Abu Ja'far Ahmad al-Tahawi ( ar, أبو جعفر الطحاوي, translit=Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī) (843 – 5 November 933), or simply aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
: ), was an
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
Hanafi
The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named aft ...
jurist and
Athari
Atharī theology or Atharism ( ar, الأثرية: / , " archeological"), otherwise referred to as Traditionalist theology or Scripturalist theology, is one of the main Sunni schools of Islamic theology. It emerged as an Islamic scholarly mov ...
theologian. He studied with his uncle
al-Muzani
Abū Ibrāīm Ismā'īl ibn Yahyā Ibn Ismā'īl Ibn 'Amr Ibn Muslim Al-Muzanī Al-Misrī (791/2 – 878) was an Islamic jurist and theologian and one of leading member of Shafi'i school. A native of Cairo, he was a close disciple and companion o ...
and was a
Shafi'i
The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...
jurist, before then changing to the Hanafi school. He is known for his work
al-'Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah
Al-'Aqida al-Tahawiyya ( ar, العقيدة الطحاوية ) or ''bayān 'ittiqād ahl al-sunnah wal jamā'ah'' ( ar, بيان اعتقاد أهل السنة والجماعة) is a popular exposition of Sunni Muslim doctrine written by the tent ...
, a summary of
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
Islamic creed
''Aqidah'' ( (), plural ''ʿaqāʾid'', also rendered ''ʿaqīda'', ''aqeeda'', etc.) is an Islamic term of Arabic origin that literally means "creed". It is also called Islamic creed and Islamic theology.
''Aqidah'' go beyond concise statem ...
which influenced Hanafis in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
.
Name
According to
al-Dhahabi
Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...
, his name was Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Salamah ibn 'Abd al-Malik ibn Salamah,
al-Azdi al-Hajari
al-Misri al-Tahawi
al-Hanafi.
Biography
Aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī was born in the village of Ṭaḥā in
upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south.
In ancient ...
in 229 AH (843 CE)
[ to an affluent ]Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
family of Azd
The Azd ( ar, أَزْد), or ''Al-Azd'' ( ar, ٱلْأَزْد), are a tribe of Sabaean Arabs.
In ancient times, the Sabaeans inhabited Ma'rib, capital city of the Kingdom of Saba' in modern-day Yemen. Their lands were irrigated by the Ma ...
ī origins. He began his studies with his maternal uncle, Ismāʿīl ibn Yaḥyā al-Muzanī, a leading disciple of ash-Shāfiʿī, but in 249 AH (863 CE), at approximately 20 years of age, aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī abandoned the Shāfiʿī
The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional Fiqh, schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunni Islam, Sunnī branch of Islam. I ...
school of jurisprudence in favour of the Ḥanafī
The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools (maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named afte ...
school. Different versions are given by his biographers of his conversion to the Ḥanafī
The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools (maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named afte ...
school, but the most probable reason seems to be that the system of Abū Ḥanīfa
Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭā ibn Marzubān ( ar, نعمان بن ثابت بن زوطا بن مرزبان; –767), commonly known by his '' kunya'' Abū Ḥanīfa ( ar, أبو حنيفة), or reverently as Imam Abū Ḥanīfa by Sunni Musl ...
appealed to his critical insight more than that of ash-Shāfiʿī.[
Aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī then studied under the head of the Ḥanafīs in Egypt, Aḥmad ibn Abī ʿImrān al-Ḥanafī, who had himself studied under the two primary students of ]Abū Ḥanīfa
Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭā ibn Marzubān ( ar, نعمان بن ثابت بن زوطا بن مرزبان; –767), commonly known by his '' kunya'' Abū Ḥanīfa ( ar, أبو حنيفة), or reverently as Imam Abū Ḥanīfa by Sunni Musl ...
, Abū Yūsuf and Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī.[ Aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī then travelled to ]Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
in 268 AH (882 CE) for further studies in Ḥanafī jurisprudence and became pupil to Abū Khāzim ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, the chief ''qāḍi'' of Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
.[
Aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī gained a vast knowledge of ]ḥadīth
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
in addition to Ḥanafī jurisprudence[ and his study circles consequently attracted many students of knowledge who related ]ḥadīth
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
from him and transmitted his works.[ Among them were al-Da'udi, the head of the ]Zahiri
The Ẓāhirī ( ar, ظاهري, otherwise transliterated as ''Dhāhirī'') ''madhhab'' or al-Ẓāhirīyyah ( ar, الظاهرية) is a Sunnī school of Islamic jurisprudence founded by Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī in the 9th century CE. It is chara ...
s in Khurasan, and aṭ-Ṭabarānī, well known for his biographical dictionaries of ḥadīth
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
transmitters.[
Aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī was famed for his expertise in both ḥadīth and Ḥanafī jurisprudence even during his own lifetime, and many of his works, such as ''Kitāb Maʿāni al-Āthār'' and '' ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwīyyah,'' continue to be held in high regard by Sunni Muslims today.][
He died on the 14th day of Dhū-l Qaʿdah, 321 AH (November 5, 933 CE), and was buried in al-Qarāfah, ]Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
.
Legacy
Many of aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī's contemporaries praised him and noted him as both a reliable scholar and narrator of ḥadīth. He was widely held as a distinguished and prolific writer and became known as the most learned ''faqīh'' amongst the Ḥanafīs in Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, despite having knowledge of all the madhāhib. Over fifteen commentaries have been produced on his creedal treatise, ''ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwīyyah'', including ''shuruh'' by the Hanafi jurist Ismail ibn Ibrahim al-Shaybani and the Taymiyyan-inclined Ibn Abi al-Izz
Sadr ad-Dīn Abu'l Ḥasan ʿAlī Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz () was a 14th-century Arab Muslim scholar and jurist who served as a ''qadi'' in Damascus and Egypt. He is best known for authoring a commentary on al-Tahawi's creedal treatise ''Al-Aqidah al-T ...
.
Works
He authored many other works, close to forty different books, some of which are still available today, including:
* ''Maʿāni al-Āthār'' (معاني الآثار)
* '' al-ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwīyyah'' (العقيدة الطحاوية)
* ''Aḥkām al-Qur’ān al-Karīm'' (أحكام القرآن الكريم)
* ''Al-Mukhtaṣar fil-Furūʿ'' (المختصر في الفروع)
* ''Sharḥ Mushkil al-Āthār'' (شرح مشكل الآثار)
* ''Sharḥ Maʿāni al-Āthār'' (شرح معاني الآثار)
* ''Sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr'' (شرح الجامع الكبير)
* ''Sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ aṣ-Ṣaghīr'' (شرح الجامع الصغير)
* ''Ash-Shurūṭ aṣ-Ṣaghīr'' (الشروط الصغير)
* ''Ash-Shurūṭ al-Kabīr'' (الشروط الكبير)
* ''Ikhtilāf al-ʿUlamā’'' (إختلاف العلماء)
* ''ʿUqūd al-Marjān fī Manāqib Abī Ḥanīfa an-Nuʿmān'' (عقود المرجان قي مناقب أبي حنيفة النعمان)
* ''Tārīkh al‑Kabīr'' (تاريخ الكبير)
* ''Ḥukm Arāḍi Makkah al-Mukarramah'' (حكم أراضي مكة المكرمة)
See also
* Islamic scholars
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tahawi
Mujaddid
Egyptian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam
Hadith scholars
843 births
933 deaths
Atharis
Hanafi fiqh scholars
Hanafis
9th-century jurists
10th-century jurists