al-Intisar li Hizb Allah al-Muwahhidin wa al-Radd ala al-Mujadil an al-Mushrikin
- Author died
- 1282 AH
- Editions
- Dar Taybah lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
al-Intisar li Hizb Allah al-Muwahhidin wa al-Radd ala al-Mujadil an al-Mushrikin ("The Victory for the Party of God, the Monotheists, and the Refutation of the One Who Disputes on Behalf of the Polytheists") is a theological treatise in creed and polemics by the Najdi Hanbali scholar Abd Allah Aba Butayn (1194–1282 AH / 1780–1865 CE), written as a concise refutation of the arguments surrounding supplication, intercession, and polytheism raised by Dawud ibn Jurjis.
Background and Purpose
The treatise was composed to counter the claims advanced by the Iraqi scholar Dawud ibn Sulayman ibn Jurjis al-Baghdadi (d. 1299 AH), who had traveled to Unayzah in Najd and engaged with Aba Butayn. Ibn Jurjis argued that it was impossible for major polytheism (shirk) to occur within the Muslim community and maintained that directing supplication to other than God in search of proximity (zulfa) did not constitute polytheism. Aba Butayn authored this treatise to refute those contentions, demonstrate the invalidity of his opponent's arguments from scriptural texts and scholarly consensus, and defend the theological positions maintained by the scholars of the Najdi reform movement.
Title and Relation to Ta'sis al-Taqdis
According to the historian Ibn Bishr in the manuscript section of his chronicle Unwan al-majd, the title of the book was not assigned directly by Aba Butayn himself, but rather by some of his students, as scholars of that era frequently left their shorter polemical treatises without formal titles. A slight variant appears in one manuscript copy as al-Intisar li Hizb Allah al-Muwahhidin wa al-Radd ala man Yujadilu an al-Mushrikin.
The work represents Aba Butayn's concise initial response to Ibn Jurjis; he subsequently composed a comprehensive, larger work against the same adversary titled Ta'sis al-taqdis fi kashf talbis Dawud ibn Sulayman ibn Jurjis, in which he systematically traced and answered his opponent's arguments in greater detail.
Publication History
The work has been published in several printings:
- An edition published in Cairo at al-Matba'ah al-Salafiyyah in 1378 AH, sponsored by Abd al-Malik ibn Ibrahim Al al-Shaykh, spanning thirty-nine pages.
- A printing by Dar al-Arabiyyah in Beirut based on a manuscript transcribed by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Muhammad on 24 Dhu al-Hijjah 1305 AH.
- A critical edition prepared by al-Walid ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Faryan, published by Dar Taybah in Riyadh in 1409 AH.
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