Al-Tirmidhi

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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.[1]

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:

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.[3][13]

At-Tirmidhi's grandfather was originally from Marw (Persian: Merv), but moved to Tirmidh.[3] According to Britannica Online, he was an Arab.[14] According to S.H. Nasr and M. Mutahhari in The Cambridge History of Iran, Al-Tirmidhi was of Persian ethnicity.[15] His uncle was the famous Sufi Abu Bakr al-Warraq.[16] Al-Warraq was the teacher of Al-Hakim al-Samarqandi, a known associate of the famous theologian Abu Mansur Al-Maturidi.Template:Citation needed

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).[17][18][19] Adh-Dhahabi only states that at-Tirmidhi was born near the year 210 AH (825/826),[3] thus some sources give his year of birth as 210 AH.[2][20] Some sources indicate that he was born in Mecca (Siddiqi says he was born in Mecca in 206 AH (821/822))[21] while others say he was born in Tirmidh (Persian: Termez), in what is now southern Uzbekistan.[17] The stronger opinion is that he was born in Tirmidh.[3] Specifically, he was born in one of its suburbs, the village of Bugh (hence the nisbats "at-Tirmidhi" and "al-Bughi").[18][20][22][23]

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.[2][7][8] His teachers and those he narrated from included:

  • al-Bukhari[2][4][5][7][8][13][17][21]
  • Abū Rajā’ Qutaybah ibn Sa‘īd al-Balkhī al-Baghlāni[4][5][8][17]
  • ‘Alī ibn Ḥujr ibn Iyās as-Sa‘dī al-Marwazī[4][5][8][17]
  • Muḥammad ibn Bashshār al-Baṣrī[5][8][17]
  • ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mu‘āwiyah al-Jumaḥī al-Baṣrī[4]
  • Abū Muṣ‘ab az-Zuhrī al-Madanī[4]
  • Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Mālik ibn Abī ash-Shawārib al-Umawī al-Baṣrī[4]
  • Ismā‘īl ibn Mūsá al-Fazārī al-Kūfi[4]
  • Muḥammad ibn Abī Ma‘shar as-Sindī al-Madanī[4]
  • Abū Kurayb Muḥammad ibn al-‘Alā’ al-Kūfī[4][8]
  • Hanād ibn al-Sarī al-Kūfī[4][8]
  • Ibrāhīm ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Harawī[4]
  • Suwayd ibn Naṣr ibn Suwayd al-Marwazī[4]
  • Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Baṣrī[8]
  • Zayd ibn Akhzam al-Baṣrī[13]
  • al-‘Abbās al-‘Anbarī al-Baṣrī[13]
  • Muḥammad ibn al-Muthanná al-Baṣrī[13]
  • Muḥammad ibn Ma‘mar al-Baṣrī[13]
  • ad-Darimi[8][17]
  • Muslim[13][17][21]
  • Abu Dawud[7][13][21]

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.[13]

At-Tirmidhi was a pupil of al-Bukhari, who was based in Khurasan. Adh-Dhahabi wrote, "His knowledge of hadith came from al-Bukhari."[17] 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."[13] 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.[13][17]

At-Tirmidhi also narrated some hadiths from Abu Dawud, and one from Muslim.[13] Muslim also narrated one hadith from at-Tirmidhi in his own Sahih.[17]

A.J. Wensinck mentions Ahmad ibn Hanbal as among at-Tirmidhi's teachers.[7][13] 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`.[13]

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.[24]

Death

File:Tomb of Abu Isa al-Tirmidhi.jpg
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.[8] 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.[2][3][8][13][17]

He died on Monday night, 13 Rajab 279 AH (Sunday night, 8 October 892)Template:Efn in Bugh.[5][8][13]

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").[23]

See also

Early Islam scholars

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Notes

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References

  1. ↑ "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
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Template:Cite encyclopedia
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 The Biography of Imām at-Tirmidhī{{#if:Abdul Mawjood|, Abdul Mawjood}. Darussalam(2007). ISBN 978-9960983691
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 تذهيب تهذيب الكمال في أسماء الرجال (Tadhhīb tahdhīb al-kamāl fī asmā' al-rijāl){{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. al-Fārūq al-Hadīthah lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr(2004). ISBN 9773700100
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland(1843)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Template:Cite wikisource
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Template:Cite encyclopedia
  8. ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 The Transmission of Tirmidhī's Jāmi'. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London({Template:Date).
  9. ↑ A Traditional Mu'tazilite Qur'an Commentary: The Kashshaf of Jar Allah al-Zamakhshari (d. 538/1144){{#if:Lane|, Lane}. Brill(2006). ISBN 9004147004
  10. ↑ تاريخ التراث العربي (Tārīkh al-turāth al-'arabī){{#if:Sezgin|, Sezgin}(1991)
  11. ↑ التضامن الدولي في النظام الإسلامي والنظم الوضعية : دراسة مقارنة (al-Taḍāmun al-dawlī fī al-niẓām al-Islāmī wa-al-nuẓum al-waḍʻīyah : dirāsah muqāranah){{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Dār al-Yaqīn(2007). ISBN 9789773362409
  12. ↑ The Transmission of Tirmidhī's "Jāmi'". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London({Template:Date).
  13. ↑ 13.00 13.01 13.02 13.03 13.04 13.05 13.06 13.07 13.08 13.09 13.10 13.11 13.12 13.13 13.14 13.15 Imam Tirmidhi's contribution towards Hadith{{#if:Hoosen|, Hoosen}. A.K. Hoosen(1990). ISBN 9780620153140
  14. ↑ Al-Tirmidhī | Muslim scholar | Britannica.
  15. ↑ Template:Cambridge History of Iran
  16. ↑ Abū Bakr al-Warrāq.
  17. ↑ 17.00 17.01 17.02 17.03 17.04 17.05 17.06 17.07 17.08 17.09 17.10 17.11 Scholars of Hadith{{#if:Ali|, Ali}. IQRAʼ International Educational Foundation(2003). ISBN 1563162040
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 الترمذي صاحب الجامع في السنن (al-Tirmidhī ṣaḥib al-jāmi' fī al-sunan). Majallat Al-Majmaʻ Al-ʻIlmī Al-ʻArabīyah({Template:Date). Cited by Imam Tirmidhi's contribution towards Hadith{{#if:Hoosen|, Hoosen}. A.K. Hoosen(1990). ISBN 9780620153140
  19. ↑ شرح علل الترمذي Sharḥ 'Ilal al-Tirmidhī{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Dār al-Mallāḥ(1978)
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Prophets in the Quran: An Introduction to the Quran and Muslim Exegesis{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Continuum(2002). ISBN 0826449565
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 Hadith Literature: Its Origin, Development & Special Features{{#if:Siddiqi|, Siddiqi}
  22. ↑ Historical Dictionary of Islam{{#if:Adamec|, Adamec}. Scarecrow Press(2009). ISBN 9780810861619
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Termez. www.uzbek-travel.com. Retrieved 2013-01-08.
  24. ↑ Imam Tirmidhi and his Al-Jami' al-Sunan (الجامع السنن للإمام الترمذي رضي الله عنه)(26 March 2005).

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