Al-Imam al-Haafidh, Muhammad bin Eisa bin Sowrah bin Musa bin al-Dhihaak al-Silmi al-Tirmidhi was born in the year 209 A.H. during the reign of the Abbasid Khalifa Ma'mun al-Rashid.

Having grown up in an environment of learning, together with possessing many great qualities naturally drove Imam al-Tirmidhi to dedicate his life totally towards the field of Hadith. He obtained his basic knowledge at home and later traveled to far off lands in search of this great science. He studied Hadith under great personalities such as Imam al-Bukhari, Imam Muslim and Imam Abu Dawud. In some narrations, Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim are his students as well.

Imam al-Tirmidhi had an exceptionally remarkable memory. If he heard something once, he never forgot it. Once on his way to Makkah, Imam al-Tirmidhi met a scholar of hadith from whom he had previously copied two chapters of hadith. Thinking that he had the notes with him he asked the scholar if he would allow him to read out these two chapters so that he could correct any errors. After realizing that he did not have those notes with him he took a blank piece of paper and read out the entire two parts from memory. When the scholar realised what he was doing he rebuked Imam al-Tirmidhi saying: "Have you no shame, why are you wasting my time." Imam al-Tirmidhi assured him that he had committed all the ahadith to memory. The scholar was not convinced, even though Imam al-Tirmidhi had recited all the hadith from memory. Imam al-Tirmidhi requested him to recite to him some other hadith. The scholar recited forty ahadith that Imam al-Tirmidhi then repeated without making a single error. Upon this the scholar apologized and said, “I have never imagined that such an thing was humanly possible”.

Some of the most famous teachers that he studied with were:

Imam al-Bukhari
Imam Muslim,
Imam Abu Dawood,
Imam Qutaibah ibn Sa'eed,
Shaykh Abu Bakr al-Zuhri

Some of his most famous works are:

Jam'i at-Tirmidhee,
Kitab al-illal,
Shama’il al-Tirmidhee,
Kitab al-Zuhd,
Asmaa as-Sahaabah,
al-Asmaa al-Kunaa,
Kitaab Fil-Athaar al-Mawqoofah,
Kitaab Jarh Wa-Ta'deel.