ALGIERS- For centuries, Algerians have been reading Sahih al-Bukhari annually through the country's mosques, especially the ancient ones, starting at the beginning of Rajab each year, and concluding with Laylat al-Qadr, which is believed to be the night of the 27th of the holy month of Ramadan.

Over time, this spiritual scientific event "Good Year" has become sponsored by government authorities, represented by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments, which annually supervises its launch and accompanies it to the conclusion with official protocols.

Witness to Bukhari's reading

With a great longing for a spiritual past, Sheikh Ali Aiya, a well-known imam at the Great Mosque of Algiers since 1973, recalls the special attention paid to reading Sahih al-Bukhari from other religious activities during the sixties and seventies.

In his account of his memories, he said – in an interview with Al Jazeera Net – that the readers of the correct Thloh at the time with high vigor, and they were originally from the "party" who keep reading the Quranic party roses collectively in mosques.

Sheikh Aya, a witness to the march of half a century of reading Sahih Al-Bukhari in Algeria (Al-Jazeera)

In a tone of nostalgia, the sheikh evoked the spiritual atmosphere, where readers washed and purified, and then adorned themselves in the best clothes, wearing authentic Algerian dress, as Muslims usually do on their religious holidays.

The rituals of the pioneers of the "Bukhari councils" did not differ from the imams, as they evoked the intention of worship, and eagerly accepted it between the noon and afternoon prayers, where they listened to it in serenity and reverence, as he described.

These councils weaved a strong fraternal bond with members of the Arab community from Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Iraq, where they continued to participate in Bukhari's circles, by virtue of their presence in Algeria as seconded to education, within the framework of the Arabization movement.

Algerian-Maghreb melody

Sheikh Aya revealed to us that the reading in his time was in an Algerian Maghreb melody, sometimes mixed with the Andalusian melody, taking into account the provisions of the tide and the cases of endowment, after reading the Holy Qur'an, and raising the call to prayer, in the Algerian way inherited centuries ago.

The reader sometimes stops to explain the difficult meanings on the fast, and then continues reading it alternately usually with 4 sheikhs, who take over the role of each other when moving from one door to another door, according to the famous division in the book of Bukhari.

The man is remembered by illustrious names of Algerian sheikhs, who were prominent figures of Bukhari's councils, such as the sheikhs: Abderrahmane Chaiban (minister of religious affairs), Boualem Baqi (minister in the same sector), Mohamed Charf, Abdelkader Boukaftan, Sheikh Belidi, Omar al-Assimi and others.

Algerians were keen on it, allocating a financial grant to these readers from endowment funds and donations from benefactors, because the imams at the time were not affiliated with the public service, according to the speaker's testimony.

In order to preserve this religious heritage, Sheikh Aiya appealed to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to transfer this event to the space of the "Great Mosque of Algiers" (the third largest mosque in the world), provided that it is carried out by senior sheikhs from the country's references, while using the heavy media to broadcast it live.

Successive generations. And reading is one

Despite the passage of time and the succession of generations, Algerians cling to the inheritance of their fathers and grandfathers, as Mourad Grouj, an imam in the province of Saida (490 km west of the capital), confirmed that her ancient mosque has remained since its establishment a beacon for reading and explaining Sahih al-Bukhari.

Qarrouj said in a statement to Al Jazeera Net, "If the month of Rajab enters the renewal of our mosques covenant with the year of the fathers, where the hadiths of Bukhari are recited between the call to prayer to the time of prayer, which reflects the strong spiritual link to the community with the healthiest book after the book of God."

He proposes to revive this heritage with a new spirit, which gives it greater momentum and benefit, especially among today's youth, from the generation of technology and information, and those who rely on social networks, by exploiting these spaces to broadcast the reading of Bukhari's book virtually.

The speaker attributed the attachment of Algerians, popularly and officially, to the reading of Sahih al-Bukhari to the fact that "God blessed them with the first scholar who explained Sahih al-Bukhari, namely Abu Jaafar Ahmed bin Nasr al-Daoudi al-Messili al-Tilmisani."

Who is Ahmed Ben Nasr Daoudi Algerian?

The researcher Saleh Ferkous, in the first part of his book "The History of Algerian Culture from the Phoenician Era to Independence", mentions that the scholar Abu Jaafar Ahmed bin Nasr Al-Daoudi Al-Masili Al-Tlemceni, lived in Tripoli (Libya) for a while, and wrote his book "Sharh Al-Muwatta" and then moved to Tlemcen (western Algeria) until he died there in 402 AH.

The historian Daoudi describes him as a modern imam and a glorious author, who had a fortune in the sciences of the tongue and vision, who often took his sciences from books, and did not rely on a famous imam.

He also took from him jurisprudence and religious sciences: Abu Abdullah Al-Boni, Abu Bakr bin Abi Zayd Al-Qayrawani and others, and Judge Ayyad said that he was "one of the Maliki imams in Morocco, and the one who is distinguished in knowledge who are glorious for authorship."

As for Imam al-Daoudi's books, the most prominent of them are the book "Al-Nami", which is a commentary on the Muwatta of Imam Malik, "Al-Wa'i fi Fiqh", "Clarification in Response to Fatalism", as well as "Advice in Sharh Al-Bukhari", "Al-Usul", "Interpretation of the Holy Qur'an", and "Al-Amwal".

The famous scholar Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani took from his sheikhs "Sharh al-Muwatta" and "Sharh al-Bukhari" to the Imam of Algeria, and mentioned this in his dictionary, as quoted by many of his sayings in his book "Fath al-Bari" either directly or through Ibn al-Tin, and also authorized by the Maliki scholar Ibn Abd al-Barr, according to what is reported by the investigator of Islamic history, Ali al-Zubair.

The Maliki jurist Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi quoted him as some of his commentaries, and the same did Judge Ayyad in his commentary on Sahih Muslim, and scholars cited many of his fatwas, such as al-Aqbani al-Tilmisani, al-Wancharisi, al-Shatibi in his approvals and al-Mazari.

Victory in wars and lifting anguish

Boumediene Bouzid, secretary-general of the Supreme Islamic Council, said that celebrating Sahih al-Bukhari is a celebration of the Prophet, as "he has a presence in the popular imagination as knowledge and blessing".

He said in a statement to Al Jazeera Net that the immortalization of works, poems and books is a historical issue that has emerged since the tenth century of migration, and began to take root in popular memory, so that families named Bukhari on their sons in the hope that they will become like him.

Bouzid believes that Sahih al-Bukhari has become a deep presence in the popular imagination (Al Jazeera)

Ibn Hamadouche recalls in his journey (eighteenth century) the celebration of Algerians reading Sahih al-Bukhari during the Ottoman era, which continues to this day in the Great Mosque of Algiers, where he was read in a collective voice by evacuated scholars, after spraying the wall with rose water, which made him part of the blessing.

Bouzid, a researcher in Islamic philosophy, explained that Sahih al-Bukhari accompanied armies in the last two centuries, as he recited during the war march or in adversity, to beg God for its demise, until he became a symbol of victory.

The spokesman stated that Emir Abdul Qadir always carried with him the book of Bukhari in his resistance to the French occupation (1830-1847) and commented in its margins, and his personal copy is still preserved.

The Sultan of Marrakesh, Moulay Ismail Alaoui (1672-1727), established a division whose task was to read Sahih al-Bukhari in the army and wars, which he called "the army of al-Bukhari or his slaves" and whose establishment dates back - according to others - to the era of the Saadian state in Morocco (1510-1658), according to researcher Boumediene.

Algerians, now and in the future, adhere to this tradition of reading Sahih al-Bukhari in order to preserve privacy, as it is part of the heritage and falls within the tourism and cultural field.