ABOUT THE BOOK
 
Fath al-Bari bi Sharah Sahih al-Bukhari,is the most valued sunni commentary of Sahih Al-Bukhari, written by Ibn Hajar Al-asqalani 8/9th Century Hijri.
 
‘Abd al-Hayy ibn ‘Abd al-Kabir al-Kattani said: “When the author of al-Hittah quoted Ibn Khaldun as saying that the explanation of Sahih al-Bukhari is a debt upon the Muslim nation, he said, ‘This debt has been fulfilled by the explanation of al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar.’ For that reason, when it was suggested to Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Shawkani, that he write an explanation of al-Jami’ al-Sahih by al-Bukhari just as others have, he responded, "There is no migration after al-Fath," referring to Fath al-Bari.
 
The importance of this literature may be gauged by the fact that at least seventy full commentaries have been written on Imam al-Bukhari’s great Sahih... the most celebrated of which is without question the magnificent Fath al-Bari by Imam Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, a work which was the crown both of its genre and of the Imam’s academic career.
 
It is appreciated by the ulema for the doctrinal soundness of its author, for its complete coverage of Bukhari’s material, its mastery of the relevant Arabic sciences, the wisdom it shows in drawing lessons (fawa’id) from the hadiths it expounds, and its skill in resolving complex disputes over variant readings.