Critical Studies to the Authority of Shahih Al-Bukhari as Source of Islamic Law

Abstract

This research analyzes about the authority of the hadiths in the Shahih al-Bukhari as the main source of determining Islamic law after the Qur'an. This research is intended to answer the following question, "How can the authority of the Shahih al-Bukhari be viewed from the perspective of historical, qaidah fiqh, and modern science?" This research is a library research which uses content analysis as a method of analyzing the data obtained. In addition, this study also uses comparative analysis to answer the problem of the authority of the hadith in Shahih al-Bukhari when viewed from the perspective of qaidah fiqh. The results of this study are: First, the book of Shahih al-Bukhari is known as the book of hadith with the highest level of validity if it compared to other hadith books. However, as a human work result, the book of Shahih al-Bukhari did not escape from various praise and criticism by its readers. Among the criticisms made by the hadith scholars, there were things that the author did not agree with regarding al-Bukhari's closeness to the kings/chaliphs of the Islamic daulah at the time. On the other hand, the author argues that al-Bukhari is in an opposite position to the religious understanding held by the kings. However, on the other hand, the writer also indicated that the compilation of the book Shahih al-Bukhari was a work that could not be separated from the influence of the political atmosphere at that time. Second, in the book Shahih al-Bukhari there are hadiths whose it's redaction contradicts with a higher text - namely the text of the Qur'an - and modern science, therefore a re-research on the authenticity of these hadiths should be done. Third, as a result of al-Bukhari's ijtihad in the field of authenticity of hadith as well as in the field of fiqh, the book of Shahih al-Bukhari should be treated equally with the books written by other imams as long as the hadiths contained in the other books are recognized as hadiths from the Holy Prophet.