Biography of Imam Al-Tirmidzi, Author of the Book of Sunan al-Tirmidzi

 

Biography of Imam Al-Tirmidzi, Author of the Book of Sunan al-Tirmidzi

The full name of al-Tirmidhi is Abu 'Isa Muhammad bin 'Isa bin Thaurah bin Musa bin al-Ḍahhak al-Sulami al-Ḍarir al-Bughi al-Tirmidhi. However, he is more popular as al-Tirmidhi. In his work al-Jami' al- Ṣ ahih , he often uses the nickname AbuIsa to refer to himself. Some scholars do not like the name Abu 'Isa used by al-Tirmidhi because the Messenger of Allah said: "Indeed 'Isa has no father".

For them, Jesus is the figure of a prophet who has no parents. Therefore, it is considered wrong if someone refers to himself as Abu Isa. But this assumption was dismissed by al-Qari (1014 H). According to him, Abu Isa's mention of al-Tirmidhi is to distinguish between al-Tirmidhi as a hadith scholar and other scholars. Because, the name al-Tirmidhi is not only carried by the author of the book Sunan al-Tirmidhi but there are several other scholars who also bear the name al-Tirmidhi. For example, al-Hasan Ahmad bin al-Hasan who is popular with al-TirmidZi al-Kabir, besides that there is also a Sufi figure named al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi.

According to Muhammad Shakir, al-Tirmidhi was born in an area adjacent to the Jihun Khurasan River (Iran) in 207 H. However, some others estimate that his birth was in 209 H. Al-Mizzi said, al-Timidhi died at the age of 70 year in the Tirmidz area, the night of Monday 13 Rajab 279 H, and was buried in Uzbekistan.

To testify to al-Tirmidhi's stature in the field of hadith, al-Bukhari (d. 256 H) deliberately received one hadith from him. This is as usually done by great scholars, namely hearing hadith from scholars who are younger than him.

He is one of the scholars of hadith who became a special student of al-Bukhari (d. 256 AH), he studied the science of hadith, deepened the science of fiqh, and held muna z arah (discussion) with his teacher as a custom among scholars. In addition to Al-Tirmidhi studying with al-Bukhari (d. 256 H), he also studied with other prominent hadith scholars such as Imam Muslim (d. 261), and Abu Dawud (d. 275) and several others. Among his students are: Abu Bakr bin Ahmad bin Isma'il al-Samarqandi (d. 342 H) Ahmad bin 'Ali al-Maqri, Ahmad bin Yusuf al-Nasafi, Hammad bin Shakir al-Warraq and others.

In addition to being a prominent hadith scholar, al-Tirmidhi is also known as a jurisprudence scholar who has a broad view and a productive scholar. This is reflected in his many works such as: Kitab al-Jami' al- Ṣ a ḥ i ḥ or the famous Sunan al-Tirmidzi, al-'Ilal, which is found at the end of the book al-Jami' al-Syama'il al -Muhammadiyah, al-Asma' wa al-Kuna, al-'Ilal al-Kabir, al-Tarikh, al-Asma' al- Ṣ a ḥ abah and Kitab al-Zuhd .

The title of the book Sunan al-Tirmidzi is more familiar with the name al-Jami' al-Tirmidzi or Sunan al-Tirmidzi . Some also mention Ṣ a ḥ i ḥ al-Tirmidzi, but this is not accurate because it does not only collect authentic hadiths. This book is one of the six famous hadith books. In this book, in addition to narrating authentic hadiths, he also included hasan, weak, and gharib hadiths in his book. He also did not narrate hadiths except those practiced by jurists .or a hadith that has been used as evidence. This is a loose condition, so that it also includes authentic and weak hadith, even though it is accompanied by an explanation of its quality. In general, the weak hadith contained in this book is related to fadhail al-a'mal (recommendation of charity).

Regarding this book, al-Tirmidhi narrated, "I compiled this book and then I showed it to the scholars of Hijaz, Iraq, Khurasan, they were happy and thought it was good. Whoever keeps this book in his house, it will be as if there is a Prophet in his house who is talking or saying."

Meanwhile 'Imran bin 'Alan said, "After the death of al-Bukhari, there was no one in Khurasan like Abu 'Isa in terms of knowledge, sanity, and he continued to cry until he became blind".

Kendati banyak yang memuji kitab al-Jami’ al-Tirmidzi, namun bukan berarti kitab ini luput dari kritikan. Ibn al-Jauzi (w. 751 H)mengemukakan bahwa, di dalam kitab al-Jami’ al-Sahihal-Tirmidzi terdapat tiga puluh hadis palsu (mauḍu’).Akan tetapi pendapat tersebut dibantah oleh Jalaluddin al-Suyuṭi (w. 911 H), bahwa hadis-hadis yang dinilai palsu tersebut sebenarnya tidak palsu. Sebagaimana yang terjadi dalam kitab Ṣaḥiḥ al-Muslim yang dinilai palsu, namun ternyata tidak palsu. Hal tersebut tidaklah berpengaruh terhadap otoritas al-Tirmidzi dan kualitas karyanya, pasalnyaIbn al-Jauzi dikenal sebagai ulama hadis yang tasahul (easy) in evaluating the hadith as a false hadith.