An Introduction To Sunan At-Tirmidhi

By Abu Khaliyl Introductory Points: From At-Tirmidhi The great Hafiz of Hadith, Imam Abu Isa At-Tirmidhi !rote a boo" "no!n as Al- Ilal #or Al- Ilal As-$aghir%, !hich is often &ublished along !ith 'ami At-Tirmidhi, or $unan At-Tirmidhi as it is more commonly "no!n( In Al- Ilal, he mentioned some im&ortant introductory &oints to let the reader "no! about !hat he has included in his $unan( The follo!ing are some e)cer&ts from Al- Ilal for the benefit of those !ho read this translation of $unan AtTirmidhi: At-Tirmidhi*s +b,ecti-e Abu Isa said: .All of the Hadiths that are in this boo" are acted u&on and utilized by some of the &eo&le of "no!ledge, !ith the e)ce&tion of t!o Hadiths: The Hadith of Ibn Abbas, that the Pro&het #$% combined the /uhr and Asr #&rayers%, and the 0aghrib and Isha* #&rayers% in Al-0adinah, !ithout being in a state of fear, nor due to rain( And the Hadith of the Pro&het #$%: .1hoe-er drin"s !ine, then lash him( If he returns to it, then on the fourth time "ill him(2 I ha-e clarified the deficiencies of both of these Hadiths in the boo"(2 3egarding The +&inions +f The Fu4aha* That At-Tirmidhi 0entions After $ome 5ha&ters He said: .And !hate-er !e mentioned in this boo", from choices of the Fu4aha*:

Then !hate-er is in it from the saying of $ufyan Ath-Tha!ri, most of it is !hat !as narrated to us by 0uhammad bin 6thman Al-Kufi #he said%: 6baidullah bin 0usa narrated it to us from $ufyan(* $ome of it !as narrated to me by Abu Al-Fadl, 0a"tum bin Al- Abbas At-Tirmidhi #he said%: 0uhammad bin 7usuf Al-Firyabi narrated to us from $ufyan(* 1hate-er is in it from the sayings of 0ali" bin Anas, then most of it is !hat !as narrated to us by Isha4 bin 0usa Al-Ansari #he said%: 0a n bin Isa Al8azzaz narrated to us from 0ali" bin Anas(* 1hate-er it contains from the cha&ters on fasting, then Abu 0us ab Al-0adini informed us of it, from 0ali" bin Anas( $ome of the statements of 0ali" are from !hat !as informed to us by 0usa bin Hizam #!ho said%: Abdullah bin 0aslamah Al-8a ni informed us from 0ali" bin Anas(* 1hate-er is in it from the sayings of Ibn Al-0ubara", then it is !hat !as narrated to us by Ahmad bin Abdah Al-Amuli, from the com&anions of Ibn Al0ubara", from him( Among it is !hat has been related from Abu 1ahb 90uhammad bin 0uzahim:, from Ibn Al-0ubara"( And among it is !hat has been related from Ali bin Al-Hasan, from Abdullah bin Al-0ubara"( Among it is !hat has been related from Abdan, from $ufyan bin Abdul-0ali", from Ibn Al-0ubara"( And among it is !hat !as related from Habban bin 0usa, from Ibn Al-0ubara"( And among it is !hat !as related from 1ahb bin /am ah, from Fadalah An-;asa!i from Abdullah bin Al-0ubara"( And there are other narrators !hose names !e mentioned from Ibn Al-0ubara"( And !hate-er it contains from the sayings of Ash-$hafi i, then most of it is !hat Al-Hasan bin 0uhammad Az-/a farani informed me of from Ash-$hafi i( 1hate-er there is regarding 1udu* or $alah, it !as narrated to us by Abu Al-1alid Al-0a""i from Ash-$hafi i( And among it is !hat !as narrated to us by Abu Isma il 9At-Tirmidhi: #he said%: 7usuf bin 7ahya Al-8urashi Al-Bu!aiti narrated it to us, from Ash-$hafi i(* $ome things !ere mentioned in it from Ar-3abi from Ash-$hafi i, and Ar-3abi &ermitted us to narrate that, and he !rote that #&ermission% for us( 1hate-er it contains of sayings of Ahmad bin Hanbal and Isha4 bin Ibrahim, then it is !hat Isha4 bin 0ansur informed us of from Ahmad and Isha4, e)ce&t !hat is in the cha&ters on Al-Ha,,, Blood 0oney #Ad-<iyat%, and Punishments #Al-Hudud% = for I did not hear that from Isha4 bin 0ansur, #rather% 0uhammad bin 0usa Al-Asamm informed me of it from Isha4 bin 0asur, from Ahmad and Isha4( And some of the statements of Isha4 9bin Ibrahim: !ere informed to us by 0uhammad bin Fulaih, from Isha4( 1e ha-e clarified this a&&ro&riately in each &lace in the boo"(2 3egarding At-Tirmidhi*s $tatements +f 5riticism After $ome ;arrations He said: .1hate-er is in it mentioning deficiencies regarding the Hadiths, the narrators, or historically, then it is !hat I e)tracted from Kitab At-Tari"h( And most of that is !hat 0uhammad bin Isma il obser-ed( Among it are the obser-ations of Abdullah bin Abdur-3ahman, and Abu /ur ah( 0ost of it is from 0uhammad, and the least of it is from Abdullah and Abu /ur ah( 9And I ha-e not seen anyone, in Al- Ira4 nor Khurasan, more "no!ledgeable about the meaning of deficiencies, history, familiarity !ith many chains of narration, than 0uhammad bin Isma il:(2 3egarding The 0eaning of Hasan and The 0eaning of >harib According To At-Tirmidhi He said: .1hate-er it is that !e mentioned in this boo" saying A Hasan Hadith,* !e only meant that its chain is Hasan according to us( ?-ery Hadith that is related that does not ha-e in its chain someone !ho is accused of lying, nor is the Hadith $hadh, and it has been related through other routes similar to that, then it is a Hasan Hadith according to us( About !hate-er !e said in this boo" is a >harib Hadi9th, then the &eo&le of Hadith considered the Hadith to be >harib for -arious reasons: $ometimes a Hadith is >harib because it is not related e)ce&t through one route, li"e the Hadith of Hammad bin $alamah from Abu Al- 6shara*, from his father, !ho said: I said: .+ 0essenger of Allah@ Is there no slaughtering e)ce&t u&on the nec" and the throatA2 He said: .If you stab its thigh it !ould be acce&ted of you(2 $o Hammad bin $alamah !as alone !ith this Hadith from Abu Al- 6shara*, and it is not "no!n of Abu Al- 6shara* #narrating% 9from his father: e)ce&t this Hadith, e-en though this Hadith is &o&ular !ith the &eo&le of "no!ledgeB(2 And:

.Abu Isa said: $ometimes a Hadith is considered >harib due to an addition that is in the Hadith, and it !ill only be correct !hen the addition is from one !ho is de&ended u&on for his memory( For e)am&leC !hat is re&orted by 0ali" bin Anas from ;afi , from Ibn 6mar !ho said: Allah*s 0essenger #$% /a"at Al-Ftr during 3amadan obligatory on e-ery free &erson or sla-e, male or female, among the 0uslims: A $a of dates, and a $a of barely(* He said: 0ali" added in this Hadith: among the 0uslims(* Ayyub As-$i"htiyani, 6baidullah bin 6mar, and more than one of the Imams, re&orted this Hadith from ;afi , from Ibn 6mar, and they did not mention .among the 0uslims2 in it( $ome of them !hose memories are not relied u&on, re&orted similar to the narration of 0ali" from ;afi ( 0ore than one of the Imams utilized the narration of 0ali", and they used it as &roof( Among them Ash-$hafi i and Ahmad bin Hanbal, they said: 1hen a man has sla-es that are not a 0uslims, he does not ha-e to gi-e $ada4at Al-Fitr for them* and they used the narration of 0ali" as &roof( $o !hen a Hafiz !hose memory is relied u&on narrates an addition, then that is acce&ted from him( $ometimes a Hadith is related through many routes, and it is only considered >harib due to the condition of the chainB(2 The Terminology 6sed By At-Tirmidhi There are some terms that At-Tirmidhi uses in his $unan, !hich are either not -ery common, or used by him in a manner that is not -ery common, and in the case of some terms, there is a difference of o&inion among the scholars about their meanings( $ome of these disagreements are -ery difficult to rectify( Hasan And >harib As for the meaning of Hasan and, that of >harib, then !e ha-e already 4uoted At-Tirmidhi e)&laining !hat is intended abo-e( Karahiyyah And 0a"ruh 1hen At-Tirmidhi mentions the Karahiyyah of a to&ic, translated as: .1hat has been related about it being disli"ed to do such and suchB2 then the reader must understand that the term 0a"ruh !as used by the early scholars to im&ly a !ider meaning than those !ho came later( 5ontem&orary Fi4h defines 0a"ruh as a ,udgement in Islamic la! that an action is disli"ed, loathsome or detested, but one is not accountable for doing something unla!ful if he or she commits a 0a"ruh act( $o it is essentially something that one should stay a!ay from, but one !ill not be held accountable if one does it( The early scholars used the term and its deri-ati-es in a !ider sense, that is, they used it for something that there !as a &rohibition against, or an indication of a &rohibition against it( 7et, there !ere reasons that they did not feel confident enough to label it .Haram2 or absolutely unla!ful( This means that one may find At-Tirmidhi saying: .About it being disli"ed to do this or that2 and one must understand that the to&ic in 4uestion may in fact be considered absolutely unla!ful, based u&on the e-idence &roduced( Additionally, it !ould be incorrect to say that At-Tirmidhi only considered the thing to be .disli"ed2 !hen he uses such e)&ressions( 3ather, it is an indication that this e-idence indicates = or almost indicates = that the action is unla!ful( Hasan $ahih This is the statement that the scholars disagree the most about, .This Hadith is Hasan $ahih(2 The most &o&ular -ie!s about its meaning are one of, or a combination of the follo!ing: D( It means that one of the chains of the Hadith is Hasan and another is $ahih( This is mentioned by Ibn As-$alah in his introduction to 6lum Al-Hadith( E( It means that the Hadith is either Hasan or $ahih, as scholars !ould differ o-er !hat to call it( This !as mentioned by Ibn Ha,ar in ;uzhat An-;azr( F( It is a grade abo-e Hasan and belo! $ahih( This is the -ie! of Ibn Kathir as mentioned in I"htisar 6lum Al-Hadith( G( It means that it is Hasan by itself, or $ahih due to other narrations( This !as said by Abdul-Ha44 Ad-<ahl!i in his introduction to his e)&lanation of 0ish"at( H( That they are t!o descri&tionsC Hasan describing it as good, and $ahih describing it as a higher le-el of &recision in its transmission due to the narrators( This is the -ie! of Ibn <a4i4 Al- Id in Al-I4tirah, Adh-<hahabi in Al-0u4addimat Al-0u!4izah( In An-;u"at Ala Ibn As-$alah, Ibn Ha,ar stated that this is the strongest -ie!( $imilarly, in his e)&lanation of At-Tirmidhi*s Al- Ilal, Ibn 3a,ab said: .A Hadith !ill only be $ahih Hasan !hen its chain is correct, being narrated by trust!orthy, ,ust narrators, and it is not $hadh, and similar is related from other routes( As for $ahih by itself, then it is not made a condition that similar to it be related from other routes, but it also must not be $hadh, so in this case As-$ahih Al-Hasan is stronger than !hat is merely $ahih(2 I( In the introduction to Tuhfat Al-Ah!adhi, Al-0ubara"&uri said: .There occurred to me t!o other -ie!s, one of them that the meaning is Hasan by itself, $ahih due to other narrations( And the other that the meaning is Hasan in ran", and its chain is correct #$ahih%, meaning that it is the most correct thing mentioned on this to&ic( $o if it is said The most correct of !hat is mentioned about this,* e-en if it is Hasan or !ea", then it refers to the &re&onderance of, or lac" of !ea"ness(2 There are other -ie!s stated by the scholars that are in many !ays similar to one of these( Additionally, one !ill find that At-Tirmidhi utilizes -arious combinations of all of these terms, calling a narration .Hasan >harib $ahih2 , .$ahih >harib,2 .>harib Hasan,2 .$ahih Hasan,2 as !ell as others( The 0eaning +f 'ayyid At-Tirmidhi also mentions the term 'ayyid for some narrations: .'ayyid >harib Hasan,2 .Hasan 'ayyid >harib,2 .'ayyid >harib(2 In most cases, the usage of the term 'ayyid, or its deri-ations to grade a narration, means one of three things: D( 1hen it is used to describe ho! one of the narrators narrated it, then the narration is safe from Tadlis(

E( That it is a Hadith grade meaning that it is better than Hasan but not as good as $ahih( F( That a narrator, or narrators, in the chain !ere generous in the manner that they narrated it, meaning that they did a -ery good ,ob in the narration(