Sa'ad al-Din Masud ibn Umar ibn Abd Allah al-Taftazani ( fa, سعدالدین مسعودبن عمربن عبداللّه هروی خراسانی تفتازانی) also known as Al-Taftazani and Taftazani (1322–1390) was a
Muslim Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
polymath
A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
.
["Al-Taftazanni Sa'd al-Din Masud b. Umar b. Abdullah", in Encyclopedia Islam by W. Madelung, Brill. 2007]
Early life and education
Al-Taftazani was born in 1322 in
Taftazan,
Khorasan in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, then in the
Sarbedaran
The Sarbadars (from fa, سربدار ''sarbadār'', "head on gallows"; also known as Sarbedaran ) were a mixture of religious dervishes and secular rulers that came to rule over part of western Khurasan in the midst of the disintegration of th ...
state.
[Al-Taftazani, Sad al-Din Masud ibn Umar ibn Abd Allah (1950). ''A Commentary on the Creed of Islam: Sad al-Din al-Taftazani on the Creed of Najm al-Din al-Nasafi'' (Earl Edgar Elder Trans.). New York: Columbia University Press. p. XX.][Halil Inalcik, "The Ottoman Empire", Published by Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2000. except from pg 175:"The Ottoman ulema equally respected Sa'ad al-Din al-Taftazani from Iran and Sayyid Sharif al-Jurjani from Turkestan, both of whom followed the tradition of al-Razi and whose work formed the basis of Ottoman Medrese education"] He completed his education in various educational institutions in the cities of
Herat
Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safē ...
, Ghijduvan, Feryumed, Gulistan,
Khwarizm
Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ea ...
,
Samarkand and
Sarakhs
Sarakhs ( fa, سرخس, Saraxs, also Romanized as Serakhs) is a city in Sarakhs County, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. Sarakhs was once a stopping point along the Silk Road, and in its 11th century heyday had many libraries. Much of the origina ...
. He mainly resided in
Sarakhs
Sarakhs ( fa, سرخس, Saraxs, also Romanized as Serakhs) is a city in Sarakhs County, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. Sarakhs was once a stopping point along the Silk Road, and in its 11th century heyday had many libraries. Much of the origina ...
. He was active during the reign of
Timur
Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kü ...
, who noticed him as a promising scientist and supported his scholarship, and was part of his court.
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani famously remarked about him that "science ended with him in the East" and "no one could ever replace him". He died in
Samarkand in 1390 and was buried in
Sarakhs
Sarakhs ( fa, سرخس, Saraxs, also Romanized as Serakhs) is a city in Sarakhs County, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. Sarakhs was once a stopping point along the Silk Road, and in its 11th century heyday had many libraries. Much of the origina ...
. He practiced and preached in the
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 a ...
and
Ashari
Ashʿarī theology or Ashʿarism (; ar, الأشعرية: ) is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology, founded by the Muslim scholar, Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer, and scholastic theologian Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī in th ...
schools. He was of the
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 a ...
school in matters of
Fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
(
Islamic jurisprudence) and an
Ashari
Ashʿarī theology or Ashʿarism (; ar, الأشعرية: ) is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology, founded by the Muslim scholar, Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer, and scholastic theologian Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī in th ...
with regard to issues of
Aqidah
''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 stat ...
(
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 ...
).
Career
During his lifetime, he wrote treaties on grammar, rhetoric, theology, logic, law and
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
exegesis.
His works were used as textbooks for centuries in Ottoman madrasahs.
and are used in
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...
madrasahs to this day. He completed "Sharh-i az-Zanjani" which was his first and one of his most famous works at the age of 16. He also wrote a commentary of the Qur'an in
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and translated a volume of
Sa'adi's poetry from Persian into Turkish. But it was in Arabic that he composed the bulk of his writing.
His treatises, even the commentaries, are "standard books" for students of Islamic theology and his papers have been called a "compendium of the various views regarding the great doctrines of Islam".
Legacy
Ibn Khaldun said of him:
[Smith, J. R.; Smith, J.; Smith, L. B. (1980). ''Essentials of World History''. Barron's Educational Series, p. 20,][Ibn Khaldun (1969). ''The Muqaddimah, an Introduction to History'' (Rosenthal, F. Trans., Dawood, N. J. Ed.). Bollingen series, 160. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 92.]
I found 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 Medit ...
numerous works on the intellectual sciences composed by the well-known person Sa'd al-Din al-Taftazani, a native of Herat
Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safē ...
, one of the villages of Khurasan. Some of them are on kalam
''ʿIlm al-Kalām'' ( ar, عِلْم الكَلام, literally "science of discourse"), usually foreshortened to ''Kalām'' and sometimes called "Islamic scholastic theology" or "speculative theology", is the philosophical study of Islamic doc ...
(speculative theology) and the foundations of ''fiqh'' and rhetoric, which show that he had a profound knowledge of these sciences. Their contents demonstrate that he was well versed in the philosophical sciences and far advanced in the rest of the sciences which deal with Reason.
Writings by Al-Taftazani
Linguistics
* Sharh az Zanjani (aka. Serh ul Izzi fi't-Tasrîf, a.k.a. Sa'diyye). (738
A.H.). His first work.
* Al-Irsad (a.k.a. Irsad ul Hadi). (778 A.H.).
* al-Ni'am al-Sawabigh fi Sharh al-Nawabigh.
Rhetoric
* Al-Mutawwal (747 A.H.).
* Al-Mukhtasar (a.k.a. Muhtasar ul Ma'ani). (756 A.H.).
* Sharh'u Miftah il Ulum (a.k.a. Mirtah il Ulum). (787 A.H.).
Logic
* Sherh ur Risalet ash Shamsiyye (a.k.a. Sharh ush Shamsiyya). (752 A.H.).
* Maqasıd ut Talibin fi Ilmi Usul id-Din (a.k.a. Al-Maqasid). (784 A.H.).
* Tezhib ul Mantiq Wa al Kalam. (739 A.H.).
* Sharh ul Aqaid in Nasafiyye (767 A.H.; commentary on
Abu Hafs Omar al-Nasafi
Najm ad-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ 'Umar ibn Muḥammad an-Nasafī ( ar, نجم الدين أبو حفص عمر بن محمد النسفي; 1067–1142) was a Muslim jurist, theologian, mufassir, muhaddith and historian. A Persian scholar born in pr ...
's creed).
Legal Sciences
* at-Talwih fi Kashfi Haqaiq at Tanqih (758 A.H.).
* Hashiye tu Muhtasar il Munteha. (770 A.H.).
* Miftah ul Fiqh (a.k.a. Al-Miftah). (782 A.H.).
* Ihtisaru Sharhi Talhis il jami il Kabir. (785 A.H.).
* Al-Fatawa al Hanaffiya. (759 A.H.). A detailed compilation of his juristical decisions during his juristicaal career.
* Sharh ul Faraid is Sirajiyya.
Theology
* Sharh 'Aqaid al-Nasafi: This is a commentary on
Abu Hafs Umar al-Nasafi's treatise on the creed of Islam. Taftazani's commentary on this work soon became the most acclaimed commentary. By 17th century, there were more than fifty further commentaries that were written on Taftazani's "Sharh 'Aqaid al-Nasafi".
* Hashiyye Ala al-Kashshaf. (789 A.H.). This is an unfinished work of his.
* Al Arbain.
* Sharh ul Hadis ul Erbain en Neveviyye.
* Hashiyat al kashaf (extremely rare work by Taftazani) never finished by the scholar or unknown compiled during his lifetime. There are 3 manuscripts that have shed light on the subject and are known to the public in museums and private collections. One is dated 1147AH (private Saudi collection and is the oldest dated copy of his work some 357 years after his death), one dated 1209 AH, and one dated 1237AH.
See also
*
List of Iranian scientists and scholars
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
External links
A selection of Taftazani's works at Library of Grand National Assembly of Turkey"Summary of Disagreements Between at-Taftazani and al-Jurrujani"is an Arabic work, dating from 1805, which compares Taftazani's work to the work of
Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani
Abū Bakr, ‘Abd al-Qāhir ibn ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Jurjānī (10091078 or 1081 AD 00 – 471 or 474 A.H.; nicknamed "Al-Naḥawī" (the grammarian), he was a renowned Persian grammarian of the Arabic language, literary theor ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taftazani, Sad Al-Din
Asharis
Hanafis
Mujaddid
14th-century Muslim theologians
14th-century Iranian philosophers
Persian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam
14th-century Persian-language writers
Date of death unknown
1322 births
1390 deaths
Scholars from the Timurid Empire
Critics of Ibn Arabi