge of the Companions (May Allah be well pleased with them) was present in Imam Azam and his circle of scholars.

 

This proves that no Hadith was ignored in the Hanafi School of jurisprudence.  For this reason, authorities of the science of Hadith have issued rulings based on the opinions of this school and have approved their jurisprudence.  Kardari has related the words of Ibn Juraij in Manaqib:  Each edict of Imam Azam (May Allah be well pleased with him) is based on an authoritative canon (i.e. the Holy Quran and the Hadith).

 

[Excerpted from Haqeeqatul Fiqh]