Sharh al-Aqida al-Asfahaniyya
- Author died
- 728 AH
- Editions
- al-Maktabah al-‘Aṣriyyah
Sharh al-Aqida al-Asfahaniyya (Commentary on the Asfahanian Creed) is a theological treatise written by the Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 AH / 1328 CE), expounding and critically evaluating a concise creed composed by Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-Asfahani (616–688 AH / 1219–1289 CE) .
Background and Composition
In 712 AH (1312 CE), while staying in Egypt, Ibn Taymiyya was asked to write a commentary clarifying the creed authored by Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-Asfahani, a prominent theologian and jurist who had served in the judiciary in Egypt . Ibn Taymiyya accepted the request, stating in his preface that commenting on the work required dissenting from several of its author's theological conclusions in accordance with Islamic tenets, as truth has greater right to be followed . Biographers highlight that the author of the base text, Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-Asfahani (d. 688 AH; another report gives 678 AH), is distinct from the later commentator Abu al-Thana' Mahmud ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Asfahani (d. 749 AH) .
Methodology and Contents
The work belongs to the category of critical commentaries (shuruh naqdiyya), wherein Ibn Taymiyya engages directly with scholastic theological propositions (kalam) to critique views that he considered departures from early Sunni doctrine . He specifically notes that al-Asfahani followed the method of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi on the divine attributes . The book addresses core doctrinal areas:
- The divine names and attributes (al-asma' wa-l-sifat)
- Faith and its definitions (al-iman)
- Divine decree and predestination (al-qadar)
- Prophethood (al-nubuwwat)
- The resurrection and the afterlife (al-ma'ad wa-l-yawm al-akhir)
Editions
The work has been published in several print editions:
- An edition edited with an introduction by Hasanayn Muhammad Makhluf, published by Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyya in Cairo .
- A critical edition edited by Muhammad ibn Awda al-Sa'awi as a doctoral thesis at the College of Usul al-Din at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh .
- An edition edited by Sa'id Muhammad, published by Maktabat al-Rushd in Riyadh .
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