A Commentary on the Creed of Imam al-Tahawi

A Commentary on the Creed of Imam al-Tahawi 

Before you is the English translation of Sharh al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyah by Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan. This is an explanation of the renowned treatise on the Islamic creed entitled al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyah (The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi). The author of this treatise is Imam Abu Ja’far al-Tahawi (239-321 A.H.), one of the leading authorities on the Hanafi madhab. The period Imam al-Tahawi lived in was the zenith of the dissemination of the Islamic sciences and he was just one of the giants that this era produced. To illustrate this: his teachers included Imam Isma’_’_Ύil ibn Yahya al-Muzani (a major student of Imam al-ShсfiÑä), those he collected hadith from included Imсm al-Nasai (author of Sunan al-Nasai’, one of the Sahih Sittah’y) and his students included the great muhaddith Imсm al-Tabarani.

The purpose of his treatise was to state the creed of the early scholars of the HanafÑä madhab and to indicate its correlation with the views of Ahl al-Sunnah waYl-Jamс’ah in general. As Shaykh al-Fawzan states in his explanation: This entails a refutation against those who associate themselves with the Hanafäi school of fiqh in modern or recent times: They associate themselves with the HanafÑä school but contradict Imam Abu Han Ñäfah in creed; rather they only follow his views in jurisprudence. They adopt the creed of those who profess kalсm (theological rhetoric) and the logicians