COMPLEX OF IMAM AL-BUKHARI

The visit to Al-Bukhari complex near Samarkand is linked to the name of Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ismail ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Maghir ibn Baddazbek al-Ju'fi al-Bukhari, the greatest theologian of the 9th century. Among the people he is often referred to as Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari or Al-Bukhari.

Al-Bukhari was born in Bukhara on Friday, Shavwala 13, 194 hegira (20 July 810 AD), in the family of Ismail, a man of God-fearing mind. It is known that his great grandfather was one of the first to adopt Islam, and his father was one of the narrators of sacred legends. The exact date of birth of Al-Bukhari is known from his father's letters.

His father died when he was a baby, and his mother took the entire responsibility of bringing him up. As a child he became blind. The doctors failed to treat him. Once his mother saw a dream: the prophet Abraham told her: "Allah returned your son's eyesight because of your constants prayers and sobs." And her son was cured.

By the age of 10 Al-Bukhari was already exceptionally diligent and highly intelligent. Days and nights he sat over his father's books and worked to deepen his knowledge. He had amazingly good memory which allowed him to instantly learn by heart the read material and thoroughly analyze it. His analytical mindset allowed him to develop his own opinions on many issues and subsequently discuss them with his spiritual mentor, Sheikh Dahili. By the age of 16 he immersed himself in hadith studies as well as fiqh, Islamic laws, rules of behavior and relations in Muslim society.

In 825 Al-Bukhari travelled to Mecca and Medina for Hajj (pilgrimage) with his mother and elder brother. After the pilgrimage, mother and brother returned to Bukhara and Al- Bukhari traveled to different Muslim countries where he continued to study hadith. He traveled through Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Egypt, to continue his studies with famous Eastern theologians. According to the legend, Al- Bukhari collected hundreds of thousands of hadith, out of which he personally knew by heart 300,000. In these searches and wanderings he spent 42 years. According to him he recorded hadiths from 1080 connoisseurs.

He started writing his book "Al- Jomiyah As-Sahih" in Basra (modern Iraq) and continued writing it for many years. As it is known from various sources he wrote 24 books, among them "Ta'rihih Kobir" ("Great History"), which he wrote in his youth. After writing "Al-Jomiya al-Sahih", his main work, which included 7275 hadith, he returned to Bukhara. Hundreds of people came to meet and to hear him. Shortly many people rallied around Al-Bukhari and he taught everyone who wanted to learn, because he believed that collective literacy training would be of great benefit to society. He believed it was important to expand the network of educational institutions so that more people could learn literacy and culture. According to the legend, several thousand people heard over 70,000 hadiths directly from him. Some of his students later became famous theologians.

Al-Bukhari's authority was so high that a hadith unknown to him was considered unreliable by the people. Throughout his educational activities in Bukhara, Al-Bukhari often fell victim of intrigue, unrest and conspiracies. He was expelled from Bukhara four times. For the last fourth time, Al-Bukhari was expelled from the city by the order of the local emir, Khalid Zuhra, for refusing to educate the emir's children. He left Bukhara and travelled to Samarkand at the invitation of local residents. But, due to the disputes on his stay among the local citizens in Samarkand, Al Bukhari failed to get to the city. He stayed in the village of Khortang near Samarkand, where he died at 256 AH on the feast of Ramazan on one of the first three days of Shavwala (September 1, 870 AD).

Al-Bukhari's achievement is that he first performed a kind of hadith "filtering". Earlier the Muhaddises would include any hadith heard into their manifolds, but Al-Bukhari checked the credibility (Sahih) or otherwise (Ghairi Sahih) of hadiths. That is why Muslim Ulema scholars consider "As-Sahih" to be the next source after the holy Qur'an. (The State Museum of Culture History and Art of Samarkand keeps both books written by Al- Bukhari and two lithographs of the book As-Sahih.) Al-Bukhari by his right is considered to be the most outstanding hadithologist on the East.

An important part of Islam is the doctrine about the Prophet Muhammad, which was included in the symbol of faith, law and theology, historiography and literature. The science of the hadith is a feature only of Islam. The Muhammad's statements and the circumstances under which a deed or a statement was done became an independent branch of Islamic theology. Thus, a Hadith expresses the most general philosophical ideas of Islamic civilization. The Holy Qur'an became the sacred book of Muslims, and Hadith became the expression of the true essence of Islam.

The authenticity of Hadith (Sahih) was determined by Isnad, i.e., by reference to a continuous chain of people through which the transmission of Hadith took place from the source to the last person making the record. In terms of meaning and primary source the Hadith can be primary, secondary, tertiary, etc. The primary sources are, of course, the people in the immediate surroundings of the prophet Muhammad. Over the time the number of Hadiths and people transmitting them had increased. Therefore, selecting a Hadith Al Bukhari was very critical in terms of reliability and continuity of transmission from one person to another. The impeccable morality of the person transmitting the Hadith was also important in assessing. It was depending on this that Hadith scholars established three main classes of hadith:

1. Real and faithful, the Saheeh.

2. Good and acceptable, the Hassan.

3. Suspicious and weak, the da'if ("zeif")

The requirements for hadith connoisseurs were subsequently harsh and hadithologists were considered the most respected people. Along with knowledge of the Qur'an, knowledge of the hadith was honorable in society. There were special schools for the study of hadith and special libraries, containing mainly of books on hadithology, which were available to hadith scholars, Muhaddis (Tullab al- Hadis).

During the Soviet era, the name of the great theologian was forgotten. The name of the great Al-Bukhari was revived only with independency of Uzbekistan. The Resolution of the First President of the Republic of Uzbekistan was adopted in 1998 and the magnificent memorial complex was built in the village of Khortang at the place of the tomb of Al-Bukhari - mazar. Today the complex includes the Mausoleum of Imam Al-Bukhari, the mosque, the library and the madrassah. The best builders and folk masters of Samarkand, Tashkent, Bukhara, Khiva, Shahrisabz, Andijan, Kokand and Namangan participated in its construction. In the same year, 1998, on October 23, the 1225th anniversary of the famous scientist was widely celebrated in Samarkand. One can enter the complex through the entrance portal, which is decorated with carved gates. On both sides of the main entrance there are memorial slabs written in Arabic and Latin alphabet on the construction of the complex. The mausoleum of Ismail al-Bukhari stands on the central axis in the form of a rectangular prism, which is square at the foundation (the area is 9x9 m and the height is 17 m).

The dome of the mausoleum is double, ribbed, decorated with blue tiles. The walls are decorated with mosaics, majolica, clay, onyx and granite with vegetable and geometric ornaments. In the center of the mausoleum there is a tombstone coated with light green onyx.

The grave of Imam al-Bukhari is under this mausoleum, having the separate entrance. The mosque “khanakj” (for 1.500 people) is located on the left side of the courtyard and the gallery area of 786 sq m.

On the right side there is the library and the museum with rare samples of manuscripts and lithographed books on Islamic theology as well as gifts of the statesmen of different countries, including a piece of sacred “kiswa” from the Kaaba in Mecca which was gifted by the king of Saudi Arabia.

In the center of the yard there is the water reservoir- "khauz" with ancient plane trees and a spring of «healing» water.

The Imam Al-Bukhari complex has a scientific center along with the “Hadiths” training center. The president of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the opening ceremony of the 43rd session of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of Islamic

Cooperation (OIC) in October 2016 in Tashkent put forward the initiative on establishment of the international scientific research center under the memorial complex of Imam Al Bukhari.

The center was constructed in a short period along with all the necessary conditions for studying in it. The center’s main activity is study of the spiritual heritage of Imam Al- Bukhari and other thinkers, translation and publication of their works, collection of manuscripts’ soft copies stored in libraries, archives of the country and abroad. Today, 45 researchers work there constantly and the memorandum of cooperation was signed with the leading centers of Islamic research and 14 universities in different countries of the world. The Centre has its own publishing house and regularly publishes the journal "Imam Bukhari saboklari" ("Imam Bukhari Lessons").

Our own experts will teach at the school for the beginning and later famous scholars of Islam and Muhaddis from abroad will be invited. They teach the students, along with the sciences of hadiths (the legend about the words and actions of the Prophet Muhammad), the Holy Quran, fiqh (Islamic law), religious beliefs, tafsir (interpretation of the Quran and the Sunnah), the history of Islam, and foreign languages.

METHODOLOGICAL GUIDELINES:

1. Warn tourists about tactful behavior and appropriate clothing when visiting a religious complex.

2. Preparation for understanding of the complex should begin on the way to it. Therefore, please describe the personality of Imam Al- Bukhari and the essence of his teachings on the way to the complex. Do not exceed 15 minutes.

3. During a panoramic observation of the complex show three architectural objects – the complex itself, the research center and the Hadith School.

4. Showing and describing the complex don’t exceed 20 - 25 minutes.

5. Tourists shall have at least 20 minutes for independent observation and shooting.

Compiled by: Grischenko I., a guide of the first category.

Translated by: Azarenko E., a guide of the first category.

Tourism development institute under the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Tourism Development

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