[1] Ibn Rajab commencenced composing the commentary, however he only reached the chapter on the funeral prayers before his death, amounting to less than a sixth of Sahih Bukhari.

Twenty years after his death, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani started to complete the rest of the commentary, which consisted around 85% of Sahih Bukhari.

[2] Abd al-Hakim Murad said of Fath al-Bari in the introduction to the translation of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's commentary on selected hadith (published as a booklet by the Muslim Academic Trust): "The importance of this literature may be gauged by the fact that at least seventy full commentaries have been written on Imam al-Bukhari’s great Sahih... the most celebrated [of which] is without question the magnificent Fath al-Bari (Victory of the Creator) by Imam Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, a work which was the crown both of its genre and of the Imam’s academic career.

It is appreciated by the ulema for the doctrinal soundness of its author, for its complete coverage of Bukhari’s material, its mastery of the relevant Arabic sciences, the wisdom it shows in drawing lessons (fawa’id) from the hadiths it expounds, and its skill in resolving complex disputes over variant readings."

Islamicist Norman Calder described Ibn Hajar's work as "the most magnificent achievement of exegetical discourse".