بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the name of Allāh, the Most Merciful, the Most Kind.
Imām al-Bukhārī begins his book by performing the tasmiyah. Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī discusses the permissibility of opening the book with the tasmiyah alone, without ḥamd or shahādah, given the ḥadīth ﴿كل أمر ذي بال لا يبدأ فيه بالحمد لله فهو أقطع﴾, which says that any matter of importance not begun with ḥamd (the praise of Allāh) remains defective.1
Saharanpūrī notes several reasons that may support dropping the ḥamd: that ḥamd is only a condition for beginning a khuṭbah; that the ḥadīth in question has been rendered mansūkh; and that the first āyāt revealed (اقرأ2 and يا أيها المدثر3) did not begin with ḥamd. The Prophet ﷺ also sent letters to many rulers,4 and these did not start with ḥamd, but with the tasmiyah only. Some commentators on al-Bukhārī add that the ḥadīth does not require these particular words; the remembrance of Allāh is sufficient.
By bringing the ḥadīth al-niyyah (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī ḥadīth 1) first, Imām al-Bukhārī indicates that any matter of value is to be undertaken with the remembrance of Allāh. The ḥadīth al-niyyah thereby fulfils the rights of both the tasmiyah and the ḥamd.
The opening ḥadīth of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, narrated by ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb, on the principle that deeds are judged by their intentions, with notes on the Bukhārī isnād.
The opening chapter of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: why Imām al-Bukhārī begins with revelation, the meaning of waḥy, and the forms it takes.
How Imām al-Bukhārī came to compile his Ṣaḥīḥ: its name, scope, method of writing, places of authorship, and the principal commentaries upon it.
Ibn Ḥajar's nine views on the fate of the children of the mushrikīn who die before reaching the age of accountability.
