Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani
Tanzih al-Imam al-Shafii an Mataain al-Kawthari - ضمن «Athar al-Mualimi»
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dār ‘Ālam al-Fawā’id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘
Tanzih al-Imam al-Shafii an Mataain al-Kawthari (Exonerating Imam al-Shafi'i from the Defamations of al-Kawthari) is a polemical treatise written by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (d. 1386 AH / 1966 CE) to defend Imam al-Shafi'i against criticisms raised by Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari (d. 1371 AH) .
Background and Composition
Al-Mu'allimi composed the treatise as an offshoot of his major work al-Tankil bi-ma fi Tanib al-Kawthari min al-Abatil . In the introduction, he explained that when he examined al-Kawthari's book Taʾnib al-Khatib, he observed that al-Kawthari went beyond defending Abu Hanifah into disparaging other leading scholars of jurisprudence and hadith, which prompted him to compose al-Tankil and publish an excerpt entitled Taliat al-Tankil in Egypt . He then resolved to dedicate a separate treatise specifically to refuting al-Kawthari's attempts to undermine Imam al-Shafi'i .
In a letter sent to the hadith scholar Ahmad Muhammad Shakir (d. 1377 AH), al-Mu'allimi expressed his desire to print the biographical sections on al-Shafi'i and al-Khatib al-Baghdadi separately from al-Tankil, noting that both sections had become extensive enough to serve as independent treatises, and inquired whether any Shafi'i benefactors in Cairo would be interested in financing their publication .
Scope, Method, and Content
The treatise addresses criticisms al-Kawthari directed at al-Shafi'i in Taʾnib al-Khatib and in his marginal annotations on Ibn Abd al-Barr's al-Intiqa' . Although based on material from al-Tankil (specifically the biographical entry on al-Shafi'i, entry no. 189), the standalone treatise is not identical to that entry: it features expansions, broader argumentation, and an entire section (pages 51–66 in the original manuscript) dedicated specifically to tracking and refuting al-Kawthari's notes on al-Intiqa', which is not present in al-Tankil .
The treatise opens with a brief authorial introduction . Due to lost folios at the start of the surviving copy, discussions refuting al-Kawthari's attacks on al-Shafi'i's lineage and five linguistic objections are missing from the draft, and the extant text begins with the response to the sixth linguistic objection regarding the word al-fihr .
Manuscript and Publication
The unique autograph manuscript of the treatise is held at the Library of the Holy Mosque in Mecca (under no. 2791 ʿĀmm / majmūʿ 4717) . The manuscript consists of 45 actual pages (numbered up to 43 by the author, excluding unnumbered folios), and represents a draft notebook of al-Tankil where al-Mu'allimi crossed out the entries prior to al-Shafi'i and added a new title page and introduction . The title page bears the title Tanzih al-Imam al-Shafii an Mataain al-Kawthari along with a six-line table of contents .
The treatise was edited and published as the eleventh work within the collection of hadith treatises in volume 15 of Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Yahya al-Muallimi al-Yamani .
Answer updated