Al-Bukhari distorts his opponents

Question:

Did Al-Bukhari tend to corrupt those narrators, whom he disliked?

Answer:

Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Adh-Dhahabi writes:

“Muhammad Ibn Yahya Ibn Abdillah Ibn Khalid Ibn Faris Ibn Dhu’ayyib, is the Imam, the great scholar, the preserver, the competent, the scholar of Islam, the scholar of the people of the East and the Imam of the people of the tradition in Khorasan, Abu Abdillah Adh-Dhahali, their master, who is from Naisabur.” [Siyar A’lam An-Nubala’, Volume 12 page 273]

محمد بن يحيى بن عبد الله بن خالد بن فارس بن ذؤيب الامام العلامة الحافظ البارع, شيخ الاسلام وعالم أهل المشرق وإمام أهل الحديث بخراسان أبو عبد الله الذهلي مولاهم, النيسابوري

“About him are reports from the people who belong to the Imams, such as Sa’id Ibn Abi Mariam, Abu Ja’far An-Nufaili, Abdullah Ibn Salih, Amr Ibn Khalid, among its scholars are, Mahmud Ibn Ghailan, Muhammad Ibn Sahl Ibn Askar and Muhammad Ibn Isma’il Al-Bukhari, who distorted him in numerous ways. He does not say “Muhammad Ibn Yahya”, he only says “Muhammad” or “Muhammad Ibn Khalid” or “Muhammad Ibn Abdillah” and claims that the grandfather is his father and he distorts his name because of an incident between the two, may God forgive them.” [Siyar A’lam An-Nubala’, Volume 12 Page 274 – 275]

روى عنه خلائق، منهم الائمة سعيد بن أبي مريم، وأبو جعفر النفيلي، وعبد الله بن صالح، وعمرو بن خالد – وهؤلاء من شيوخه – ومحمود بن غيلان، ومحمد بن سهل بن عسكر، ومحمد بن إسماعيل البخاري ويدلسه كثيرا، لا يقول: محمد بن يحيى، بل يقول: محمد فقط، أو محمد بن خالد، أو محمد بن عبد الله ينسبه إلى الجد، ويعمي اسمه لمكان الواقع بينهما، غفر الله لهما

“Adh-Dhahali used to adhere strictly to the Sunnah. He opposed Muhammad Ibn Isma’il Al-Bukhari because he pointed out with regard to the creation of the servants, that the reciters reading of the Qur’an is created. As a result, it erupted with no clarity and this fact is amongst the most obvious. However, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Abu Zur’ah and Adh-Dhahali refused to research this matter because of the magnitude of expressions used by the linguists to close the objection and they did well. May God grant them a good reward. Ibn Isma’il left Naisabur without being noticed and was hurt by the act of Muhammad Ibn Yahya. The criticism of the great later scholars with a few of them among the few alone does not break him and this was already mentioned in the evaluation of Ibn Isma’il, May God be merciful to all and forgive them and us, amen!” [Siyar A’lam An-Nubala’, Volume 12 Page 284 – 285]

كان الذهلي شديد التمسك بالسنة، قام على محمد بن إسماعيل لكونه أشار في مسألة خلق العباد إلى أن تلفظ القارئ بالقرآن مخلوق، فلوح وما صرح والحق أوضح ولكن أبى البحث في ذلك أحمد بن حنبل، وأبو زرعة، والذهلي والتوسع في عبارات المتكلمين سدا للذريعة فأحسنوا، أحسن الله جزاءهم وسافر ابن اسماعيل مختفيا من نيسابور وتألم من فعل محمد بن يحيى وما زال كلام الكبار المتعاصرين بعضهم في بعض لا يلوى عليه بمفرده وقد سقت ذلك في ترجمة ابن إسماعيل رحم الله الجميع وغفر لهم ولنا آمين