The Hadith, Excerpts – Martha Carlin

Sources:

For a topical index to the online Sahih Bukhari, see:
https://web.archive.org/web/20071218011309/http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/

There is another copy of the index at:
http://www.bcchapel.org/resource/Islam/Hadith%20Index.html

The Hadith

The Qur’an is the most important revelation in Islam, but it is supplemented by the sunna. The sunna means the “way” of the prophet Muhammad and consists of the prophecies, acts, and sayings of Muhammad not recorded in the Qur’an. The hadith, or “traditions,” are written records of the sunna. Although written long after the death of Muhammad, the hadith narrate Muhammad’s exact words and deeds, the person who witnessed them, and sometimes how they were transmitted to posterity. Every hadith thus consists of the isnad, or the “chain of guarantors,” and the matn, or the actual text. Together the Qur’an and the hadith form the basis of the Shariah, or divine law. The following excerpts are taken from the hadith of Bukhari (full name Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin al-Mughira al-Ja’fai), who lived two centuries after Muhammad. It describes the “five pillars” of Islam.

Introduction to Translation of Sahih Bukhari (Translator: M. Muhsin Khan)

Sahih Bukhari is a collection of sayings and deeds of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), also known as the sunnah. The reports of the Prophet’s sayings and deeds are called ahadith. Bukhari lived a couple of centuries after the Prophet’s death and worked extremely hard to collect his ahadith. Each report in his collection was checked for compatibility with the Qur’an, and the veracity of the chain of reporters had to be painstakingly established. Bukhari’s collection is recognized by the overwhelming majority of the Muslim world to be one of the most authentic collections of the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh).

Bukhari (full name Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin al-Mughira al-Ja’fai) was born in 194 A.H. and died in 256 A.H. His collection of hadith is considered second to none. He spent sixteen years compiling it, and ended up with 2,602 hadith (9,082 with repetition). His criteria for acceptance into the collection were amongst the most stringent of all the scholars of ahadith.

It is important to realize, however, that Bukhari’s collection is not complete: there are other scholars who worked as Bukhari did and collected other authentic reports.

Sahih Bukhari: Volume 1, Book 2, Number 7 (Belief: The 5 Pillars of Islam):

Narrated Ibn ‘Umar:

Allah’s Apostle said: Islam is based on (the following) five (principles):

1. To testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and Muhammad is Allah’s Apostle.

2. To offer the (compulsory congregational) prayers dutifully and perfectly.

3. To pay Zakat (i.e. obligatory charity) .

4. To perform Hajj. (i.e. Pilgrimage to Mecca)

5. To observe fast during the month of Ramadan.

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 34 (On Sales and Trade, excerpts):

Volume 3, Book 34, Number 264:

Narrated Ibrahim bin Sad from his father from his grand-father:

Abdur Rahman bin Auf said, “When we came to Medina as emigrants, Allah’s Apostle established a bond of brotherhood between me and Sad bin Ar-Rabi’. Sad bin Ar-Rabi’ said (to me), ‘I am the richest among the Ansar, so I will give you half of my wealth and you may look at my two wives and whichever of the two you may choose I will divorce her, and when she has completed the prescribed period (before marriage) you may marry her.’ Abdur-Rahman replied, “I am not in need of all that. Is there any market-place where trade is practiced?’ He replied, “The market of Qainuqa.” Abdur-Rahman went to that market the following day and brought some dried butter-milk (yogurt) and butter, and then he continued going there regularly. Few days later, ‘AbdurRahman came having traces of yellow (scent) on his body. Allah’s Apostle asked him whether he had got married. He replied in the affirmative. The Prophet said, ‘Whom have you married?’ He replied, ‘A woman from the Ansar.’ Then the Prophet asked, ‘How much did you pay her?’ He replied, ‘(I gave her) a gold piece equal in weigh to a date stone (or a date stone of gold)! The Prophet said, ‘Give a Walima (wedding banquet) even if with one sheep .’ “

Volume 3, Book 34, Number 276:

Narrated Abu Al-Minhal:

I used to practice money exchange, and I asked Zaid bin ‘Arqam about it, and he narrated what the Prophet said in the following: Abu Al-Minhal said, “I asked Al-Bara’ bin ‘Azib and Zaid bin Arqam about practicing money exchange. They replied, ‘We were traders in the time of Allah’s Apostle and I asked Allah’s Apostle about money exchange. He replied, ‘If it is from hand to hand, there is no harm in it; otherwise it is not permissible.”

Volume 3, Book 34, Number 283:

Narrated Qatada:

Anas went to the Prophet with barley bread having some dissolved fat on it. The Prophet had mortgaged his armor to a Jew in Medina and took from him some barley for his family. Anas heard him saying, “The household of Muhammad did not possess even a single Sa of wheat or food grains for the evening meal, although he has nine wives to look after.” (See Hadith No. 685)

Volume 3, Book 34, Number 284:

Narrated ‘Aisha:

When Abu Bakr As-Siddiq was chosen Caliph, he said, “My people know that my profession was not incapable of providing substance to my family. And as I will be busy serving the Muslim nation, my family will eat from the National Treasury of Muslims, and I will practise the profession of serving the Muslims.”

Volume 3, Book 34, Number 285:

Narrated Aisha:

The companions of Allah’s Apostle used to practise manual labor, so their sweat used to smell, and they were advised to take a bath.

Volume 3, Book 34, Number 286:

Narrated Al-Miqdam:

The Prophet said, “Nobody has ever eaten a better meal than that which one has earned by working with one’s own hands. The Prophet of Allah, David used to eat from the earnings of his manual labor.”
Volume 3, Book 34, Number 299:

Narrated ‘Aun bin Abu Juhaifa:

My father bought a slave who practiced the profession of cupping. (My father broke the slave’s instruments of cupping). I asked my father why he had done so. He replied, “The Prophet forbade the acceptance of the price of a dog or blood, and also forbade the profession of tattooing, getting tattooed and receiving or giving Riba, (usury), and cursed the picture-makers.”

Volume 3, Book 34, Number 300:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “The swearing (by the seller) may persuade the buyer to purchase the goods but that will be deprived of Allah’s blessing.”

Volume 3, Book 34, Number 305:

Narrated Ishaq bin ‘Abdullah bin Abu Talha:

I heard Anas bin Malik saying, “A tailor invited Allah’s Apostle to a meal which he had prepared. ” Anas bin Malik said, “I accompanied Allah’s Apostle to that meal. He served the Prophet with bread and soup made with gourd and dried meat. I saw the Prophet taking the pieces of gourd from the dish.” Anas added, “Since that day I have continued to like gourd.”

Volume 3, Book 34, Number 306:

Narrated Abu Hazim:

I heard Sahl bin Sad saying, “A woman brought a Burda (i.e. a square piece of cloth having edging). I asked, ‘Do you know what a Burda is?’ They replied in the affirmative and said, “It is a cloth sheet with woven margins.” Sahl went on, “She addressed the Prophet and said, ‘I have woven it with my hands for you to wear.’ The Prophet took it as he was in need of it, and came to us wearing it as a waist sheet. One of us said, ‘O Allah’s Apostle! Give it to me to wear.’ The Prophet agreed to give it to him. The Prophet sat with the people for a while and then returned (home), wrapped that waist sheet and sent it to him. The people said to that man, ‘You haven’t done well by asking him for it when you know that he never turns down anybody’s request.’ The man replied, ‘By Allah, I have not asked him for it except to use it as my shroud when I die.” Sahl added; “Later it (i.e. that sheet) was his shroud.”