4th day - Memorial complex of Imam al

4th day - Memorial complex of Imam al - Bukhari

April 06, 2023

Memorial complex of Imam al-Buhkari

Hello dear!

Today we visited one of the most important and modern buildings of Bukhara, which is the museum of Imam al-Bukhari. Our trip was memorable and we gained new knowledge about it. Now I am going to share my impression and experience of todayʼs guided tour.

The Memorial Complex of Imam Al Bukhari is located in the northern section of the Samanid Park opposite the ancient Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum. It is a recent structure, as the museum established in 2001. It is a unique design, as it is shaped as a book which is partially open, with the spine facing south. Behind the book is the easily recognizable crescent moon symbol. There are star shaped designs on either side of the steps leading to the museum. The architect is Zoirsho Kilichev, and it is reported that he used bricks on the book to represent cells and ultimately hadiths collected by the famous Imam.

The museum is dedicated to the life of Imam Muhammad ibn Ismail al Bukhari, the outstanding researcher of Hadith and coryphaeus of the Islam theology.

Moreover, we learned about the life of al-Bukhari.

Muhammad al-Bukhari was born in Bukhara, and lived between 810-870. His father was a scholar of the hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad), and as a teeneger he started recording these sayings which were passed verbally at the time.

Al-Bukhari's fundamental work is "Al-Jome as Sahih," which is sacred in Islam after the Koran. To write this book the scholar had studied more than 600,000 hadiths (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). In the Muslim world, al-Bukhari is entitled to 'Amirul-muminin filhadith,' which from Arabic means the "Master of Hadith Scholarship."

Imam al-Bukhari's parents were well educated people. Abu Abdullakh Mukhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari (full name of Imam) from his childhood was smart and had a unique memory. At the age of seven he learned the Koran, and when Imam al-Bukhari was ten he knew from memory several thousand of hadiths (stories of Prophet Mukhammad's words and deeds).

Imam al-Bukhari devoted the whole of his life to gaining hadiths. He wrote 200 thousand of hadiths from his spiritual leaders and tutors. From this large quantity of hadiths (800 thousand) he joined the most reliable, they are 7275. These hadiths composed his book “Sahih al-Bukhari”, which became the most popular among the other collected works. This book is one of six main sunni collections of hadiths. Some theologians consider “Sahih al-Bukhari” the most reliable Islamic book after the Koran.

However Imam al-Bukhari down the stream of his life was often a victim of discord and conspiracies. As a result for 4 times he was banished from Bukhara. So, in the last years of his life he was bound to leave Bukhara and settle down in Khortang. Imam al-Bukhari went aloft in 870 and was buried in Khortang village, near Samarkand.