Al-Tirmidhi's given name was "Muhammad" while his kunya was "Abu `Isa". His genealogy is uncertain; his nasab has variously been given as:
Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah
Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Mūsá ibn aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk
Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Shaddād
Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Shaddād ibn aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk
Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Shaddād ibn ‛Īsá
Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Yazīd ibn Sawrah ibn as-Sakan
Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sahl
Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sahl ibn Sawrah
He was also known by the laqab "ad-Darir". It has been said that he was born blind, but the majority of scholars agree that he became blind later in his life. At-Tirmidhi's family belonged to the Arab tribe of Banu Sulaym. His grandfather was originally from Marw, but moved to Tirmidh.
Birth
Muhammad ibn `Isa at-Tirmidhi was born during the reign of the Abbasid caliphal-Ma'mun. His year of birth has been reported as 209 AH. Adh-Dhahabi only states that at-Tirmidhi was born near the year 210 AH, thus some sources give his year of birth as 210 AH. Some sources indicate that he was born in Mecca while others say he was born in Tirmidh, in what is now southern Uzbekistan. The stronger opinion is that he was born in Tirmidh. Specifically, he was born in one of its suburbs, the village of Bugh.
Hadith studies
At-Tirmidhi began the study of hadith at the age of 20. From the year 235 AH he traveled widely in Khurasan, Iraq, and the Hijaz in order to collect hadith. His teachers and those he narrated from included:
At the time, Khurasan, at-Tirmidhi's native land, was a major center of learning, being home to a large number of muhaddiths. Other major centers of learning visited by at-Tirmidhi were the Iraqi cities of Kufa and Basra. At-Tirmidhi reported hadith from 42 Kufan teachers. In his Jami`, he used more reports from Kufan teachers than from teachers of any other town. At-Tirmidhi was a pupil of al-Bukhari, who was based in Khurasan. Adh-Dhahabi wrote, "His knowledge of hadith came from al-Bukhari." At-Tirmidhi mentioned al-Bukhari's name 114 times in his Jami`. He used al-Bukhari's Kitab at-Tarikh as a source when mentioning discrepancies in the text of a hadith or its transmitters, and praised al-Bukhari as being the most knowledgeable person in Iraq or Khurasan in the science of discrepancies of hadith. When mentioning the rulings of jurists, he followed al-Bukhari's practice of not mentioning the name of Abu Hanifah. Because he never received a reliable chain of narrators to mention Abu Hanifa's decrees, he would instead attribute them to "some people of Kufa." Al-Bukhari held at-Tirmidhi in high regard as well. He is reported to have told at-Tirmidhi, "I have profited more from you than you have from me," and in his Sahih he narrated two hadith from at-Tirmidhi. At-Tirmidhi also narrated some hadiths from Abu Dawud, and one from Muslim. Muslim also narrated one hadith from at-Tirmidhi in his own Sahih. A.J. Wensinck mentions Ahmad ibn Hanbal as among at-Tirmidhi's teachers. However, Hoosen states that according to the most reliable sources, at-Tirmidhi never went to Baghdad, nor did he attend any lectures of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Furthermore, at-Tirmidhi never directly narrates from Ahmad ibn Hanbal in his Jami`. Several of at-Tirmidhi's teachers also taught al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, and an-Nasa'i.
Writings
Al-Jami` Al-Mukhtasar min As-Sunan `an Rasulillah, known as “Jami` At-Tirmidhi)
Al-`Ilal As-Sughra
Az-Zuhd
Al-`Ilal Al-Kubra
Ash-Shama’il An-Nabawiyyah wa Al-Fada’il Al-Mustafawiyyah
Al-Asmaa’ wa Al-Kuna
Kitab At-Tarikh
School of thought
Imam Tirmidhi was very close to Imam Bukhari, Imam Tirmidhi was a Shaf'i or Hanbali. Conclusion was whether he was mujthaid or muqallid as he was close to Imam Bukhari some claim he followed his madhab.
Death
At-Tirmidhi was blind in the last two years of his life, according to adh-Dhahabi. His blindness is said to have been the consequence of excessive weeping, either due to fear of God or over the death of al-Bukhari. He died on Monday night, 13 Rajab 279 AH in Bugh. At-Tirmidhi is buried on the outskirts of Sherobod, 60 kilometers north of Termez in Uzbekistan. In Termez he is locally known as Abu Isa at-Termezi or "Termez Ota".
