Muhammad ibn Isa at-Tirmidhi

Muhammad ibn Isa al-Tirmidhi (; 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.

Biography

Muhammad ibn `Isa at-Tirmidhi was born during the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun into the Banu Sulaym tribe, an Arab tribe that had settled widely in Central Asia. His recent lineage is given as; Muhammad ibn Isa ibn Sawrah ibn al-Dahhak al-Sulaymi. His year of birth has been reported as 209 AH (824/825).
Cited by

Adh-Dhahabi only states that at-Tirmidhi was born near the year 210 AH (825/826),
thus some sources give his year of birth as 210 AH. Some sources indicate that he was born in Mecca (Siddiqi says he was born in Mecca in 206 AH (821/822))

while others say he was born in Tirmidh ( Persian: Termez), in what is now southern Uzbekistan. The stronger opinion is that he was born in Tirmidh. Specifically, he was born in one of its suburbs, the village of Bugh (hence the '' nisbats'' "at-Tirmidhi" and "al-Bughi").

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.
His teachers and those he narrated from included:
* al-Bukhari

* Abū Rajā’ Qutaybah ibn Sa‘īd al-Balkhī al-Baghlāni
* ‘Alī ibn Ḥujr ibn Iyās as-Sa‘dī al-Marwazī
* Muḥammad ibn Bashshār al-Baṣrī
* ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mu‘āwiyah al-Jumaḥī al-Baṣrī
* Abū Muṣ‘ab az-Zuhrī al-Madanī
* Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Mālik ibn Abī ash-Shawārib al-Umawī al-Baṣrī
* Ismā‘īl ibn Mūsá al-Fazārī al-Kūfi
* Muḥammad ibn Abī Ma‘shar as-Sindī al-Madanī
* Abū Kurayb Muḥammad ibn al-‘Alā’ al-Kūfī
* Hanād ibn al-Sarī al-Kūfī
* Ibrāhīm ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Harawī
* Suwayd ibn Naṣr ibn Suwayd al-Marwazī
* Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Baṣrī
* Zayd ibn Akhzam al-Baṣrī
* al-‘Abbās al-‘Anbarī al-Baṣrī
* Muḥammad ibn al-Muthanná al-Baṣrī
* Muḥammad ibn Ma‘mar al-Baṣrī
* ad-Darimi
* Muslim
* Abu Dawud

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.

At-Tirmidhi was a pupil of al-Bukhari, who was based in Khurasan. Adh-Dhahabi wrote, "His knowledge of hadith came from al-Bukhari." 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." 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.

At-Tirmidhi also narrated some hadiths from Abu Dawud, and one from Muslim. Muslim also narrated one hadith from at-Tirmidhi in his own ''Sahih''.

A.J. Wensinck mentions Ahmad ibn Hanbal as among at-Tirmidhi's teachers. 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`''.

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.

Death

At-Tirmidhi was blind in the last two years of his life, according to adh-Dhahabi. 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.

He died on Monday night, 13 Rajab 279 AH (Sunday night, 8 October 892) in Bugh.

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").

See also

* Al-Tabari

Early Islam scholars

Notes

References

External links

Biodata at MuslimScholars.info

Biography at Sunnah.com




Biography of al-Tirmidhee at theclearpath.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tirmidhi
Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam
Transoxanian Islamic scholars
Persian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam
Hadith compilers
Hadith scholars
9th-century Persian-language writers
Muslim scholars persecuted by Hanbalis
People from Surxondaryo Region
Shafi'is
9th-century Islamic religious leaders
9th-century Muslim scholars of Islam
824 births
892 deaths
Biographical evaluation scholars
9th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate