The Narrations of Sufyānaīn in Shahīh al-Bukhārī

Abstract

Indubitably, Sahīh al-Bukhārī considers one of the most authentic books in the hadith literature due to the methodology of Imām al-Bukhārī (d. 256/870) in the collection of hadith because he narrated ahādīth from those narrators that credited with trustworthy from hadith scrutinizers. Sufyān al-Thawrī (d. 161/777) and Sufyān b. Uyaynah (d. 198/813) are among those narrators that graded trustworthy and reliable. Most of the al-Bukhārī teachers gained their knowledge of hadith and its sciences from both of them. Therefore, they have a massive number of ahādīth in Sahīh al-Bukhārī. It is noticed that the students of Sufyān al-Thawrī and Ibn Uyaynah usually refer to them on their names, which is helpful in the access to their narrations. However, there are a certain number of narrations in Sahāh al-Bukhārī that ascribed to Sufyān, and there is not any clue that whether these narrations belong to Sufyān al-Thawrī or Sufyān b. Uyaynah. A general conclusion grown-out of the historical position of both narrators that Sufyān al-Thawrī is the preceptor of Sufyān b. Uyaynah. Hence whenever there are two intermediaries among al-Bukhārī and Sufyān, it would be al-Thawrī, and whenever there is one narrator between al-Bukhārī and Sufyān, it would be Ibn Uyaynah. The study focused on the five hundred and seventy-eight (578) ahādīth in Sahīh al-Bukhārī that narrated through fourteen (14) narrators from Sufyān al-Thawrī or Ibn Uyaynah and those narrators referred to their source in sanad on Sufyān only. Consequently, the study analyzed the general conclusion about both narrators as well as revealed that how many ahādīth narrated through every narrator from Sufyān al-Thawrī and Ibn Uyaynah. Similarly, the Study concluded the way of differentiation between the narrations of both narrators and accumulated the ahādīth belong to Sufyān al-Thawrī, and the ahādīth belong to his student Ibn Uyaynah in Sahīh al-Bukhārī.