He also said: "And this book of his, 'al-Sahih,' is the best of books... and it contains what is not found in others: mention of the schools of jurisprudence, aspects of legal reasoning, and clarification of the types of hadith—the authentic, the good, and the unfamiliar. It also contains criticism and validation, and at its end is the book 'al-'Ilal' (The Defects)." (1)

Abu al-Fath Ibn Sayyid al-Nas al-Ya'mari and Ibn Nuqtah al-Baghdadi said: They reported from Abu 'Isa that he said: "I compiled this book and presented it to the scholars of the Hijaz, Iraq, and Khurasan, and they were all pleased with it. Whoever has this book in his home, it is as if a prophet is speaking in his home." (2)

We say: There is no doubt that al-Tirmidhi presented it to scholars across various religious specializations—hadith scholars and jurists alike—and all of them were pleased with it and affirmed it. This indicates the strength of his memory, his knowledge of the sciences of hadith, and likewise his precision and trustworthiness in transmitting the schools of the jurists. He is, by right, a hadith scholar, a memorizer, precise, and a jurist.

Ibn 'Atiyyah said: I heard Muhammad ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi say: I heard Abu Isma'il 'Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Ansari say: "The book of al-Tirmidhi is, in my view, more beneficial than the books of al-Bukhari and Muslim." I said: "And why?" He said: "Because no one attains benefit from those two except one who possesses complete expertise..."

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(1) "Jami' al-Usul" 1/193.
(2) "Al-Taqyid" by Ibn Nuqtah al-Baghdadi, p. 97-98, and "Tarikh al-Islam," deaths 261-280, p. 461-462.