Imam Tirmidhi

Scholar and Compiler of Hadith. Tirmidhī wrote nine books, of which, after the Jami, al-'Ilal and "Shamail" are best-known; only four of his works survive. \r\nHe was a student\r\nof Al-Bukhari, and compiled 4,000 Hadeeth in his book called Al-Jami\r\nwhich later came to be known as Sunan At-Tirmidhi. He also contributed\r\ntremendously to the methodology of Hadeeth and composed a book on it\r\ncalled Al-'Ilal (the discrepancies). He was famous for his piousness. He\r\nbecame blind and finally died on 13 Rajab 279H. An abriged version of\r\nSunan at-Tirmidhi is available in English in the Alim computer software\r\nCD.\r\n\r\nJami` at-Tirmidhi is a collection of hadith compiled by Imam Abu `Isa Muhammad at-Tirmidhi (rahimahullah).\r\nHis collection is unanimously considered to be one of the six canonical collections of hadith (Kutub as-Sittah)\r\nof the Sunnah of the Prophet (saw).\r\nIt contains roughly 4400 hadith (with repetitions) in 46 books.\r\n \r\n Author bio: \r\nHe is Abu ?Isa Mu?ammad ibn ?Isa ibn Sawrah ibn Musa ibn al ?a??ak al-Sulami\r\nat-Tirmidhi (209-279 AH/824–892 AD). Imam at-Tirmidhi was born in\r\nthe year 209 A.H. during the reign of the Abbasid Khalifa Ma'mun al-Rashid. The\r\nAbbasid Caliphate, despite its brilliant contributions to Islam, brought along with\r\nit many problems. Greek philosophy had a free flow into the Islamic world. This\r\nwas fully sanctioned by the government until eventually it declared the Mu`tazila\r\nschool of thought as the state religion. Anyone who opposed the Mu`tazila school\r\nof thought would be opposing the state. With the influence of Greek philosophy\r\namong the people, many Muslims began attempting to reconcile\r\nbetween (this brand of) reason and revelation. As a result many deviations were introduced and\r\nmany innocent and weak Muslims were led away from Allah and His Prophet ()). \r\nMany scholars of Islam had come to the fore in order to defend the Shari`ah. Forgeries\r\nand interpolations in Hadith by rulers who wished to fulfill their personal motives\r\nwere common. In the first century `Umar bin Abdul `Aziz (ra) initiated a movement\r\nfor the compilation of the hadith of the Prophet (s) as there was a fear of them\r\nbeing lost. A number of scholars of Islam undertook this task, six among them stand taller\r\nthan the rest. One of the six was\r\nImam Abu `Isa Muhammed ibn `Isa at-Tirmidhi.\r\n\r\n \r\nHaving grown up in an environment of learning and possessing many\r\ngreat qualities naturally drove Imam Tirmidhi to dedicate his life totally towards\r\nthe field of Hadith. He obtained his basic knowledge at home and later travelled\r\nto far off lands in search of knowledge of this science. He studied Hadith under great\r\npersonalities such as Imam al-Bukhari, Imam Muslim and Imam Abu Dawud. In\r\nsome narrations Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim are his students as well.\r\nOnce Imam al-Bukhari mentioned to him "I have benefited more from you than\r\nyou have benefitted from me." Musa ibn `Alaq once said: "When Imam al-Bukhari\r\npassed away, he left no one in Khurasan who compared with Abu `Isa Tirmidhi in\r\nknowledge, memory, piety and abstinence."\r\nImam at-Tirmidhi said that he compiled this book and presented it to the learned scholars \r\nof Hijaz, Iraq and Khurasan and they were pleased with it.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n His Memory: \r\nImam Tirmidhi had an exceptionally remarkable memory. If he heard something\r\nonce he never forgot it. Once on his way to Makkah, Imam Tirmidhi met a scholar\r\nof hadith (muhaddith) from whom he had previously copied two chapters of\r\nhadith. Thinking that he had the notes with him he asked the scholar if he would\r\nallow him to read out these two chapters so that he could correct any errors.\r\nAfter realizing that he did not have those notes with him he took a blank piece\r\nof paper and read out the entire two parts from memory. When the muhaddith\r\nrealized what he was doing he rebuked Imam Tirmidhi saying: "Have you no\r\nshame, why are you wasting my time." Imam Tirmidhi assured him that he had\r\ncommitted all the ahadith to memory. The scholar was not convinced, even\r\nthough Imam Tirmidhi had recited all the hadith from memory. Imam Tirmidhi\r\nrequested him to recite to him some other hadith. The scholar recited forty\r\nahadith, which Imam Tirmidhi then repeated without making a single error, thus\r\nshowing his remarkable power of committing hadith to memory.\r\n \r\n\r\n His Works: \r\nMany books of hadith were compiled before Imam Tirmidhi decided to compile\r\nhis Jami`. Dawud Tayalisi and Ahmed ibn Hanbal had compiled books\r\nconsisting of both authentic and weak hadith. Later Imam al-Bukhari compiled\r\nhis Sahih and omitted all weak narrations from it. His main objective was to\r\nderive masa'il (laws) from the relevant hadith. Later Imam Muslim compiled\r\nhis book with a primary focus on the isnad (different chains of narrators). Imam\r\nan-Nasa'i's aim was to mention the discrepancies of the hadith whilst Abu Dawud\r\nprepared a book which became the basis for the fuqaha. Imam at-Tirmidhi \r\ncombined the styles of al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud and an-Nasa'i by mentioning\r\ndiscrepancies regarding the narrators and also making his compilation a\r\nbasis for jurists.\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n His Students: \r\nImam Tirmidhi had a large number of students from all over the world. The most\r\nfamous amongst them were Haytham ibn Kulaib, Abul Abbaas and Muhammad\r\nibn Ahmad Shah Abdul `Aziz, who describes Imam Tirmidhi in the following\r\nwords: "His memory was unique and his piety and fear of Allah ta'la was of a very\r\nhigh caliber. He would cry so much out of the fear of Allah, that towards the end\r\nof his life he lost his sight."\r\nAccording to Ibn Taymiyya and Shah Waliullah, Imam Tirmidhi was an\r\nindependent jurist (mujtahid).\r\n\r\n \r\n His Death: \r\nIn the year 279 A.H. in a village called Bawag at the age of 70 , Imam Tirmidhi\r\npassed away.\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\nThis collection is titled Al-Jami` al-Mukhtasar min as-Sunan `an Rasulu Allah wa Ma`rifatu as-Sahih wa al-Ma`lul wa ma `alaihi al-`amal\r\notherwise known as Jami` at-Tirmidhi. \r\n\r\n Methods of Classification and Annotation: \r\nAccording to the commentators of Al-Jami`, Imam Tirmidhi maintained the\r\nfollowing conditions throughout the compilation of his book:\r\n\r\nHe never narrated hadith from those who fabricated hadith. \r\nTahir Muqaddisi mentions that al-Jami` ut-Tirmidhi contains four types of hadith: \r\n[a] Those ahadith that conform with the conditions of al-Bukhari and Muslim. \r\n[b] Those ahadith that conform with the conditions of Abu Dawud and Nasa'i. \r\n[c] Those ahadith that have certain discrepancies either in the sanad or matan. \r\n[d] Those weak hadith that some fuqaha have relied on. \r\nImam Tirmidhi accepts a hadith which is narrated with the word `an provided\r\nboth the narrators are contemporaries.\r\nAfter mentioning a weak hadith, he explains the state of its weakness.\r\nA mursal hadith is accepted by Imam Tirmidhi when a chain of narrators which\r\nis not broken supports it.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe status of Jami` at-Tirmidhi is among the six authentic books of hadith. \r\nIt has been categorized as fifth amongst the six most authentic\r\nbooks of hadith. According to the most preferred opinion, al-Bukhari enjoys the\r\nhighest status, followed by Muslim, Abu Dawud, Nasai, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah\r\nrespectively. Haji Khalifa in al-Kashf al-Dhunoon has categorized Tirmidhi in third\r\nposition. Al-Dhahabi has written that Tirmidhi in actual fact should be holding the\r\nthird position, but due to him bringing weak narrators like Kalbi and Masloob its\r\nstatus has dropped. However, looking at the manner in which he set out his book\r\nit seems that Haji Khalifa's opinion is best.\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n The special characteristics of Jami` at-Tirmidhi: \r\n\r\nIt is a Sunan and a Jami`.\r\nOnly 83 hadith are repeated.\r\nImam Tirmidhi omits the major portion of the hadith and only mentions that\r\npart which is relevant to the heading. (title)\r\nAfter mentioning a hadith he classifies its narration (whether it is authentic or\r\nweak, etc.)\r\nHe specifies the narrators names, e.g. if the narrators kunya (honorific name)\r\nwas mentioned, he would then mention his proper name and vice versa.\r\nOne hadith in Tirmidhi is a thulaathiyaat i.e. the transmitters of the hadith\r\nbetween Imam Tirmidhi and the Prophet (s) are only three.\r\nEvery hadith in Tirmidhi al-Jami` is ma'mul bihi (practiced upon by the\r\njurists.)\r\nHe explains the different madhahib together with their proofs.\r\nHe gives an explanation to all difficult ahadith.\r\nHis book has been set out in an excellent sequence, making is easy to look for a\r\nhadith.\r\nThere is no fabricated hadith in the entire book.\r\n\r\n\r\n