Friday, November 16, 2012

Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tahawi

Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad At-Tahaawee, Imaam Abu Ja'far at-Tahaawee  853 to 935) was a famous Sunni Islamic Scholar who followed the Hanafi madhhab.

He has been famous for Aqeedat Tahawiyyah, a treatise on Aqidah and been accepted by all four schools of thought. It was annotated by numerous proceeding Islamic scholars.

The scholars of his time praised him and mentioned him as being a scholar of Hadith (Muhaddith), one whose report was reliable and an established narrator. He was viewed as a distinguished and highly proficient writer and became known as the most knowledgeable of fiqh amongst the Hanafis in Egypt. This was even though he had a share in the fiqh of all of the madhabs of fiqh and hadith, and he knew of the various sciences of Islam. Ibn Yoonus said of him, "At-Tahaawee was reliable, trustworthy, a Faqeeh, intelligent, the likes of whom did not come afterward."

In his introduction to Sharh Aqida al-Tahaweyah (pages 17–19) the editor Zuhayr Shawish describes Tahawi:

He was the Imam, the Muhaddith, the Faqeeh, the Haafidh, the noble Scholar, Abu Ja'far Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Salaamah Ibn Salama 'Abdil-Malik Ibn Salama Al-Azdee At-Tahawi. He was educated under many shuyookh, whom he took knowledge and benefited from. He had more than three hundred teachers. He would spend lots of time with those scholars that came to visit Egypt from different parts of the world, such that he would add to his knowledge what knowledge they had. This shows you the extent of the concern he had for benefiting from the scholars, as well as the intense eagerness he had for acquiring knowledge. Many scholars praised him and described him as being reliable, trustworthy, a Faqeeh, intelligent, a good memorizer and a pious worshipper. He had a high proficiency in fiqh and Hadeeth.

He left behind many other works, close to forty different books, some of which are still available today. His works include:
  • Ma'ani al-Athar
  • Aqida al-Tahaweyah — it contains the Aqidah of the Salaf.
  • Sunan Ash-Shaafi'ee
  • Mushkil Al-Athaar
  • Ahkaam-ul-Qur'an
  • Al-Mukhtaar
  • Sharh Al-Jaam'i-ul-Kabeer
  • Sharh Al-Jaam'i-us-Sagheer
  • Ash-Shuroot
  • Nawaadir al-Fiqhiyyah
  • Ikhtilaf al-‘Ulama

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