During the journey, another passenger aboard the ship came to Imaam Bukhaari (rahimahullah) and befriended him. He expressed love for Imaam Bukhaari (rahimahullah) and began to spend time in his company, until he became quite close to Imaam Bukhaari (rahimahullah). After some time, when Imaam Bukhaari (rahimahullah) saw the extent of this person’s love and friendship, and he had spent a lot of time in his company, then Imaam Bukhaari (rahimahullah) began to trust him. Imaam Bukhaari (rahimahullah) then took him into his confidence and confided in him, informing him of the thousand dinars that he had with him.
A few days later, this person awoke from his sleep shouting out that someone had stolen his money. While shouting, he began to tear his clothing in distress. He even began to slap his face and strike his head in anguish! On seeing his apparent anguish and distress, the people on the ship were immediately perplexed and confused. They came to him and began asking him what had transpired, but he pretended to be overcome by extreme grief and did not answer. Eventually, when they persisted in asking him what was wrong, he calmed down a little and said, “I had a pouch with me which contained one thousand dirhams, but now this pouch has gone missing!”
The people believed his story and immediately suspected that it had been stolen. Hence, they began to search all the passengers of the ship, one by one, looking for the pouch of dinars. As soon as Imaam Bukhaari (rahimahullah) realized what was happening, he took the pouch, and without anyone seeing him, he cast it into the ocean. Thus, every person was searched, until even Imaam Bukhaari (rahimahullah) was searched. Finally, when there was no one left to search, and they had still not found the pouch of dinars, the people returned to the man and reprimanded him most severely for lying to them about the pouch and wasting their time.
Thereafter, when the journey was over and all the passengers had disembarked from the ship, the man came to Imaam Bukhaari (rahimahullah) and asked him, “What did you do with the pouch of dinars? Why were the people unable to find it?” Imaam Bukhaari (rahimahullah) replied, “When the people began the search, I cast it into the ocean.” The man was shocked and asked, “How is it that you were able to destroy such a large amount of money?”
Imaam Bukhaari (rahimahullah) responded, “O ignorant one! Do you not know that I have dedicated my entire life to gathering the Ahaadith of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), until all the Ulama regard me as being a reliable narrator of Hadith? When I have dedicated my entire life to the service of Hadith, then how could I let myself become a target for the accusation of theft? How could I sacrifice the invaluable bounty of the Mubaarak Ahaadith of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam)? Through me being accused of theft, I will lose my quality of being a reliable and trustworthy narrator in the science of Hadith. This, in turn, will cause all the Mubaarak Ahaadith which I acquired to be rendered unacceptable. How could I allow this great loss to be incurred for the sake of a few dinars?”
(Seeratul Imaam Bukhaari – Mubaarakpuri pg. 122-123)