Commentary On The Creed Of At-Tahawi - Sharh al-‘Aqidah at-Tahawiyah

In an age of bewildering spiritual and intellectual confusion, creed has never been more important. Every Muslim is obliged to learn it and is promised protection from deviant beliefs by following the unassailable texts of the scholastic community of Islam.

Of them all, al-‘Aqidah at-Tahawiyah (The Creed of Imam at-Tahawi) is the simplest, the most effective, and the least controversial. It serves as a sound basis for Islamic faith and is the most reliable of the early articulations of Muslim belief. The purpose of his treatise was to state the creed of the early scholars of the Hanafī madhab and to indicate its correlation with the views of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘ah in general. Because Imam at-Tahawi avoided innovated theological issues and systematically presented the most fundamental aspects of dogmatic theology, his creed has achieved an unusual degree of acceptance in the Muslim world.

The author of this treatise, Imam Abu Ja‘far at-Tahawi (239-321 A.H.), is one of the leading authorities on the Hanafī madhab. The period Imam at-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 Imām Isma’il ibn Yahya al-Muzani (a major student of Imām al-Shāfi‘ī), those he collected hadith from included Imām al-Nasai (author of ‘Sunan al-Nasai’, one of the ‘Sahih Sittah’) and his students included the great muhaddith Imām al-Tabarani.

In the thousand years since al-‘Aqidah at-Tahawiyah (The Creed of Imam at-Tahawi) was written, many great Muslim scholars have penned commentaries on it. It is still studied throughout the Muslim world and increasingly in the West.

The most renowned commentary of al-‘Aqidah at-Tahawiyah (The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi) is by Ibn Abi Al-'Izz Al-Dimashqi (d. in 792 A.H.). His explanation is adequate and in easy to understand language.

The book has obtained high stature at Al Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (Riyadh) since the time the university was founded. It has been the main reference book for the 'aqidah curriculum of university-level studies. In fact, even before that it had received special attention from the scholars of Saudi Arabia because it encompasses the true creed of Ahl as-Sunnah wa Al-Jama'ah.

Therefore, due to the importance of this book and the immense need for it and its like, Al Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (Riyadh) took on the task of translating it into English in hopes that those who speak English may benefit from it. The task of this translation was entrusted to a qualified professor who is fluent in both Arabic and English, Muhammad 'Abdul-Haqq Ansari , researcher in the Deanery of Academic Research.

Details

Title: Commentary On The Creed Of At-Tahawi : Sharh al-‘Aqidah at-Tahawiyah
Author: Imam Abu Ja‘far at-Tahawi
Commentator: Ibn Abi Al-'Izz
Translator: Muhammad 'Abdul-Haqq Ansari
Publisher: Al Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University 
Pages: 538
Volumes: 1
Size:  20.6 cm x 29.2 cm
Binding: Hardback
Edition Number: 1st
Year Of Publication: 2000
Weight: 1.63 kg

About Author

The author, Taqi al-Din Abu'l -'Abbas Ahmad ibn 'Abdus Salam ibn Taymiyyah al-Harrani (d. 728 AH) was a leading Hanbali scholar and a Mujtahid in his own right. His breadth of learning and depth of understanding was accepted by all of his peers and many of his biographers stated that he clearly surpasses the vast majority, if not all of the scholars of his time. He was a prolific writer and skilled orator. He was deeply religious and unwavering in his adherence to Islam and the Sunnah and repudiating all that opposed it.