Introduction to Bukhari

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the name of Allah, the most merciful the most kind

Imam Bukhari begins his book by doing tasmiyyah. Ibn Hajar Asqalani discusses the permissibility of Imam Bukhari beginning his book with tasmiyyah, without doing hamd or shahadah, as comes in the hadith‏‏(كل أمر ذي بال لا يبدأ فيه‏ بالحمد لله فهو أقطع) ‏, that any matter of importance which is not begun with hamd (praising Allah) remains defective[1]. Saharanpuri mentions a few reasons in support of dropping the hamd, some of which include; that hamd is only a condition of beginning khutba, that the hadith has been made mansukh, the first ayat which were revealed (اقرأ[2] and يا أيها المدثر)[3]) did not include the hamd. ٍFurthermore it established that the Prophet ﷺ sent letters to many rulers[4] and these did not start with hamd but rather tasmiyyah only. Some commentators of Bukhari mention that the hadith does not require the particular words, rather the remembrance of Allah is sufficient. By bringing Hadith al-niyyah (Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 1) first Imam Bukhari indicates that when doing anything of value it should be done with the remembrance of Allah. Hence in a manner with the hadith al-niyyah Imam Bukhari fulfils the rights of tasmiyyah, and hamd. 

[1] Abu Dawud 1394

[2] Quran 96:1

[3] Quran 74:1

[4] Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 6,