Biography of Imam Bukhari - Shaykh Dr. Samer al Nass
One of the most remarkable manifestations of
Allah's
Protection is the
Muslim tradition of riwaya, or, narration. It is the oral tradition by which the words of the
Holy Qur'an are preserved, from generation to generation, back to the
Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, and the
Prophet Muhammad (saws) himself.
The riwaya tradition extends beyond the Holy Qur'an to encompass many other important Islamic traditions and sources of knowledge, most notably, the Hadith of the
Blessed Prophet (saws). Through a meticulous, scholarly tradition, our ulama have preserved the sayings of the Prophet, as narrated by the Companions, then the Successors, and so on, until today.
The riyawa tradition is essential to the preservation of
Islam and its magnificent edifice. As the
Beloved Messenger (saws) himself said: "
Give news of me, even if but a verse of the Quran." In another tradition: "For perhaps the listener will be even more capable of understanding than the narrator." Riwaya, therefore, preserves the sacred sources of knowledge in their purity, unembellished, for future generations, who may be more capable than us.
Throughout the Muslim heartland, the narration of
Hadith collections is commonplace amongst all groups in society, from scholars, who seek license in the text being narrated for teaching purposes, to laypeople, who seek to bask in the wonder of the eloquent speech of our leader and master teacher,
Muhammad (saws). Riwaya in some places was used to ward off harm and difficulty. And it preserves our tradition for our children and grandchildren.
One of the greatest Hadith collections of all is
Sahih al-Bukhari, as its commonly known in amongst Muslims. Its true title is al-Jaami’ al-Sahih al-Musnad al-Mukhtasar min Umur
Rasool Allah wa sunanihi wa Ayyamihi, The Abridged
Collection of
Authentic Hadith with
Connected Chains regarding
Matters Pertaining to the Prophet, His Practices and His
Times. It was compiled by
Muhammad al-Bukhari, whose extremely high standard and faithful scholarship produced what many scholars have called, "The most authentic text after the
Book of Allah."
Shaykh
Samer Al-Nass was born in
Damascus, Syria, where he studied at the
College of Medicine of the
University of Damascus. He went on to study in the
United States where he qualified in internal medicine.
The Shaykh has studied under some of the great ‘ulama of the Levant (
Shaam) and the
Arabian peninsula. He has a traditional licenses to teach (ijazah) in the ten styles of recitation of the narration of the Shatibiyyah and the
Durra from the world-renowned Shaykh Muhammad Sukkar. He received an ijazah in the ten styles of recitation of the narration of Tayyibah from the
Egyptian Shaykh Ahmad Mustafa in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, himself a student of Shaykh
Abd al-Aziz al-Zayyat of
Egypt. Shaykh Samer has a traditional license to teach (ijazah) in
Islamic law (fiqh) and theology and creed (‘aqida) from Shaykh
Lutfi al-Fayumi and the late Hanafi Mufti, Shaykh Adib al-Kallas. He also studied with the previous Mufti of
Syria, Shaykh Abu Yusr
Ibn `Abidin. Shaykh Samer was honoured to study hadith in
Mecca with the great Indonesian-Meccan
Shaykh Yasin al-Fadani, and with Shaykh Nur ud-din `Itr of Syria. He also has an ijazah in
Prophetic traditions (hadith) from the late Shaykh `
Abd Allah Siraj al-Din of
Aleppo, Syria.
Shaykh Samer is presently a teacher at
Ma'had al-Fatih al-Islami in
Damascus, teaching the Hanafi fiqh manual Al-Hidayah in the department of
Islamic Law (Shariah), and lecturer on the ten recitations of the Qur’an in the MA program. The Shaykh teaches Qur’anic recitation (tajwid) after fajr prayers daily in the blessed mosque of Shaykh
Ibn `Arabi, a post given to him by his Shaykh and father-in-law, one of the illustrious Shaykhs of Quran in the Levant (
Sham), the late Shaykh Muhammad Sukkar. Shaykh Samer has been teaching at various
Islamic studies intensive courses in
England and
North America since
2000.