Rubaiyat wa Thumaniyat al-Imam al-Bukhari
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- Editions
- Printed at the expense of Uncle Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Faris, may Allah grant him abundant reward
Rubaiyat wa Thumaniyat al-Imam al-Bukhari (The Four- and Eight-Narrator Chains of Imam al-Bukhari) is a hadith reference work compiled by Abd Allah ibn Ali al-Azab that collects the four-, eight-, and nine-narrator chains of transmission found in Sahih al-Bukhari.
Background and Purpose
Scholars historically gave special attention to high chains of transmission (al-isnad al-'ali), such as the three-narrator transmissions (thulathiyyat) assembled by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and others. Al-Azab compiled this collection to bring together relatively elevated chains (al-'ali al-nisbi), represented by four-narrator reports (rubaiyat), alongside the lower chains (al-isnad al-nazil), represented by eight-narrator (thumaniyat) and nine-narrator (tusa'iyyat) reports, in order to facilitate their study by students of hadith. The compiler completed the work on 27 Ramadan 1440 AH (May 31, 2019 CE).
Structure and Contents
The work encompasses a comprehensive survey of Sahih al-Bukhari and contains:
- Four-narrator chains (rubaiyat): 1,360 hadiths containing four intermediaries between the author and the Prophet ﷺ.
- Eight-narrator chains (thumaniyat): 14 hadiths containing eight intermediaries.
- Nine-narrator chain (tusa'i): A single hadith (no. 7135 in the Book of Tribulations, chapter on Gog and Magog), placed at the end of the book, which is the only nine-narrator chain in Sahih al-Bukhari.
Method and Features
The author adopts the numbering of the Bulaq Ottoman edition based on the Yunini recension (al-Nuskha al-Yuniniyyah). Marginal footnotes provide analytical observations on transmission paths (lata'if isnadiyyah) and commentary from classical authorities.
The introduction outlines several critical principles for navigating ambiguous narrator names in Sahih al-Bukhari:
- Distinguishing between Sufyan al-Thawri and Sufyan ibn Uyaynah when the name "Sufyan" appears without a patronymic, determined by the identity of the student transmitting from him (e.g., transmissions from Abu Nu'aym al-Fadl ibn Dukayn, Qabisah ibn Uqbah, and Yahya al-Qattan designate al-Thawri, whereas transmissions from Ali ibn al-Madini, al-Humaydi, and Qutayba ibn Sa'id designate Ibn Uyaynah).
- Clarifying that any narrator named Qutayba in the Six Books refers exclusively to Qutayba ibn Sa'id.
- Noting that among Bukhari's teachers named Adam, the reference is solely to Adam ibn Abi Iyas.
Publication
The book was reviewed and commended by Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd al-Hamid al-Faris. It was published in Riyadh in 1441 AH (2019/2020 CE) as a single volume of 452 pages, printed at the expense of Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Faris.
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