Suspended narrations (taʿlīqāt) in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī

A taʿlīq is the omission of one or more transmitters from the beginning of the isnād, even if the omission extends all the way to the end of the chain. Such suspensions occur frequently in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, whereas in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim they are extremely rare.

To reconnect al-Bukhārī’s taʿlīqāt, Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar authored a work entitled Taʿlīq al-Taʿlīq. He later produced an abridgement of that book in the introduction to Fatḥ al-Bārī, in a lengthy section where he listed the suspended marfūʿ narrations, pointed out who supplied their complete chains, and did likewise for corroborating reports because they share the same legal status. At the beginning of that section he writes:

“I have laid all of this out at length in a sizeable composition that I named Taʿlīq al-Taʿlīq. In it I recorded all of his marfūʿ ḥadiths and mawqūf reports and identified those who reconnected them, tracing my own isnāds to the point at which the chain had been suspended. The result was an extensive, comprehensive book.”

He continues, “I know of no one who has attempted to compose a work on this subject.”

At the close of the chapter, after listing the last of the suspended marfūʿ narrations found in the Ṣaḥīḥ, he says:

“I have indicated where al-Bukhārī himself restored the chain elsewhere within his book, and where he did so in works of his outside the Ṣaḥīḥ I have also pointed that out. As for chains we could not trace through him, I have shown which of the leading scholars, in their compilations, provided the link up to the authority from whom he suspended it.”

May Allah have mercy on him; that is the end of his statement.

In summary, the ruling concerning these taʿlīqāt is that those introduced in an assertive form—such as “He said …”—