The Extent of His Meticulous Care in Compiling It:
Al-Bukhārī—may Allah have mercy on him—left no effort unspent in crafting this monumental work. The depth of that diligence is clear from what scholars have transmitted about him. Al-Farabrī relates that he said, “I never placed a single hadith in my Sahih without first performing a full ritual bath and praying two rakʿas.” ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad al-Baḥīrī reports that he said, “I did not insert a hadith into it—meaning the Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥīḥ—until I had sought Allah’s guidance through istikhāra (prayer for guidance), prayed two rakʿas, and become certain of its authenticity.” And ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Rasāyīn al-Bukhārī transmits that he said, “I compiled my Sahih over sixteen years, selecting it from six hundred thousand hadiths, and I have made it a proof between myself and Allah, Exalted is He.”