Dear Brother Assalam o Alaikum wa Rahmatullahe wa Barakatohu
After reading your book on hadith, following questions came to my mind:
1. Imam Bukhari collected many more Saheeh Ahadith than 4,000 approx reported in his book. Is it possible to find other Saheeh Ahadith collected by him. (I heard they will be about 96,000.)
2. Did imam Bukhari applied both the rules of Rawayat (on Asnad) and Dirayat (on Matan) or only former one? Were these rules formed by him? Before his time? Or afterward?
3. If he applied both, is it possible to find out those Ahadith whichmet all criteria of Rawayat + all criteria of Dirayat except the lastwhich required it to be as per wisdom of that time. Obviously, some of them will pass that test as the time passes by. Such ahadith should be kept separate and reviewed after every five years.
4. I hope that Shaeeh Ahadith not quoted by him in his book will not relate to anything which is important for our success in hereafter.
5. Is there an Arabic – Urdu dictionary available to which I can refer to, for words appearing in Ahadith? I have a dictionary (hard copy) but it contains Quranic words only.
Wassalam
Zeeshan Ahmed
Karachi, Pakistan
Wa alaikum us salam wa Rahmatuallah e wa Barakatuhu
Glad to see your questions. The answers are as follows:
1. Imam Bukhari collected many more Saheeh Ahadith than 4,000 approx reported in his book. Is it possible to find other Saheeh Ahadith collected by him. (I heard they will be about 96,000.)
Ans: Imam Bukhari wrote another book “Al-Adab ul Mufrad” which contains both Sahih and Dha’eef Ahadith. Recently, Allama Nasir ud Din Albani segregated between the two. Approximate number of all Sahih Ahadith is not more than 10,000. The number is hundred thousands is counting of their Asnad (chains of narrators.) If a Hadith is reported through 10 chains, Mohadisin (the Hadith experts) count it as 10, not one.
Hakim Nishapuri claimed that he compiled many Ahadith meeting Bukhari’s criteria and wrote a Mustadrak (supplement) of Bukhari but his book contains many fake and weak reports.
2. Did imam Bukhari applied both the rules of Rawayat (on Asnad) and Dirayat (on Matan) or only former one? Were these rules formed by him? Before his time? Or afterward?
Ans: Imam Bukhari did not mention his criteria for selecting Ahadith. If we look at the format and selection of his book, we find that he applied the rules of Riwayat very well and also applied some principles of Dirayat. The rules of Riwayat and Dirayat evolved over a long period of time (about 300 years) with experience of Mohadisin. As the inventors of fake reports worked their methods out, Mohadisin also developed their procedures. It is comparable to evolution of information security procedures. As hackers invented new methods of intrusion and hacking, information security procedures evolved to counter their tactics.
3. If he applied both, is it possible to find out those Ahadith which met all criteria of Rawayat + all criteria of Dirayat except the last which required it to be as per wisdom of that time. Obviously, some of them will pass that test as the time passes by. Such Ahadith should be kept separate and reviewed after every five years.
Ans: Bukhari did not mention it but several commentators of Bukhari did so. It is subjective and depends upon level of knowledge and experience of a commentator. You can see the following commentaries:
1. Fath ul Bari by Ibn Hajar Asqalani: http://www.kitabosunnat.com/kutub-library/hadeeth-aor-uloomulhadith.html (Urdu translation name is Faiz ul Bari. The language is very old.)
2. Tadabbur Hadith by Amin Ahsan Islahi. (You need to buy a hard copy.)
3. Sharh Sahih Muslim by Ghulam Rasool Saeedi:
http://www.nafseislam.com/en/BooksList.php?Cat=41&CatType=7
4. I hope that Shaeeh Ahadith not quoted by him in his book will not relate to anything which is important for our success in hereafter.
Ans: We cannot claim that as it could be done only by Allah. Imam Bukhari and Muslim put their utmost effort to compile Ahadith related to all important issues of his time. They mentioned such issues in the titles of the chapters of his book. With evolution of socio-economic factors, new issues are germinating and older ones are becoming obsolete. While reading Bukhari and Muslim, you will see that many issues of their times are now obsolete and there are further issues of modern time which they were unable to address. Anyway, they put their excellent efforts and we should be thankful to them but no human work could encompass all aspects of human life.
5. Is there an Arabic – Urdu dictionary available to which I can refer to, for words appearing in Ahadith? I have a dictionary (hard copy) but it contains Quranic words only.
Ans: For Arabic-Urdu dictionary, I did not find an online Arabic-Urdu dictionary, however, there are several options:
a. Download and install Sakhr Dictionary. It is easy to use but installation is a bit complicated. The installation procedure is written in the introduction of the Quranic Arabic Program. Just type a word and you’ll get the meaning in English.
http://www.mubashirnazir.org/Courses/Arabic/Level01/AR000-01-Contents-E.htm
b. Buy Al-Munjid Arabic – Urdu dictionary from the market. I have tried but did not find its softcopy on the internet. Originally, it is Arabic-to-Arabic dictionary but a panel of scholars translated it into Urdu. You need knowhow of I’lm us Sarf (the art of deriving Arabic words from their root letters) to use this dictionary. Even all important dictionaries are organized by root letters مادہ. Details are available in the Level 3 of the Quranic Arabic Program.
c. Download Al-Mawrid Arabic-English dictionary. It is available here in PDF format. You’ll have to search each word like a hardcopy:
http://www.4shared.com/document/4z7dtNg0/___online.html
d. For Hadith books, the easiest way is to use the translation already available. If you understand most of the words, you can easily link any new word to its meanings. They are available on the following link:
wassalaam
Mubashir
Don’t hesitate to share your questions and comments. They will be highly appreciated. I’ll reply as soon as possible if I know the answer. Send at mubashirnazir100@gmail.com.