Sunnis regard this collection as fifth in strength of their
six major hadith collections.
Ibn al-Jawzi stated that there are twenty-three or thirty forged hadith in it. Some scholars like
al-Suyuti have criticised Ibn al-Jawzi's findings as being too strict, concluding that there are no fabricated hadith in the Jami. The 20th-century Albanian Islamic scholar
al-Albani identified sixteen fabricated hadith.
Ibn Hazm's opinion It was narrated from
Ibn Al-Qattan Al-Fasi that
Ibn Hazm said in his now lost book,
Al-Isaal, that
Al-Tirmidhi's position was
Majhul or unknown. What is usually the case with narrators that are unknown is that they are rejected as being authentic. This peculiar and seemingly bizarre view of
Ibn Hazm regarding
Al-Tirmidhi's status in Hadith was also recorded by
Al-Dhahabi in his book,
Tarikh Al-Islam, and he said the following:What is astonishing is
Abu Muhammad Ibn Hazm, where he says about Abu 'Isa [i.e.
Al-Tirmidhi]: '[He is] unknown,' as mentioned in the book
Al-Isaal.In an attempt to try to defend
Ibn Hazm,
Al-Dhahabi made the point that the
Jami' of Tirmidhi hadn't reached
Andalusia until after
Ibn Hazm's death. This claim, however, doesn't stand. What seems to be the case is that the book had reached
Al-Andalus even before
Ibn Hazm's birth. Of the scholars who studied
Al-Tirmidhi's Sunan in
Al-Andalus was Ibn Al-Fardhi Al-Maliki,
Ibn Hazm's teacher, and he praised
Al-Tirmidhi's status in his book "Al-Mu'talif wal-Mukhtalif." Among other scholars, there was Yahya bin Muhammad al-Jayyani, who died in 390 AH, six years after
Ibn Hazm's birth.
Ibn 'Abd al-Barr used to narrate
Al-Tirmidhi's reports through al-Jayyani, and he even mentioned
Al-Tirmidhi in his book "Al-Tamhid".
Ibn Hazm himself also reviewed the book, making him aware of
Al-Tirmidhi's narrations, thus refuting the claim of
Al-Dhahabi that the book hadn't made it to
Al-Andalus before
Ibn Hazm's death.
Ibn Kathir also mentioned
Ibn Hazm's opinion of
Al-Tirmidhi, but misunderstood what was transmitted by
Ibn Al-Qattan and claimed that
Ibn Hazm made
Al-Tirmidhi Majhul in his
Al-Muhalla. However, there is no mention of this, and his ranking as unknown was only recorded in
Al-Isaal, and not in any other work.
Types of hadith included relating to their authenticity Of the four
Sunan books,
al-Tirmidhi's alone is divided into four categories. The first, those
hadith definitively classified as
authentic, he is in agreement with
Bukhari and
Muslim b. al-Hajjaj. The second category are those
hadith which conform to the standard of the three scholars,
al-Tirmidhi,
al-Nasa'i and
Abu Dawood, at a level less than
Bukhari and Muslim b. al-Hajjaj. Third, are the hadith collected due to a contradiction; in this case, he clarifies its flaw. And fourth, those
hadith which some
fiqh specialists have acted upon. ==Contents==