By the infinite mercy of Allah, I have been blessed to be able to teach the Shama’il Muhammadiyyah of Imam Tirmidhi twice in the last year and have begun to teach it again this year to students of the Dawrat al-Hadith. In the beginning of the year, students were very adamant on finding a commentary of the Shama’il that best suited their needs, in other words both relatively comprehensive and also concise.
While I suggested that the students try and benefit from all the different commentaries given that each has its own virtues and each contains discussions not included in the others, I was forced to admit that, in my humble opinion and to the limits of my knowledge, the best version that fit their needs is the famous commentary of ‘Allamah Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Bajuri al-Shafi’i entitled al-Mawahib al-Ladunniyyah ‘ala al-Shama’il al-Muhammadiyyah.
This book, being a later commentary, had benefited immensely from the earlier works of Imams Ibn Hajar al-Makki, Mullah ‘Ali al-Qari, and ‘Abd al-Ra’uf al-Munawi, and had concisely summarized their main points.
Despite its conciseness, the Mawahib does miss a lot of the beneficial detailed discussions mentioned in say ‘Ibn Hajar’s Ashraf al-Wasa’il or Mullah ‘Ali Qari’s Jami’ al-Wasa’il. But given the fact that most students won’t need that much detail nor do they find the time to read it, I suggest that they suffice with ‘Allamah Bajuri’s book.
An excellent edition of Bajuri’s commentary has been published with the Shama’il and edited by the respected hadith master, Shaykh Muhammad ‘Awwamah (may Allah lengthen his life). While this edition is fairly difficult to get a hold of in the West, an online pdf version is available for download. I have included a link to it below.
al-Shama’il al-Muhammadiyyah ma’a al-Mawahib al-Ladunniyyah li ‘l-Bajuri
at-Tahawi 
Salam
A less well known commentary of the Shamail is by the great Hanafi Ahsai jusrist and contemporary of Imam Ibn Abidin: Shaykh Abu Bakr al-Mulla.
This Sharh was published a few years back with the editing of Shaykh Yahya al-Mulla. The work as stated by the author is a combination of al-Qari’s and al-Munawi’s commentaries. Shaykh Yahya has also referenced each narration in detail an quoted the passges from al-Qari’s commentary found on the margins of the manuscript.
Turath publishing I believe are working on the Mukhtasar Shamail by Imam al-Suyuti, and the Khatam/Summary of the Shamail of al-Kattani along with useful notes from commentaries.
Finally Shaykh Yusuf al-Nabhani has a Arbain on the Shamail which is very nice.
Ws
[…] Best Commentary of Imam Tirmidhi’s al-Shama’il al-Muhammadiyyah for a Talib (Student) […]
Here is the audiobook on Shamail of Imam Tirmidhi
http://www.avaxhome.ws/ebooks/audiobook/Hadith_Lectures_Shamail_of_Imam_Tirmidhi.html
This edition is available in the UK from Kitaabun. They probably don’t have many, so order soon: http://kitaabun.com/shopping3/product_info.php?products_id=1698
It is also available to order from http://daralhadith.lefora.com/forum/category/dar-al-hadith-foundation-courses-our-bookstore/ – probably the better option (in terms of price) if you are not in the UK.
I am interested to know about the commentary written by ‘Abd al-Ra’uf al-Munawi as well as a short bio of the imam.
Mulla Ali al-Qari’s sharh with Imam al-Munawi’s sharh on the margins: http://www.waqfeya.com/book.php?bid=2493
Assalaamu Alaikum
In Ml Zakariya’s commentary of Shamaail, he quotes a Shaykh by the name of Bayjoori. Is this that a different Shaykh, or just a matter of spelling? JazakAllahu Khairan
I believe it is the same. Are you taking the spelling from a translation?
I’ve seen it in Arabic also written both as الباجوري and البيجوري, but the former more often (and he himself spelled it that way in Tuhfat al-Murid, for example).
I recently noticed that the author spelled it البيجوري in the very sharh this post is discussing. والله أعلم