Concise Commentaries on Saheeh al-Bukhari

The
commentaries on Saheeh al-Bukhari are many and varied. For the most part
they are written for specialists and are difficult to understand for those
who are not specialized in the study of shar’i (Islamic legal) sciences. The
reason for that is that it is difficult to understand the way in which al-Bukhari
compiled his Saheeh, because he often paid attention to the number of
isnaads (chains of narration) and he repeated hadeeths (narrations) and
included many chapter headings, which may confuse both the ordinary reader
and the scholar.  

Hence
the great scholar Ahmad ibn Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Lateef al-Zubaydi (893 AH)
summarized Saheeh al-Bukhari, omitting repeated isnaads and reports, and he
called his summary al-Tajreed al-Sareeh li Ahaadeeth al-Jaami’ al-Saheeh.
This has been printed in an edition edited by Ibraaheem Barakah, with a
brief commentary on these ahaadeeth (reports). 

If a
non-specialist wants to read Saheeh al-Bukhari, he should read al-Zubaydi’s
abridgement of it, and then try to understand the ahaadeeth in it by means
of various commentaries, among the easiest of which are the following: 

1-

I’laam al-Sunan by al-‘Allaamah al-Khattaabi (388 AH), which is a brief
commentary on the Saheeh. 

2-

Haashiyat al-‘Allaamah al-Sindi ‘ala Saheeh al-Bukhari, which is a very
brief but beneficial commentary. 

3-

‘Awn
al-Baari Sharh Tajreed al-Sareeh by Siddeeq Hasan Khan (1307 AH), which is a
commentary on al-Zubaydi’s abridgement, which he based on Fath al-Baari, so
it is like a summary thereof. 

These
commentaries are amongst the shortest and easiest commentaries on al-Saheeh.
They deal with the meanings of the words and expressions used, and the
meanings of the hadeeth, and they do not deal with the isnaads and
problematic issues and subtleties. They are not difficult to read for most
people, although they sometimes indulge in discussing some linguistic
details and so on. The reader should overlook whatever he finds difficult to
understand. 

But
it is the best of these commentaries for the non-specialist, and he can also
make use of some verbal commentaries on these books, such as that by Shaykh
Muhammad ibn Salih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) on al-Saheeh,
and the commentary of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Kareem al-Khudayr (may Allah preserve
him) on the abridgment by al-Zubaydi. 

We
ask Allah to make the book easy for the ordinary Muslim who reads it, and to
benefit more people by means of it. 

For
more information on Saheeh al-Imam al-Bukhari and its author, please see
questions no.

20153 and

21523. 

And Allah knows best.