Revising the Publications of Sahīh al-Bukhārī in the Example of Mehmed Zihni Efendi

Abstract: The first publication of Bukhārī’s al-Jāmi‘ al-sahīh in the Islamic world was in India in 1270/1853. However, the most famous and acknowledged edition of it was carried out by al-Azharī scholars in Egypt in 1313/1896 with the instruction of Sultan Abdul Hamid (d. 1918). Just after this publication, Mehmed Zihni Efendi (d. 1913) published Sahīh’s first edition in Istanbul. In these editions, the famous Yūnīnī version of Sahīh was used in Istanbul. As is generally well-known by scholars of hadīth, while putting his copy at the center of his transmission, Alī b. Muhammad al-Yūnīnī (d. 701/1302) demonstrated the differences of the other four versions of Sahīh in the text and in the footnotes of the text. The four copies are Asīlī (d. 392/1002), Abū Zar (d. 434/1043), Ibn Asākir (d. 571/1176), and Sam‘ānī (d. 562/1167). Despite the use of the Yūnīnī’s copy in the both the editions, there are some differences between them. While Azharī scholars have published the Yūnīnī’s copy as main text and footnotes, Mehmed Zihni Efendi has published only the main text, which is close to the modern edition approach. However, there are differences between them in terms of the main text. While the Azharī scholars have published the main text with minor corrections, Mehmed Zihni Efendi, on the other hand, has taken Kastallānī’s (d. 923/1517) commentary of al-Jāmi‘ al-Sahīh into consideration and made major corrections in his copy. Though Kastallānī’s commentary is based on Yūnūnī’s copy, there are some differences between the main text and its commentary because of the preferences of Kastallānī. The main reason for the differences is that Kastallānī highlighted some of the expressions of the different copies as the main text. These preferences, which are usually influenced by Ibn Hajar (d. 852/1449), are the most important factor in the edition of Zihni Efendi’s text and the Sahīh text added to the first Bukhārī commentaries published in the Islamic world. The main text of the Azharī scholars’ edition is used in contemporary al-Sahīh al-Bukhārī prints and its commentaries