Imam al-Bukhari
The Lineage of Imam al-Bukhari
...
Imam al-Bukhari and His Book al-Jamiʿ al-Sahih
By Shaykh ʿAbd al-Muhsin al-ʿAbbad
Lecturer, College of Sharia, the University

The Lineage of Imam al-Bukhari:
He is Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Mughirah ibn Bardizbah al-Juʿfi. Concerning his forefather Bardizbah, his name is vocalized with a fathah on the first bāʾ, a sukūn on the rāʾ, a kasrah on the dāl, a sukūn on the zāy, a fathah on the second bāʾ, followed by a hāʾ. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said: “This is the well-known pronunciation. In Persian, Bardizbah means ‘the farmer,’ as the people of Bukhara relate. Bardizbah was a Persian who followed the religion of his people.”

His grandfather al-Mughirah, son of Bardizbah, accepted Islam at the hands of Yaman al-Bukhari, the governor of Bukhara, who belonged to the Juʿfi tribe. Al-Mughirah was therefore attributed to him, for he was his patron in the higher sense, in line with the view that whoever embraces Islam through someone becomes his client.

As for his grandfather Ibrahim, al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar remarked that he found no information about him.

His father Ismaʿil was given a biographical entry by Ibn Hibban in al-Thiqat, who wrote: “Ismaʿil ibn Ibrahim, the father of al-Bukhari, transmitted from Hammad ibn Zayd and Malik, and the scholars of Iraq narrated from him.” Al-Hafiz also recorded his biography in Tahdhib al-Tahdhib.