In it, the science of hadith spread throughout the various Islamic lands, and the journeys of scholars multiplied to receive it from the shaykhs and preservers of hadith. In it, the noble Prophetic Sunnah was compiled in magnificent works, the most famous of which are: *Musnad al-Imam Ahmad*, *al-Jami' al-Sahih* by al-Bukhari, *Sahih Muslim*, *Sunan Sa'id ibn Mansur*, *al-Musannaf* by Ibn Abi Shaybah, *Musnad al-Humaydi*, *Sunan al-Darimi*, *Sunan Abi Dawud*, and *Jami' al-Imam al-Tirmidhi*. It was as if that age was the distillation of all ages in the acquisition of this noble science. How excellent is what al-Dhahabi said when he stated: "In this age and those close to it, there were a great many imams of the Prophetic hadith—we have not mentioned even a tenth of them here, and most of them are mentioned in my *Tarikh*. Likewise, in this time there were many imams of the people of opinion and jurisprudence, and a number of the giants of the Mu'tazila, the Shi'a, and the practitioners of speculative theology who followed rational inquiry."(1)

Was Imam al-Tirmidhi born blind, or did he lose his sight later in life?

What the most skilled imams and preservers of hadith have concluded is that he was born sighted, then lost his sight at the end of his life.

Imam al-Dhahabi said: There is disagreement concerning him—it was said he was born blind, but the correct view is that he lost his sight in his old age, after his travels and his writing of knowledge.(2)

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(1) *Tadhkirat al-Huffaz* 2/627.
(2) *al-Siyar* 13/270.