al-Daghulī (1) said: The people of Baghdad once wrote to al-Bukhārī (2):

“The Muslims thrive so long as you live among them;
once you are gone, no good remains when you are missed.”

al-Fallās (3) said: “Any report unknown to al-Bukhārī is no ḥadīth at all.”

Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād said: “He is the jurist of this ummah” (4)—a judgment likewise voiced by Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm al-Dawraqī (5). Some even deemed him, in both fiqh and ḥadīth, superior to Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and to Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh (6).

Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd said: “Students have journeyed to me from the farthest East and West, yet none who ever came was the equal of Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī.” (7)

Murajjā ibn Rajāʾ (8) said: “Al-Bukhārī’s pre-eminence over the scholars of his age is like the superiority of men over women,” and he added, “He is a sign from among the signs of Allah, walking upon the earth.”

Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dārimī said: “Among us, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī is the most versed in jurisprudence, the most knowledgeable, the deepest researcher, and the most tireless seeker.” (9)

Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh said: “His insight surpasses mine.” (10)

Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī said: “Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl is the most learned person ever to enter Iraq.” (11)

ʿUbayd al-ʿAjlī (12) said: “I saw Abū Ḥātim and Abū Zurʿah sitting before him, listening attentively to what he said. Muslim did not reach his level. He was more knowledgeable than Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Dhuhlī in various fields, and he was devout, virtuous, and proficient in everything.”

Another narrated: “I saw Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Dhuhlī consulting al-Bukhārī about personal names, kunyas, and hidden defects in ḥadīth.”