📘 সুনানুত তিরমিযী - ত আর-রিসালাহ (আত-তিরমিযী - মৃত্যু 279 হিজরী)

By his grace, and he testified to his superiority over the scholars of his time, saying: "I have not seen in Iraq or Khurasan anyone more knowledgeable than Muhammad ibn Isma'il in the field of defects (ʿilal), history, and knowledge of chains of transmission (asanid)." And Muhammad ibn Isma'il held al-Tirmidhi in high regard, magnifying his knowledge and memory, to the extent that he took some hadiths from him and heard from him. For he said in his Jamiʿ regarding the hadith: "O Ali, it is not lawful for anyone to be in a state of janabah in this mosque except me and you" (3727): "Muhammad ibn Isma'il heard this hadith from me and found it strange (gharib)."

He also said in his Jamiʿ regarding the hadith of Ibn Abbas (3303): "Muhammad ibn Isma'il heard this hadith from me." And he said to al-Tirmidhi: "I have not benefited from you more than you have benefited from me." At that time, between the years 250 AH and 255 AH, al-Bukhari had reached the peak of his glory and fame, and al-Tirmidhi was worthy of that esteem from his teacher. For al-Hafiz ʿUmar ibn ʿAlak said: "When al-Bukhari died, he left behind no one in Khurasan like Abu ʿIsa in knowledge, memory, piety, and asceticism. He wept until he went blind and remained blind for years." Imam al-Bukhari died in the year two hundred and fifty-six AH at the age of sixty-two.(1) The number of hadiths he narrated from him in his Jamiʿ is forty-one. Despite the scarcity of his narration from him, he benefited from him abundant knowledge in the defects of hadith (ʿilal al-hadith) and its jurisprudence (fiqh), and he recorded that in his book al-Jamiʿ in one hundred and fourteen places.(2) Al-Tirmidhi also shared with al-Bukhari and Muslim in narrating from--------------------------------------------
(1) Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalaʾ 12/391-471.
(2) Thirteen of them in the Book of Purification, twenty-one in the Prayer, and four in =

Nineteen shaykhs, and twenty-seven shaykhs shared between al-Tirmidhi and al-Bukhari, and forty-one shaykhs shared between al-Tirmidhi and Muslim.

Al-Tirmidhi met Imam Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj al-Qushayri al-Naysaburi, but he did not narrate from him in "al-Jami'" except a single hadith on fasting, in the chapter on what has been reported regarding counting the crescent of Sha'ban for Ramadan, number (687).

He also engaged in scholarly discussion with Imam Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ash'ath al-Sijistani, author of "al-Sunan," for he transmitted from him following hadith (466): I heard Abu Dawud al-Sijzi, meaning Sulayman ibn al-Ash'ath, say: I asked Ahmad ibn Hanbal about 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam, and he said: His brother 'Abdullah is fine.

The Diversity of His Learning:

Indeed, whoever examines the book "al-Jami'" by Abu 'Isa al-Tirmidhi perceives the greatness of this Imam, and senses the breadth of his intellectual scope, and the diversity of his sciences and culture--------------------------------------------

= Zakat, six on fasting, five on Hajj, seven on funerals, seven on marriage, three on sales, two on legal rulings, four on prescribed punishments, one place in the chapters on the two Eids, three on vows and oaths, six on the virtues of jihad, five on clothing, two on foods, one place on beverages, one place on righteousness and maintaining ties, one place on trials, three on the description of Paradise, one place on the description of Hell, five on seeking permission, three on the virtues of the Qur'an, five on exegesis, three on supplications, and two on virtues of companions. This was transmitted by the author of "Kashf al-Niqab" 1/81 from the book "Mu'allifi Sihah Sittah" pp. 153-158.

This was among the things in which he was distinguished, or in which he had strong participation. The scholars have testified to this on his behalf. Abu Bakr ibn al-ʿArabi said: "There is none among them like the book of Abu ʿIsa in the sweetness of its style, the preciousness of its approach, and the freshness of its source. It contains fourteen unique sciences: he compiled—and that is closer to practice—and he transmitted with chains of narration and authenticated, and he made known and enumerated the multiple chains, and he declared narrators unreliable and declared them trustworthy, and he gave names and gave epithets, and he connected and disconnected, and he clarified what is acted upon and what is abandoned, and he explained the scholars' disagreement regarding accepting or rejecting its reports, and he mentioned their disagreement regarding their interpretation. Each of these sciences is a foundation in its field, and unique in its station."(1)

Imam Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn ʿUmar ibn Rushayd said: "What Judge Abu Bakr said contains some overlap, and moreover he did not exhaust the enumeration of its sciences. Had he enumerated the benefits contained in the book—by this consideration—its sciences would have been more than fourteen: for he deemed good, and deemed rare, and clarified the follow-up and the solitary narration, and the additions of trustworthy narrators, and he clarified the raised (marfuʿ) from the stopped (mawquf), and the interrupted (mursal) from the connected (mawsul), and the inserted addition within continuous chains, and the narration of the Companions from one another, and the narration of the Followers from one another, and the narration of a Companion from a Follower, and he enumerated those who narrated that hadith from among the Companions, those whose companionship is confirmed, and those whose companionship is not confirmed, and the narration of the older from the younger, and so forth. The narration of a Companion from a Follower falls under this, as does the history of narrators."

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(1) ʿAridat al-Ahwadhi, commentary on Jamiʿ al-Tirmidhi, in the introduction to the book.

Then he said: The more appropriate course, following the clear path, is to say that it [the Jamiʿ] comprises the hadith organized by chapters, and this is a science in itself; jurisprudence is a second science; the defects of hadith, which includes the clarification of the sound from the weak and the ranks between them, is a third science; names and epithets a fourth; modification and discrediting a fifth; identifying who met the Prophet ﷺ and who did not, among those who reported on his authority in his book, a sixth; and enumerating those who transmitted a given hadith a seventh. These are its general sciences. As for the detailed ones, they are numerous. In sum, its benefit is great and its advantages abundant.

Imam Ibn Sayyid al-Nās al-Yaʿmarī said, commenting on the words of Qāḍī Abū Bakr and Imam Ibn Rushayd: Among what neither of them, nor either one alone, mentioned is what it comprises of irregular narrations—an eighth type—of stopped narrations—a ninth—and of interpolated narrations—a tenth. These types are among the abundant benefits sought from it and derived through it(1).

Al-Dhahabī said: His book "al-Jāmiʿ" demonstrates his deep expertise in this field, in jurisprudence, and in the disagreements of the scholars(2).

Ibn al-Athīr said: Al-Tirmidhī is one of the eminent scholars and distinguished hadith masters, and he has a capable hand in jurisprudence.

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(1) "Al-Nafkh al-Shadhī fī Sharḥ Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī" 1/193–194.
(2) "Tārīkh al-Islām," deaths 261–280, p. 460.

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.

In this art, the book of al-Tirmidhī has had its hadiths explained and clarified, so that every person among the people—whether jurists, hadith scholars, or others—may reach them(1).

**His Students:**
When Imam al-Tirmidhī attained the utmost degree in knowledge of the hadith of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and the sciences related to it, and composed his book "al-Jāmiʿ" and his other works, students of knowledge traveled to him from every direction, to learn from him, benefit from him, and read his compositions before him. Ibn Ḥibbān mentioned in his "Thiqāt" that the people of Khurāsān narrated from him and benefited from him. The author of "al-Khulāṣah" said: A multitude of the people of Samarqand, Nasaf, and those regions narrated from him. Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mizzī mentioned in his book "Tahdhīb al-Kamāl" some of those who narrated from him, and they numbered twenty-six narrators. Then he said after that: There are other narrators from him. Here we will provide biographies of the most famous among them:

1 - The Imam, the muḥaddith, the benefactor of Marw, Abū al-ʿAbbās, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Maḥbūb ibn Fuḍayl, al-Maḥbūbī al-Marwazī, the narrator of the "Jāmiʿ" of Abū ʿĪsā from him. Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Manṣūr al-Samʿānī said: Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Marwazī was the one who certified and validated witnesses in Marw, the hadith scholar of its people in his time, and the foremost among the hadith scholars in wealth and leadership. Travelers journeyed to him.

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(1) "Shurūṭ al-Aʾimmah al-Sittah" by Ibn Ṭāhir al-Maqdisī, p. 24; "Sharḥ ʿIlal al-Tirmidhī" by Ibn Rajab, 1/463; "Faḍāʾil al-Kitāb al-Jāmiʿ" by Abū al-Qāsim al-Isʿardī, p. 33.

In the hadith, he traveled to Tirmidh to meet Abū ʿĪsā in the year 265 AH (1), when he was sixteen years old, having been born in the year 249 AH. He died in the month of Ramadan, on the twenty-seventh of it, in the year 346 AH (2). Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Baghdādī said: His hearings (samāʿāt) are precise and sound, written in the hand of his maternal uncle Abū Bakr al-Aḥwal (3).

We say: The majority of the manuscript copies in our possession are transmitted through his narration from al-Tirmidhī.

2 — The Imām, the ḥāfiẓ, the trustworthy, the great traveler, the man of letters: Abū Saʿīd, al-Haytham ibn Kulayb ibn Sarīj ibn Maʿqil al-Shāshī al-Turkī, author of "al-Musnad al-Kabīr." His origin was from Marw. He traveled to Baghdad, Bukhārā, and Balkh. He died in the year 335 AH (4). We say: He is the transmitter of al-Tirmidhī's "al-Shamāʾil," for through him the book became famous. He also transmitted from him the book "al-Jāmiʿ," as more than one scholar has attributed it to him. Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Khayr al-Ishbīlī heard it through his narration, as mentioned in his "Fahrasa," p. 119, and Abū ʿAlī al-Ṣadafī, as in "al-Muʿjam fī Aṣḥāb al-Qāḍī Abī ʿAlī al-Ṣadafī," in the biography of Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĪsā ibn Idrīs al-Tujībī, Abū al-ʿAbbās.

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(1) He heard "al-Jāmiʿ" from him in this year, as he himself explicitly stated in the "Barnāmaj" of al-Tujībī, p. 101.
(2) "Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ" 15/537 and "Faḍāʾil al-Kitāb al-Jāmiʿ," pp. 42–43.
(3) "Barnāmaj al-Tujībī," p. 108.
(4) "al-Siyar" 15/359–360, "al-Taqyīd" by Ibn Nuqṭa, p. 479, and "al-Wāfī bi-l-Wafayāt" 4/296. =

p. 46, and al-Qasim ibn Yusuf al-Tujibi in his *Program* p. 102–103, and Abu Muhammad ibn 'Atiyya al-Muharibi al-Andalusi, author of the famous commentary *al-Muharrar al-Wajiz* — for he mentioned in his *Fihrist*, in the biography of his teacher Abu 'Ali al-Sadafi, p. 75, that he took the book of al-Tirmidhi from him and then transmitted it with his chain of narration.

3. Hammad ibn Shakir ibn Sawiyya, the imam, the hadith scholar, the truthful one, Abu Muhammad al-Nasafi, one of the transmitters of Sahih al-Bukhari. Al-Hafiz Ja'far al-Mustaghfiri said: He is trustworthy and truthful. He traveled to Syria. Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Jami' narrated to me from him the *Sahih al-Bukhari*. He died in the year three hundred and eleven (311 AH).

4. The imam, the scholar, the hafiz, the precise one, Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, and Abu Ja'far, Muhammad ibn al-Mundhir ibn Sa'id ibn 'Uthman ibn Raja' ibn 'Abd Allah ibn the Companion al-'Abbas ibn Mirdas al-Sulami al-Harawi, known as Shakkar al-Hafiz. He had vast transmission and excellent authorship.

Al-Hakim said: Shakkar narrated hadith in Marw, Tus, Sarakhs, Marw al-Rudh, Bukhara, and Nishapur — he narrated there in the year two hundred and ninety-seven (297 AH). He died in the year three hundred and three (303 AH), and it was said: in the year three hundred and two (302 AH).

And al-Khalil ibn 'Abd Allah al-Hafiz said: Trustworthy, a hafiz. The senior figures among his peers narrated from him, due to his memorization and his trustworthiness.

5 - The memorizer, the traveler, the jurist, Abu Muti' Mak-hul ibn al-Fadl al-Nasafi, author of the book "Al-Lu'lu'iyyat." Al-Mustaghfiri mentioned him in his "History of Nasaf" and stated that his name was Muhammad ibn al-Fadl, that Mak-hul was his epithet, and that he died in the year three hundred and eight. Al-Dhahabi said: I saw for him a defective manuscript with Shaykh 'Abdullah al-Darir, and he had fine poetry.

6 - The renowned long-lived shaykh, Abu Hamid Ahmad ibn 'Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Shadhan, al-Naysaburi, the traveling merchant, Ibn Hasanawayh. Al-Hakim said: He heard from Abu 'Isa al-Tirmidhi a portion of his works, and he was among those who strove diligently in worship night and day. He said: I asked him about his age in the year three hundred and thirty-eight, and he said to me: eighty-six years. I was brought to Syria in the year two hundred and sixty-six, when I was twelve years old, and I listed those of my shaykhs whose name was Ahmad, and they numbered one hundred and twenty. Al-Hakim said: And he traveled to al-Tirmidhi.

7 - Abu 'Ali al-Husayn ibn Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Majid al-Bundar al-Firabri, one of the shaykhs of Abu Ahmad ibn 'Adi al-Jurjani, author of "Al-Kamil fi al-Du'afa'." He narrated from him in the biography of al-Hasan ibn Dinar. He heard from Abu al-Fadl Ahmad ibn 'Ali ibn 'Amr al-Sulaymani al-Baykandi, the memorizer, and from his maternal grandfather Abu Mansur al-Husayn ibn 'Ali ibn Yusuf al-Firabri.

8 - Dawud ibn Nasr ibn Suhayl ibn 'Abdawayh ibn Yazdad, Abu Sulayman al-Bazdawi, one of the scholars of the city of Nasaf, died in the year three hundred and twenty-three, and his brother also, Abu Muhammad 'Abdullah ibn Nasr ibn Suhayl al-Bazdawi, narrated from al-Tirmidhi as well(1).

9 - Muhammad ibn Sufyan ibn al-Nadr, Abu Ja'far al-Nasafi, known as al-Amin, narrated from al-Bukhari his "Sahih," mentioned by al-Mustaghfiri in his "History of Nasaf"(2).

10 - Nasr ibn Muhammad ibn Sabra, Abu Muhammad al-Shirakathi, attributed to Shirakath, a village among the villages of Nasaf, heard "al-Jami'" from Abu 'Isa, and had others hear it from him(3).

Statements of the scholars about him and their praise of him:
Indeed, Imam al-Tirmidhi, may Allah the Exalted have mercy on him, attained in knowledge a tremendous station, to which the eminent scholars and their most distinguished among his contemporaries, and those who came after him, bore witness. His teacher, the Imam and Hafiz Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari, said to him: "I have not benefited from you more than you have benefited from me"(4).

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(1) "Tarikh al-Islam," deaths (321-330), p. 129, and "al-Ikmal" by Ibn Makula 1/472, and "al-Ansab" 2/190.
(2) "Tarikh al-Islam," deaths (301-320), p. 243.
(3) "al-Ansab" in the biography of Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn 'Ammar ibn 'Isma ibn Mu'adh al-Shirakathi 7/461.
(4) "Tahdhib al-Tahdhib" 3/669.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Saʿd ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Idrīsī said: Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā ibn Sawrah ibn Mūsā ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Sulamī al-Tirmidhī, the ḥāfiẓ, the blind one, was one of the imams whose example is followed in the science of ḥadīth, may God be pleased with him. He authored the book "al-Jāmiʿ," "al-Tawārīkh," and "al-ʿIlal" with the composition of a knowledgeable, precise man. He was cited as a proverb in memorization(1).

Abū Saʿd al-Samʿānī said: Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā ibn Sawrah ibn Shaddād al-Būghī al-Tirmidhī, the blind one, was the imam of his age without dispute, the author of works(2).

Al-Mubārak ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī said: He was one of the eminent imams and ḥuffāẓ, and he had a sound hand in jurisprudence(3).

Ibn Ḥibbān said: He was among those who collected, composed, memorized, and engaged in scholarly discourse(4).

Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥākim said: I heard ʿUmar ibn ʿAllak say: When al-Bukhārī died, he left behind in Khurāsān no one like Abū ʿĪsā in knowledge and memorization, piety and asceticism. He wept until he became blind, and remained blind for years(5).

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(1) Transmitted from him by al-Isʿardī in "Faḍāʾil al-Kitāb al-Jāmiʿ" with his chain of transmission, p. 31; likewise Muḥammad ibn Ṭāhir cited it with chain in "Shurūṭ al-Aʾimmah al-Sittah," p. 25.
(2) "al-Ansāb" 3/335, under the nisbah al-Būghī.
(3) "Jāmiʿ al-Uṣūl" 1/193.
(4) "al-Thiqāt" 9/153.
(5) "Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb" 3/669, and "Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ" 13/273.

Al-Dhahabi said: Muhammad ibn 'Isa ibn Sawrah, the memorizer, the eminent one, the imam, the distinguished scholar.

He said in another place: The memorizer, the eminent one, Abu 'Isa al-Tirmidhi, author of al-Jami', trustworthy, unanimously agreed upon (1).

Abu Ya'la al-Khalil ibn 'Abd Allah said: Trustworthy, unanimously agreed upon, renowned for honesty and knowledge (2).

Yusuf ibn Ahmad al-Baghdadi said: Abu 'Isa possesses virtues that are collected, narrated, and heard (3).

Al-Qasim ibn Yusuf al-Tujibi al-Sabti said: The fame of the aforementioned Abu 'Isa, may God have mercy on him, the majesty of his standing, his extensive memorization of the texts, their defects, the chains of transmission and their continuity, and his mastery of many sciences—all of this is known and recognized among the people of the East and the West (4).

Al-Hafiz al-Mizzi said: One of the distinguished imams among the memorizers, and one whom God benefited the Muslims through (5).

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(1) "Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'" 13/270, and "Mizan al-I'tidal" 3/678.
(2) "Al-Irshad fi Ma'rifat 'Ulama' al-Hadith" 3/905.
(3) "Muqaddimat Sharh Ibn Sayyid al-Nas" 1/185.
(4) "Barnamajuh" p. 106.
(5) "Tahdhib al-Kamal" 26/250.

Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Athir al-Jazari, brother of al-Mubarak, said: He was an imam, a hafiz, and he had excellent works. (1)

Abu Ja'far ibn al-Zubayr said: Al-Tirmidhi possessed, in the various branches of the craft of hadith, what no one else shared with him. (2)

Ibn al-'Imad al-Hanbali said: He excelled over his peers, a sign of memory and precision. (3)

Ali al-Qari said: The imam, the proof, the unique one, the trustworthy, the precise hafiz. (4)

This imam, whose fame has spread across the horizons, whose book has spread throughout the lands of Islam, and whom the scholars of his time and those who came after them among the people of knowledge have praised—it does not harm him that Abu Muhammad ibn Hazm said of him in his book "al-Isal" (5): that he is unknown, and it is not known who he is. For this very statement proclaims against its speaker his limited vision, his scant acquaintance, and the paucity of his knowledge in this field.

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(1) "al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh" 7/460, under the events of the year 279 AH.
(2) Quoted from him by al-Suyuti in "Qut al-Mughtadhi" p. 6.
(3) "Shadharat al-Dhahab" 2/174-175.
(4) "Mirqat al-Mafatih Sharh Mishkat al-Masabih" 1/21.
(5) Al-Dhahabi said in "Tadhkirat al-Huffaz" 2/1147 about this book: It is a large book on the jurisprudence of hadith, and he named it: "al-Isal ila Fahm Kitab al-Khisal al-Jami'ah li-Jumal Sharai' al-Islam wa al-Halal wa al-Haram wa al-Sunnah wa al-Ijma'."

The verifiers among the people of knowledge of hadith have refuted him, among them Imam Ibn al-Qattan al-Fasi, Imam al-Dhahabi, Imam Ibn Kathir, al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, Imam al-Qasim ibn Yusuf al-Tujibi, and others.

Ibn al-Qattan said: Muhammad ibn Isa ibn Sawrah ibn Musa ibn al-Dahhak al-Sulami al-Tirmidhi was declared unknown by one who did not investigate him, namely Abu Muhammad ibn Hazm. For he said in the Book of Inheritances of "al-Isal" — following a hadith he cited — that he was unknown. This necessitated, in mentioning him, the identification of those who testified to his imamate, beyond what is dispensed with by the witness of his knowledge and the rest of his fame. Among those who mentioned him among the hadith scholars: Abu al-Hasan al-Daraqutni, and Abu Abd Allah ibn al-Bayyi' [known as al-Hakim]. Abu Ya'la al-Khalili said in his book: Abu Isa Muhammad ibn Isa ibn Sawrah is a trustworthy hafiz, agreed upon. Also among those who mentioned him: al-Amir Ibn Makula, Ibn al-Faradi, and Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi. (1)

Al-Dhahabi said: No attention is to be paid to the statement of Abu Muhammad ibn Hazm about him in the Inheritances of the book "al-Isal" that he was unknown, for he did not know him, nor was he aware of the existence of "al-Jami'" and "al-'Ilal" which belong to him. (2)

Imam Ibn Kathir said: Ibn Hazm's ignorance of Abu Isa al-Tirmidhi does not harm him, where he said in his "al-Muhalla": And who is Muhammad ibn Isa ibn Sawrah? For...

His ignorance does not diminish his standing among the people of knowledge; rather, it diminished Ibn Ḥazm’s rank among the ḥuffāẓ.

How can anything be sound in minds … when the daylight itself needs a proof?

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar said: As for Abū Muḥammad Ibn Ḥazm, he proclaimed against himself his lack of familiarity [with the ḥadīth scholars], for he said in the book on inheritance (Kitāb al-Farāʾiḍ) of his al-Iṣāl: “Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā ibn Sawrah is unknown (majhūl).” And let no one say: perhaps he did not know al-Tirmidhī, nor was he aware of his memory or his works—for this man uttered this statement about a host of well-known, trustworthy ḥuffāẓ, such as Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī, Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Aṣamm, and Ismāʿīl ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣaffār. And the wonder is that al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Faraḍī mentioned him in his book al-Muʾtalif wa-l-Mukhtalif and drew attention to his standing—so how did it escape Ibn Ḥazm to come upon him therein?

Al-Qāsim ibn Yūsuf al-Tujībī al-Sabtī said, after explaining al-Tirmidhī’s merit, sciences, and fame: It does not harm him the ignorance of whoever was ignorant of him—and he is Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm al-Fārisī al-Ẓāhirī—for he erred regarding him with a clear error and slipped with an evident slip. He said in the book on inheritance of his al-Iṣāl, following a ḥadīth he cited therein, that Abū ʿĪsā al-Tirmidhī is unknown and unrecognized. This is an inexcusable blunder.

The Opinion of Imam al-Tirmidhi on the Question of the Names and Attributes:

Indeed, the question of the Names and Attributes is considered among the most noble and greatest of the fundamental matters of creed about which discussion has taken place. The statements of the Muslims have differed regarding it: among them are those who advocated absolute negation; among them are those who affirmed the Names of Allah in general but negated the Attributes; among them are those who affirmed the Names and the Attributes but interpreted a group of them and diverted them from their apparent meaning due to an evidence that stood with them; and among them are those who went to the position of believing in everything that has come down in the Book of Allah and the authentic Sunnah of the Names and Attributes, passing them on as they appear, and negating modality, likeness, and representation from them. For He, glorified and exalted, is such that nothing of His Attributes resembles the attributes of creation, just as His Essence does not resemble the essences of creation. Allah, glorified, said: {There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing} [al-Shūrā: 11]. The proponents of this position are the Salaf of the Ummah and the scholars of the Sunnah; they received all of these with faith and acceptance, and they avoided regarding them both representation and interpretation, delegating knowledge of them to Allah.

And Imam al-Tirmidhi proceeds along the path of this latter opinion, adopting the statement of those who hold it from the People of the Sunnah and the Community, approving it and holding it as his creed. For he, may Allah have mercy on him, said following the marfūʿ ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah which he transmitted in al-Jāmiʿ under number (670): "Indeed, Allah accepts charity and takes it with His right hand, and He grows it for one of you just as one of you grows his foal..." — "This is a ḥadīth ṣaḥīḥ, and something similar has been narrated from ʿĀʾishah from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. And more than one of the people of knowledge have said regarding this ḥadīth and what resembles it of the narrations and the Attributes..."

And the descent of the Lord, Blessed and Exalted, every night to the lowest heaven—they said: the narrations concerning this are established, and they are to be believed, without imagining how, and without asking "how."

Thus it is narrated from Malik, Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah, and 'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak that they said regarding these hadiths: "Pass them on without [asking] how." And this is the saying of the people of knowledge among Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah. As for the Jahmiyyah, they denied these narrations and said: "This is tashbih (anthropomorphism)." Yet Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has mentioned in more than one place in His Book: the hand, the hearing, and the sight. The Jahmiyyah interpreted these verses allegorically, explaining them in a way other than what the people of knowledge explained, and they said: "Allah did not create Adam with His hand," and they said: "The meaning of 'hand' here is power."

And Ishaq ibn Ibrahim said: "Tashbih only occurs when one says: 'a hand like a hand' or 'similar to a hand,' or 'hearing like hearing' or 'similar to hearing.' If one says: 'hearing like hearing' or 'similar to hearing,' that is tashbih. But if one says as Allah said: 'hand, hearing, and sight,' without saying 'how,' and without saying 'similar to hearing' or 'like hearing,' then this is not tashbih. Rather, it is as Allah, Exalted, said in His Book: {There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing}."

And following the long hadith of Abu Hurayrah (2557): "And there have been narrated from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, many narrations similar to this, in which the matter of the vision is mentioned—that the people will see their Lord—and the mention of the Foot, and similar matters. The position regarding this among the people of knowledge from the imams, such as Sufyan al-Thawri, Malik ibn Anas, Ibn al-Mubarak, Ibn 'Uyaynah, Waki', and others, is that they narrated these..."

The things, then they said: These hadiths are narrated, and we believe in them, and it is not said: How? And this is what the people of hadith chose—that they narrate these things as they came, and believe in them, and they are not interpreted, nor are they imagined, nor is it said: How. And this is the matter of the people of knowledge which they chose and adopted.

His methodology in jurisprudence, and whether he attributed himself to one of the followed imams, and took from their opinions, and relied upon them:

Indeed, the Jami' of Abu 'Isa is replete with the transmission of jurisprudential schools, and the sayings of the Companions and the Followers, and the four followed imams, and others among the well-known schools of jurisprudence in his era, such as Imam al-Awza'i, the imam of the people of Syria, and Sufyan al-Thawri, the imam of the people of Iraq, and Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Hanzali, known as Ibn Rahawayh, the imam of the people of Khurasan, and 'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak. Thus, it is counted among the authentic references on the schools of the scholars and the disagreements of the mujtahids, and it is the oldest work that has reached us concerning the aspects of disagreement.

For the scholar Abu al-Hasan al-Nadwi, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Al-Tirmidhi was among the first to address the subject that people today call comparative jurisprudence, and he had a great merit that the Ummah must acknowledge in his preservation of the jurisprudence of the ijtihad schools of his era, and were it not for him, much of it would have been lost and erased by time. And that is a distinctive feature of his Jami' by which he was uniquely distinguished among the rest.

The works of hadith and Sunnah are among the most reliable and earliest references on scholarly disagreement, especially in knowing the abandoned schools of law, such as those of al-Awzāʿī and Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh. Among his merits was that he preserved for later generations the old school of al-Shāfiʿī.

Blind adherence to a single school was not widespread in the era in which al-Tirmidhī lived, as it is today with complete commitment to one school. Rather, the accomplished scholar would investigate the disputed question, examine the evidences, weigh them against one another, and then adopt what was closest to correctness, whether it agreed with the imam whose school he followed or differed from him.

Hence we find Imam al-Tirmidhī in his Jāmiʿ taking a stance toward the schools and opinions of one who refers to the Prophetic Sunnah and adduces it as evidence. He gives preponderance to whatever is supported by authentic hadith, or whose proof is stronger in his view when the basis for preponderance becomes clear to him. He does not commit himself to any particular school, but rather follows wherever the strength of the evidence leads, just as the scholars of his era did—those who were not satisfied with blind adherence for themselves, neither the hadith scholars nor the jurists. He lists the schools, then weighs between them. In this he is a follower, and it is a station between blind adherence and independent ijtihad. On this basis, we may say: al-Tirmidhī's ijtihad is at the level of preponderance, following the method of the people of hadith.

By his statement "our companions," he means the mujtahid jurists among the people of hadith, such as Mālik ibn Anas, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, and Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh. In the Jāmiʿ there are not a few examples indicating this.

Some have attributed it to Imam al-Shafi'i. If that is authentically established from him, then it means he approved of his methodology in deriving evidence and his approach to jurisprudence—not that he adopted all of his opinions. This is evident in the issues included in al-Jami', for he differed from Imam al-Shafi'i's opinion in more than one issue therein and adopted the view of others.

**The Method Followed by al-Tirmidhi in Transmitting the Schools of the Imams**

Imam al-Tirmidhi relies, in transmitting the statements of the jurist imams and their schools, on chains of transmission (asanid), following the method customary among the people of hadith, in order to authenticate what is transmitted. He listed in the book al-'Ilal, which is at the end of al-Jami', the chains of transmission upon which he relied and depended in that regard.

Thus, regarding the statements of Sufyan al-Thawri, most of what he transmitted is what Muhammad ibn 'Uthman al-Kufi narrated to us, saying: 'Ubayd Allah ibn Musa narrated to us, from Sufyan al-Thawri. And some of it is what Abu al-Fadl Maktum ibn al-'Abbas al-Tirmidhi narrated to me, saying: Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Firyabi narrated to us, from Sufyan.

As for what it contains of the statements of Malik ibn Anas, most of it is what Ishaq ibn Musa al-Ansari narrated to me, saying: Ma'n ibn 'Isa al-Qazzaz narrated to us, from Malik ibn Anas. And what it contains from the chapters on fasting, Abu Mus'ab al-Madani informed us of it, from Malik ibn Anas. And some of Malik's statements are what Musa ibn Hizam informed us of, saying: 'Abd Allah ibn Maslama al-Qa'nabi informed us, from Malik ibn Anas.