Matn al-Aqida al-Tahawiya - Sharh wa Taliq al-Albani
- Author died
- 321 AH
- Editions
- al-Maktab al-Islāmī
Matn al-Aqida al-Tahawiya: Sharh wa-Ta'liq al-Albani is an edition and commentary on the foundational Sunni creedal treatise of Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi (239–321 AH / 853–933 CE), featuring theological marginalia and hadith evaluation by the twentieth-century hadith scholar Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani (1332–1420 AH / 1914–1999 CE) .
Background and Base Text
The core text, known as al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya, was composed by the Egyptian Hanafi jurist and hadith scholar Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Salama al-Tahawi, a native of Taha in Upper Egypt . Al-Tahawi framed the work as an exposition of the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunna wa-al-Jama'a according to the school of early Hanafi jurists: Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man ibn Thabit, Abu Yusuf Ya'qub ibn Ibrahim al-Ansari, and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani . Written as a concise primer in theology (usul al-din), the tract addresses central topics of Islamic belief, including the divine unity and attributes, predestination, prophecy, the status of faith, and eschatology .
Al-Albani's Work and Methodology
Al-Albani's engagement with al-Tahawi's creed developed through his scholarly collaboration with publisher Zuhayr al-Shawish of al-Maktab al-Islami . His work encompassed both the verification and hadith evaluation (takhrij) of al-Tahawi's text and its classical commentary by the Hanafi scholar Ibn Abi al-Izz (731–792 AH) .
Al-Albani noted that his initial marginal annotations were composed quickly while traveling to meet printing deadlines, prompting him to revise and refine his analysis across subsequent editions . In his revised work for later printings, he standardized his method of hadith critique by explicitly declaring the authenticity rating (such as sahih) and source attribution at the beginning of each citation, clarifying his rulings on individual narrations referenced in the creed and commentary . His commentary notes also offered concise theological observations aligned with the Athari-Salafi approach to creed .
Reception and Editions
Al-Albani's notes became widely circulated as a standard reference for students studying al-Tahawi's creed alongside the commentary of Ibn Abi al-Izz . His marginalia and hadith gradings on the text have also been compiled in combined volumes alongside annotations by other contemporary scholars, such as Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Mani' and Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz .
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