The renowned Iranian Sunni Muslim authority on hadith, Mohammad ibn Eisa Tirmizi

Compiled by: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On 13th of the Islamic month of Rajab in 279 AH, the renowned Iranian Sunni Muslim authority on hadith, Mohammad ibn Eisa Tirmizi, passed away. He was born and died in Bagh, near Tirmiz in Greater Khorasan (now in southern Uzbekistan near Afghanistan's border). He travelled widely to Kufa, Basra and Hijaz, in pursuit of knowledge. His teachers included Mohammad Bukhari, Muslim Naishaburi and Abu Dawoud Sijistani – all three of whom were renowned Iranian Sunni Muslim compilers of hadith. Tirmizi, who became blind in the last two years of his life, is the author of "al-Jame' as-Sahih", popularly called "Sunan at-Tirmizi", one of the six canonical hadith compilations of Sunni Muslims.
He has included in his compendium authentic narrations on the unrivalled merits of the blessed household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and has said that the term "Ahl al-Bayt" as used by God in the holy Qur'an (33:33) and by the Prophet in several hadith, is exclusive for Imam Ali (AS), Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS), and does not include the Prophet's wives, as some allege. Tirmizi's grave is in Sherobad, 60 km north of Tirmiz, where he is popularly called Tirmiz Baba. Tirmiz is the hottest point in Uzbekistan with temperatures as high as 46 degrees centigrade, and the city traces its origin to Alexander's Greeks who called the place "thermos", meaning "hot".