The Great History is a book by ninth-century Islamic scholar Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari

Muhammad al-Bukhari

Muhammad Ibn Ismail Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Mughirah Ibn Bardizbah al-Bukhari , popularly known as Bukhari or Imam Bukhari, , was a Sunni Islamic scholar of Persia...

 in the field of biographical evaluation.

Overview

Bukhari authored this work when he was 18 years of age. He compiled the names and biographies of many of those who narrated hadith

Hadith

The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....

 from the time of the Companions

Sahaba

In Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...

 until his time. The total number of biographies included is close to 40 thousand, including both men and women, reliable and unreliable narrators. However, al-Hakim

Hakim al-Nishaburi

Abu Abd-Allah Muhammad ibn Abd-Allah al-Hakim al-Nishaburi , and also known as Ibn Al-Baiyi.) was a Sunni scholar and the leading traditionist of his age, frequently referred to as the "Imam of the Muhaddithin" or the "Muhaddith of Khorasan."-Biography:Al-Hakim, who hailed from Nishapur, had vast...

enumerated the weak narrators of that total number and they were not more than 126 individuals.

Bukhari also authored two other books of history, al-Tarikh al-Awsat (The Medium History) and al-Tarikh al-Saghir (The Small History).

Praise

Taj al-Subki praised The Great History, describing it as a book without precedent, to which latter scholars on the subject of names and paidonymics are indebted.