Critique of i'tizāl in Sakūnī's Tamyīz: A study of the suras of al-Fātiha and al-Baqara

This thesis will take into account aspects of the Ash'ari theologian Abū Alī al-Sakūnī's criticism in his al-Tamyīz towards the Mu'tazilī al-Zamakhshari. Sakūnī was from a scholarly family, he was initially brought up in Andalusia and thereafter migrated to Maghreb. Although he lived in the era after Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī which was a turning point in the science of theology, he has made criticism to the Rāzī school despite it being the prominent thought of the time. Sakūnī has rather followed the footsteps of the mutaqaddimūn scholars, especially al-Bāqillānī. Al-Kashaf has had great influence since the day it was written, however due to the i'tizāl-oriented views it has been criticised by Sakūnī and many other orthodox theologians. Thus this has caused him to compile the study Tamyīz as a criticism to such thoughts. Tamyīz consists of a long introduction that can itself be counted as a theological study piece. Sakūnī in this introduction has mentioned the core principles of the theology science, thereafter criticisms are made within these principles. Sakūnī has managed and succeeded in finding the i'tizāl thoughts from al-Fātiha until al-Nās, in instance of common grounds with the Hanafiyyah he has only attributed the opinions to the Mu'tazila. A successful proposition criticism has been made whether it be Sakūnī's detection of i'tizāl (yet there is not a more in-depth study in this regard) or it be against Zamakhshari's thoughts. This study has mainly taken into account examples of i'tizāl-oriented seen in Suras of al-Fātiha and al-Baqara.