Al-Tirmidhi

Muhammad ibn Isa al-Tirmidhi (Template:Langx; 824 – 9 October 892 CE / 209–279 AH), often referred to as Imām at-Termezī/Tirmidhī, was an Islamic scholar, and collector of hadith from Termez (early Khorasan and in present-day Uzbekistan). He wrote al-Jami` as-Sahih (known as Jami` at-Tirmidhi), one of the six canonical hadith compilations in Sunni Islam. He also wrote Shama'il Muhammadiyah (popularly known as Shama'il at-Tirmidhi), a compilation of hadiths concerning the person and character of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. At-Tirmidhi was also well versed in Arabic grammar, favoring the school of Kufa over Basra due to the former's preservation of Arabic poetry as a primary source.<ref>"Sibawayh, His Kitab, and the Schools of Basra and Kufa." Taken from Changing Traditions: Al-Mubarrad's Refutation of Sībawayh and the Subsequent Reception of the Kitāb, p. 12. Vol. 23, Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics. Ed. Monique Bernards. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1997. Template:ISBN</ref>

Biography

Name and lineage

Al-Tirmidhi's given name (ism) was "Muhammad" while his kunya was "Abu `Isa" ("father of `Isa"). His genealogy is uncertain; his nasab (patronymic) has variously been given as:

• Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah (Template:Lang)‎<ref name=juynboll/>
• Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Mūsá ibn aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk (Template:Lang)‎<ref name="abdulMawjood">

Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="tadhhib">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="ibnKhallikan"> Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="ibnKathir"> Template:Cite wikisource</ref>

• Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Shaddād (Template:Lang)‎<ref name="wensinck">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
• Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Shaddād ibn aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk (Template:Lang)‎<ref name="robson">

Template:Cite journal</ref>

• Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Shaddād ibn ‛Īsá (Template:Lang)‎<ref name=ibnKathir/>
• Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Yazīd ibn Sawrah ibn as-Sakan (Template:Lang)‎<ref name=abdulMawjood/><ref name=tadhhib/><ref name=ibnKathir/>
• Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sahl (Template:Lang)‎<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sahl ibn Sawrah (Template:Lang)‎<ref>

</ref>

He was also known by the laqab "ad-Darir" ("the Blind"). It has been said that he was born blind, but the majority of scholars agree that he became blind later in his life.<ref name=abdulMawjood/><ref name="hoosen"> Template:Cite book

</ref>

At-Tirmidhi's grandfather was originally from Marw (Persian: Merv), but moved to Tirmidh.<ref name=abdulMawjood/> According to Britannica Online, he was an Arab.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to S.H. Nasr and M. Mutahhari in The Cambridge History of Iran, Al-Tirmidhi was of Persian ethnicity.<ref>Template:Cambridge History of Iran</ref> His uncle was the famous Sufi Abu Bakr al-Warraq.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Al-Warraq was the teacher of Al-Hakim al-Samarqandi, a known associate of the famous theologian Abu Mansur Al-Maturidi.Template:Cn

Birth

Muhammad ibn `Isa at-Tirmidhi was born during the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun. His year of birth has been reported as 209 AH (824/825).<ref name=ali/><ref name="banuri"> Template:Cite journal Cited by Template:Cite book

</ref><ref name="itr">Template:Cite book</ref> Adh-Dhahabi only states that at-Tirmidhi was born near the year 210 AH (825/826),<ref name=abdulMawjood/> thus some sources give his year of birth as 210 AH.<ref name="juynboll">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="wheeler">Template:Cite book</ref> Some sources indicate that he was born in Mecca (Siddiqi says he was born in Mecca in 206 AH (821/822))<ref name=siddiqi>

</ref> while others say he was born in Tirmidh (Persian: Termez), in what is now southern Uzbekistan.<ref name="ali">Template:Cite book</ref> The stronger opinion is that he was born in Tirmidh.<ref name=abdulMawjood/> Specifically, he was born in one of its suburbs, the village of Bugh (hence the nisbats "at-Tirmidhi" and "al-Bughi").<ref name=banuri/><ref name=wheeler/><ref name="adamec">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="termez">Template:Cite web</ref>

Hadith studies

At-Tirmidhi began the study of hadith at the age of 20. From the year 235 AH (849/850) he traveled widely in Khurasan, Iraq, and the Hijaz in order to collect hadith.<ref name=juynboll/><ref name="wensinck"/><ref name="robson"/> His teachers and those he narrated from included:

• al-Bukhari<ref name=juynboll/><ref name="tadhhib"/><ref name="ibnKhallikan"/><ref name=wensinck/><ref name=robson/><ref name="hoosen"/><ref name=ali/><ref name=siddiqi/>
• Abū Rajā’ Qutaybah ibn Sa‘īd al-Balkhī al-Baghlāni<ref name=tadhhib/><ref name=ibnKhallikan/><ref name=robson/><ref name=ali/>
• ‘Alī ibn Ḥujr ibn Iyās as-Sa‘dī al-Marwazī<ref name=tadhhib/><ref name=ibnKhallikan/><ref name=robson/><ref name=ali/>
• Muḥammad ibn Bashshār al-Baṣrī<ref name=ibnKhallikan/><ref name=robson/><ref name=ali/>
• ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mu‘āwiyah al-Jumaḥī al-Baṣrī<ref name=tadhhib/>
• Abū Muṣ‘ab az-Zuhrī al-Madanī<ref name=tadhhib/>
• Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Mālik ibn Abī ash-Shawārib al-Umawī al-Baṣrī<ref name=tadhhib/>
• Ismā‘īl ibn Mūsá al-Fazārī al-Kūfi<ref name=tadhhib/>
• Muḥammad ibn Abī Ma‘shar as-Sindī al-Madanī<ref name=tadhhib/>
• Abū Kurayb Muḥammad ibn al-‘Alā’ al-Kūfī<ref name=tadhhib/><ref name=robson/>
• Hanād ibn al-Sarī al-Kūfī<ref name=tadhhib/><ref name=robson/>
• Ibrāhīm ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Harawī<ref name=tadhhib/>
• Suwayd ibn Naṣr ibn Suwayd al-Marwazī<ref name=tadhhib/>
• Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Baṣrī<ref name=robson/>
• Zayd ibn Akhzam al-Baṣrī<ref name=hoosen/>
• al-‘Abbās al-‘Anbarī al-Baṣrī<ref name=hoosen/>
• Muḥammad ibn al-Muthanná al-Baṣrī<ref name=hoosen/>
• Muḥammad ibn Ma‘mar al-Baṣrī<ref name=hoosen/>
• ad-Darimi<ref name=robson/><ref name=ali/>
• Muslim<ref name=hoosen/><ref name=ali/><ref name=siddiqi/>
• Abu Dawud<ref name=wensinck/><ref name=hoosen/><ref name=siddiqi/>

At the time, Khurasan, at-Tirmidhi's native land, was a major center of learning, being home to a large number of muhaddiths. Other major centers of learning visited by at-Tirmidhi were the Iraqi cities of Kufa and Basra. At-Tirmidhi reported hadith from 42 Kufan teachers. In his Jami`, he used more reports from Kufan teachers than from teachers of any other town.<ref name=hoosen/>

At-Tirmidhi was a pupil of al-Bukhari, who was based in Khurasan. Adh-Dhahabi wrote, "His knowledge of hadith came from al-Bukhari."<ref name=ali/> At-Tirmidhi mentioned al-Bukhari's name 114 times in his Jami`. He used al-Bukhari's Kitab at-Tarikh as a source when mentioning discrepancies in the text of a hadith or its transmitters, and praised al-Bukhari as being the most knowledgeable person in Iraq or Khurasan in the science of discrepancies of hadith. When mentioning the rulings of jurists, he followed al-Bukhari's practice of not mentioning the name of Abu Hanifah. Because he never received a reliable chain of narrators to mention Abu Hanifa's decrees, he would instead attribute them to "some people of Kufa."<ref name=hoosen/> Al-Bukhari held at-Tirmidhi in high regard as well. He is reported to have told at-Tirmidhi, "I have profited more from you than you have from me," and in his Sahih he narrated two hadith from at-Tirmidhi.<ref name=hoosen/><ref name=ali/>

At-Tirmidhi also narrated some hadiths from Abu Dawud, and one from Muslim.<ref name=hoosen/> Muslim also narrated one hadith from at-Tirmidhi in his own Sahih.<ref name=ali/>

A.J. Wensinck mentions Ahmad ibn Hanbal as among at-Tirmidhi's teachers.<ref name=wensinck/><ref name=hoosen/> However, Hoosen states that according to the most reliable sources, at-Tirmidhi never went to Baghdad, nor did he attend any lectures of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Furthermore, at-Tirmidhi never directly narrates from Ahmad ibn Hanbal in his Jami`.<ref name=hoosen/>

Several of at-Tirmidhi's teachers also taught al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, and an-Nasa'i.

Writings

• Al-Jami' al-Mukhtasar min as-Sunan 'an Rasul Allah, known as Jami' at-Tirmidhi
• Al-'Ilal as-Sughra
• Az-Zuhd
• Al-'Ilal al-Kubra
• Ash-Shama'il an-Nabawiyya wa'l-Fada'il al-Mustafawiyya
• Al-Asma' wa'l-Kuna
• Kitab at-Tarikh

He is also reported to have a work on Islamic history and an exegesis of the Qur’an, but these are extinct.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Death

Tomb of Abu Isa al-Tirmidhi, near Oxus River, Termez, Uzbekistan. (2006)

At-Tirmidhi became blind in the last two years of his life, according to adh-Dhahabi.<ref name=robson/> His blindness is said to have been the consequence of excessive weeping, either due to fear of God or over the death of al-Bukhari.<ref name=juynboll/><ref name=abdulMawjood/><ref name=robson/><ref name=hoosen/><ref name=ali/>

He died on Monday night, 13 Rajab 279 AH (Sunday night, 8 October 892)Template:Efn in Bugh.<ref name=ibnKhallikan/><ref name=robson/><ref name=hoosen/>

At-Tirmidhi is buried on the outskirts of Sherobod, 60 kilometers north of Termez in Uzbekistan. In Termez he is locally known as Abu Isa at-Termezi or "Termez Ota" ("Father of Termez").<ref name=termez/>

See also

• Al-Tabari

External links

• Biodata at MuslimScholars.info
• Biography at Sunnah.com
• Biography of Imam al-Tirmidhi at Sunnah.org Template:Webarchive
• Biography of al-Tirmidhee at theclearpath.com