Tasis al-Taqdis fi Kashf Talbis Dawud bin Jirjis
- Author died
- 1282 AH
- Editions
- Mu'assasat al-Risalah
Tasis al-Taqdis fi Kashf Talbis Dawud bin Jirjis (Arabic: تأسيس التقديس في كشف تلبيس داود بن جرجيس, The Establishment of Sanctification in Exposing the Deception of Dawud ibn Jirjis) is a 19th-century theological treatise by the Najdi Hanbali jurist Abd Allah Aba Butayn (1194–1282 AH / 1780–1865 CE) . The work is a polemical refutation of the Iraqi scholar Dawud ibn Jirjis (Dawud ibn Sulayman ibn Jirjis al-Baghdadi), defending the theological tenets of the Najdi reform movement regarding the exclusive worship of God (tawhid al-uluhiyya), supplication, and intercession .
Background and Composition
The genesis of the work arose from theological disputes following Dawud ibn Jirjis's visit to Unayzah in Najd, where he met Aba Butayn and circulated arguments defending seeking intercession through the deceased and venerating righteous figures . Initially, Aba Butayn was asked to comment on verses from al-Busiri's al-Burdah and Ibn Jirjis's poetic interpolation (tashtir) of them, leading Aba Butayn to write a brief two-leaf response . When an opponent wrote an objection, Aba Butayn composed a further response of about three fascicles .
These exchanges were forwarded to Ibn Jirjis, who collected older polemical writings against the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and produced a draft treatise . After returning to Iraq, Ibn Jirjis dispatched a letter to an associate in Unayzah presenting arguments that there is no distinction between asking the living and asking the dead . In response to these claims, Aba Butayn authored Tasis al-Taqdis to systematically dismantle Ibn Jirjis's arguments, as recorded by the historian Uthman ibn Bishr .
Contents and Core Themes
The treatise focuses on several central theological and juristic disputes:
- Refutation of Ibn Jirjis's premises on idolatry: Aba Butayn refutes Ibn Jirjis's assertion that committing polytheism (shirk) is impossible within the Muslim community and counters his claim that calling upon non-divine entities to seek closeness to God does not constitute polytheism .
- Supplication to the dead versus the living: The author rejects the premise that seeking aid from the deceased is analogous to asking the living, maintaining that directing supplication and requests for supernatural aid to the dead constitutes an act of illicit worship .
- Rebuttal of polemical accusations: Aba Butayn rejects Ibn Jirjis's claim that Najdi scholars declare anyone who owns, recites, or listens to al-Burdah to be an unbeliever whose blood is licit to shed, classifying this assertion as a falsehood .
Aba Butayn also authored a related summary rebuttal against Ibn Jirjis titled al-Intisar li-Hizb Allah al-Muwahhidin wa-al-Radd 'ala al-Mujadil 'an al-Mushrikin .
Manuscripts and Publication
The work was transmitted through multiple manuscript copies, including one transcribed in 1306 AH and another preserved in the Saudi Library in Riyadh originally belonging to Muhammad ibn Abd al-Latif Al al-Shaykh .
Tasis al-Taqdis was published in Egypt by Matba'at Isa al-Babi al-Halabi in Ramadan 1344 AH, authorized by Abd Allah ibn Hasan, the preacher of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, comprising 120 pages . A modern critical edition edited by Abd al-Salam ibn Barjas al-Abd al-Karim was published in Beirut by Mu'assasat al-Risalah in 1422 AH / 2001 CE .
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