The Motive that Prompted Imām al-Bukhārī to Compile His Work
Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar, in the introduction to his Fatḥ al-Bārī, records three reasons that moved Imām al-Bukhārī—may Allah have mercy on him—to compose his al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥīḥ:
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He noticed that the collections written before his time, by the way they were arranged, lumped together reports that warranted grading as sound or fair with many that were decidedly weak; the worthless was not distinguished from the wholesome. This stirred his determination to gather only those hadiths whose authenticity admitted no doubt.
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His resolve was further strengthened by something he heard from his teacher, the Commander of the Faithful in ḥadīth and fiqh, Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥanẓalī—better known as Ibn Rāhawayh. Ibn Ḥajar transmits with an authentic chain that he said: “We were in the presence of Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh when he remarked, ‘If only you would compile a concise book consisting solely of the sound Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah…’ ”