al-Subkī's objections to al-Zahabī in his Work Tabakāt al-Shāfiiyya al-Qubrā

One of the most voluminous works in the Shāfi'ī stratigraphy of Ṭāj al-Dīn al-Subkī, who was one of the names who passed through al-Zaḥabī's education, is his Tabaqāt al-Shāfi'īt al-qubrā. In this work, he quotes his teacher al-Zahebī many times, but he also has objections to him. It is seen that these objections are related to issues such as cerh-ta'dil, biographical information, sources, style, method and so on. While some of these objections show that al-Subkī was accurate, others reflect the accuracy of the information that al-Zahebī quoted. In addition to these, there are also some sectarian objections, and these are the most severe ones. Al-Subkī, who is a Shafi'i Ash'arite, criticizes his teacher Zehebī, whom he states to have a strong inclination towards Hanbalite views, for not conveying the biographies of Ash'arite scholars accurately and adequately, and criticizes his teacher in harsh terms. When these criticisms are evaluated within the framework of other sources, it is seen that, as in other criticisms, the opinion of one side cannot be preferred for all of them; it is understood that both scholars make evaluations in accordance with their own point of view. Although it is not possible to say that al-Zahebī violated the rights of Ashʿarī and Shāfiʿī scholars in absolute terms, it is seen that he included the biographies of some scholars shorter than necessary and did not approach the views of every scholar with the same tolerance, while al-Subkī, although justified in some of his objections to his teacher, exhibited a reactionary and exaggerated attitude by generalizing. It is also understood that al-Subkī criticized his teacher with harsh expressions under the influence of his literary aspect and his loyalty to his sect along with some of his justified objections, while al- Zahabī did not display an unfair attitude as he claimed.