Ḥanafīte traditionalism in the Mamluk period: Ibn Abī l-ʿIzz's (D. 792/1390) commentary on the creed of al-Ṭaḥāwī

This thesis analyses the theology of the Commentary on the Creed of Ṭaḥāwī (Sharḥ al-ʿAqīda al-Ṭaḥāwiyya) by the obscure eighth/fourteenth century Damascene traditionalist Ḥanafī jurist, judge, and theologian Ṣadr al-Dīn Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Abī l-ʿIzz (d. 792/1390). He was influenced by the thought of Ḥanbalite jurist, theologian, and polemicist Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) as a student of his disciple Ibn Kathīr (d. 774/1373). Ibn Abī l-ʿIzz taught as a mudarris at prominent Ḥanafī madrasa's in Damascus, eventually becoming the Ḥanafī qāḍī of Damascus and, briefly, of Cairo. Like his Ḥanbalite predecessor, Ibn Abī l-ʿIzz became embroiled in religious controversy following his marked Taymiyyan criticism of another Muslim scholar. Today, the commentary on the al-ʿAqīda al-Ṭaḥāwiyya is Ibn Abī l-ʿIzz's best known work, particularly among Salafī Muslims, although the commentary was only definitively attributed to Ibn Abī l-ʿIzz in the second half of the twentieth century by the Albanian Salafī scholar Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī (1914-1999).The creed of the Egyptian Ḥanafī scholar Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 321/933), known as ʿAqīda Ahl al-Sunna wa l-Jamāʿa or al-ʿAqīda al-Ṭaḥāwiyya, is arguably the best-known early Sunnī Muslim creedal text. The text is revered as an authentic expression of the creed of Sunnī Islam by most Sunnī Muslims, regardless of their specific theological affiliations. This is partially a result of the fact that al-Ṭaḥāwī, as a contemporary of Abū l-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī (d. 324/935-36) and Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d. 333/944), predates the formation of the Sunnī schools of kalām. By analysing three key issues in Islamic theology: the relationship between reason and revelation, the definition of faith (īmān), and the nature of God's speech (ṣifat al-kalām), this thesis demonstrates that Ibn Abī l-ʿIzz's theology is fundamentally grounded in Ibn Taymiyya's thought.