Ibn Abi al-Izz

Sadr ad-Dīn Abu'l Ḥasan ʿAlī Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz (Arabic: صَدرُ الدين أبو الحسن عليُّ بن علاءِ الدين الدمشقي الصالحيَّ) 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-Tahawiyyah, which is popular with Salafis.

Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz
ابن أبي العز
Personal
Born	12 Dhu al-Hijjah 1331
Died	1390 (aged 58–59) Damascus
Religion	Islam
Region	Syria, Egypt
Denomination	Sunni
Jurisprudence	Hanafi
Creed	Athari
Other names	Sadr ad-Dīn Abu'l Ḥasan ʿAlī Al Hanafi
Muslim leader
Influenced by Ibn Kathir, Ibn Taymiyyah
Influenced Al-Albani, Ibn Baz, Salih al-Fawzan

Biography

According to Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Ibn Abi al-'Izz was born on 12 Dhu al-Hijjah 1331 CE/731 AH,^[1] hailing from a family that were staunch adherents of the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. He was a disciple of Ibn Kathir, a student of Ibn Taymiyyah.^[2] He was appointed as a judge in his hometown of Damascus, later accepting a judgeship in Egypt before returning to Damascus.^[1] Al-Sakhawi mentions his teacher, Ibn Adiry, as one of al-'Izz's students.^[3]

During his latter tenure as a judge in Damascus, al-'Izz became embroiled in controversy due to his views that Allah has a direction, Hell is not eternal and his censure of Ibn Aybuk's qaṣĩdah (poem),^[1] whose contents he held to constitute disbelief.^[4] His judgeship was subsequently revoked, and as he was legally unbeliever in the eyes of his adversaries, his marriage was void so they took his wife and married her to one of their own^[5], until an individual named al-Nāṣirī raised the issue to the authorities, resulting in al-ʻIzz's position being restored.^[4] He remained at his position until his death there in 1390 CE/792 AH.^[1][4]

Legacy

Ibn Abi al-Izz's sharh on al-Tahawi's creedal treatise al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah proved popular with members of the later Salafi movement, who regard it as a true representation of the work free from Maturidi influence, thus showing it to be in accordance with Salafi creed. Numerous Salafi scholars have produced supercommentaries and annotations on the sharh, including Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani and Saleh al-Fawzan, and it is taught as a standard text at the Islamic University of Madinah.^[2]

The sharh is shunned by Maturidis, who view it as a misrepresentation of al-Tahawi's work and in conflict with their creed.^[2] The Maturidi scholar Ibrahim al-Yaqubi suspected al-'Izz of being a pseudonym for Ibn al-Qayyim due to similarities between the positions held in the sharh and those of Ibn al-Qayyim's teacher, Ibn Taymiyyah.^[6] Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari contested the existence of al-‘Izz altogether and posited that his biographical details were recent interpolations or false attributions, arguing the sharh was the work of an anthropomorphist who could not have been Hanafi.^[7]

Ibn Abī al-ʿIzz wrote the as yet unedited al-Tahdhīb li-Dhihn al-Labīb.^[8]

References

1. al-`Asqalani, Ahmad ibn `Ali. Hashim al-Nadwi and al-Mu`allimi (ed.). al-Durar al-Kaminah (in Arabic). Vol. 3. Hyderabad, India: Dairah al-Ma`arif al`Uthmania. p. 87.
2. Bruckmayr, Philipp (2020-05-27). "Salafī Challenge and Māturīdī Response: Contemporary Disputes over the Legitimacy of Māturīdī kalām". Die Welt des Islams (in German). 60 (2–3): 293–324. doi:10.1163/15700607-06023P06. ISSN 1570-0607.
3. Wajeez al Kalam by as-Sakhawi 1/296.
4. Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz, Muḥammad. Introduction. Sharḥ al-ʻAqīdah al-Ṭaḥāwiyyah. By Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz. Ed. a group of scholars. Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islamiy, 1988. 5—16.
5. Miḥna Ibn abī al-'Izz al-Ḥanafī (محنة أبن أبي العز الحنفي), p. 220-221.
6. "New Kharijism".
7. Al-Kawthari, al-Hawi fi Sira al-Imam al-Tahawi (p. 38)
8. One of the manuscripts in which it is found is Princeton MS Garret 488Y (folios 100-134): Matthew L. Keegan, 'Levity Makes the Law: Islamic Legal Riddles', Islamic Law and Society (2019), doi:10.1163/15685195-00260A10.