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Jami at-Tirmidhi جَامِع التِّرْمِذِي

In review — pending scholar verification

The third of the canonical Six Books — compiled by Muhammad ibn ʿIsa at-Tirmidhi (d. 279 AH); roughly 3,956 hadith with explicit grading and juristic comparison from the four schools.

Overview

Jāmiʿ at-Tirmidhī (Arabic: جَامِع التِّرْمِذِي) is the third of the canonical al-Kutub as-Sittah (Six Books) of Sunni hadith. It was compiled by Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā at-Tirmidhī (209–279 AH / 824–892 CE), a student of al-Bukhārī, of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and of Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj.

The collection contains approximately 3,956 hadith, organised topically. Two features distinguish it:

  1. Explicit grading — at-Tirmidhī rates many hadith as ṣaḥīḥ, ḥasan, or other categories. He is credited with formalising the category ḥasan (good) as a distinct grade between ṣaḥīḥ and ḍaʿīf.
  2. Juristic comparison — for many hadith, at-Tirmidhī notes which Companions and which classical schools (Mālikī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanafī, Ahl al-Ḥadīth) used the hadith and what they concluded from it.

Structure and method

  • ~50 books, ~3,956 hadith.
  • Includes some material below ḥasan (ḍaʿīf and rare gharīb), explicitly graded.
  • Concludes with al-ʿIlal al-Kabīr — a separate appendix on the defects of hadith.

Famous hadith

Abu Hurayra reported the Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever recites a single letter of the Quran, he will receive a reward, and the reward is multiplied by ten. I do not say that Alif-Lām-Mīm is a single letter, rather Alif is a letter, Lām is a letter, and Mīm is a letter." — Tirmidhī 2910 (graded Sahih by al-Albani)

Significance

Tirmidhī's formalisation of the ḥasan grade became foundational to later muṣṭalaḥ al-ḥadīth (hadith terminology). His Jāmiʿ is widely consulted for its grading and its juristic discussions. Modern critical re-grading by al-Albānī covers the entire collection.

See also

References

  1. at-Tirmidhī, Jāmiʿ at-Tirmidhī, ed. Aḥmad Shākir et al. (Dar al-Maʿrifah).
  2. al-Mubarakpūrī, Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī Sharḥ Jāmiʿ at-Tirmidhī (10 vols.).
  3. al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, vol. 13 — life of at-Tirmidhī.
  4. al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan at-Tirmidhī and Ḍaʿīf Sunan at-Tirmidhī.