al-Shamail al-Muhammadiyya lil-Tirmidhi
- Author died
- 279 AH
- Editions
- t al-Julaymi · T Ihya al-Turath
al-Shamāʾil al-Muḥammadiyya (also titled al-Shamāʾil al-Nabawiyya or simply al-Shamāʾil) is a specialized hadith collection by al-Tirmidhi (209–279 AH / 824–892 CE) devoted to the physical features, personal attributes, character, and daily life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad .
Scope and Structure
The work is organized into 56 chapters (abwāb), each arranged under a thematic title that indicates the subject of its contained narrations . The book opens with chapters detailing the Prophet's physical appearance (khalq), the Seal of Prophethood, hair, combing, gray hair, hair dyeing, kohl, and attire . It proceeds to document his footwear, signet ring, swords, armor, helmets, turbans, gait, posture, food, beverages, perfumes, manner of speaking, laughter, and humor . Later chapters address his sleep, acts of worship—including voluntary and mid-morning prayers (duḥā) and fasting—recitation, weeping, humility, modesty (ḥayāʾ), living conditions, age, death, inheritance, and seeing him in dreams .
Method and Transmission
Unlike his major compilation, al-Jāmiʿ, in which al-Tirmidhi routinely appended critical evaluations of hadith authenticity and legal commentary, his method in al-Shamāʾil focused primarily on presenting the narrations beneath precise topical headings without extended discussions on narrator criticism (jarḥ wa-taʿdīl) or grading . The material collected consists predominantly of authentic (ṣaḥīḥ) and fair (ḥasan) reports—including narrations strengthened by corroborating lines of transmission—while strictly weak (ḍaʿīf) reports without supporting chains are rare .
The transmission of the book from al-Tirmidhi was preserved through multiple direct transmitters, recorded notably by Abu Ja'far ibn al-Zubayr as being six: Abu al-'Abbas Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Mahbub, al-Haytham ibn Kulayb al-Shashi, Abu Dharr Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ibrahim al-Qattan, Abu Hamid Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Tajir, and Abu al-Hasan al-Wadhari .
Reception and Commentaries
The book gained widespread acceptance as a foundational text in the shamāʾil genre. The historian and traditionist Ibn Kathir considered it among the finest and most beneficial works composed on the subject . Commentator Mulla 'Ali al-Qari remarked that studying the work allows the reader to vividly visualize the Prophet's presence and virtues across every chapter .
Numerous scholars across successive centuries composed commentaries, glosses, and abridgments on the text:
- Ashraf al-Wasāʾil ilā Fahm al-Shamāʾil by Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (d. 973 AH / 1566 CE; also given as 974 AH), dictated at the Grand Mosque in Mecca .
- Jamʿ al-Wasāʾil fī Sharḥ al-Shamāʾil by Mulla 'Ali al-Qari (d. 1014 AH / 1606 CE; also given as 1016 AH), completed in Mecca in 1008 AH .
- al-Mawāhib al-Ladunniyya ʿalā al-Shamāʾil al-Muḥammadiyya (also referred to as al-Mawāhib al-Dīniyya), a supercommentary by Ibrahim al-Bajuri (d. 1276 AH / 1860 CE; also given as 1277 AH) .
- al-Fawāʾid al-Jaliyya al-Bahiyya ʿalā al-Shamāʾil al-Muḥammadiyya by Muhammad ibn Qasim Jassus (fl. 1142 AH / 1729 CE) .
- Zahr al-Khamāʾil ʿalā al-Shamāʾil by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti .
- An Arabic commentary and a separate Persian commentary by Muslih al-Din Muhammad ibn Salah al-Lari (d. 979 AH) .
- Mukhtaṣar al-Shamāʾil al-Muḥammadiyya, a twentieth-century abridgment and critical edition by Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani .
Early printed editions include a lithograph printed in Calcutta (1262 AH / 1846 CE), an Arabic and Hindustani commentary titled Anwār-i Muḥammadī printed in Calcutta in 1836, and several editions published at the Bulaq Press in Cairo (including 1254 AH, 1280 AH, and 1296 AH) .
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