Sahih Al-Bukhari… The End of a Legend

Sahih Al-Bukhari… The End of a Legend is a 217 book written by Rachid Aylal whereby he espouses the notion that Sahih Bukhari, a central canonical text of Sunnism is extraneous to the Quran since it came many centuries after it. By making this claim, Aylal argues in favor of the Ahle Quran creed which discards hadith, against the mainstream Sunni belief that views the hadiths as central to the Islamic faith.

Due to the controversial nature of the book, it was banned with the justification that it would disturb the spiritual security of Morocco, purportedly due to pressure from Islamist. Aylal responded by claiming that this ruling stemming from a constitutional guideline is used by the Ministry of Endowments to solely protect the spiritual security of Sunnis, whilst non-Sunnis do not get the same deference. Aylal also attempts to demerit Bukhari by suggesting that the individual his work is meant to approbate, prophet Muhammad, himself rejected the notion of writing down hadith in the teachings of Al-Darimi, the teacher of Bukhari in the phrase "Do not write anything about me except what is in the Quran, and whoever wrote something about me shall erase it". Aylal further suggests that other figures approbated by Bukhari, such as Omar ibn al Khattab similarly held objectionable views of writing down hadiths. As such, Aylal's argument against hadiths are centered both on time-frame (the length between the Quran and publishing of hadith), the notion of it being self-refuting,[1] as well as the logically and morally objectionable content, such as racism.[2] The Moroccan court based in Marakesh which banned the book also banned Kama Sutra, orders which were inclined by the city's governor. The book ban was followed by a barring order on Aylal's book signing event. Aylal has also claimed to have received death threats upon attempting to publish it.[3]