# Al-Taftazani

Sa'ad al-Din Masud ibn Umar ibn Abd Allah al-Taftazani (Persian: سعدالدین مسعودبن عمربن عبداللّه هروی خراسانی تفتازانی) also known as Al-Taftazani and Taftazani (1322–1390) was a Muslim Persian polymath.

## Early life and education

Al-Taftazani was born in 1322 in Taftazan, Khorasan in Iran, then in the Sarbedaran state. He completed his education in various educational institutions in the cities of Herat, Ghijduvan, Feryumed, Gulistan, Khwarizm, Samarkand and Sarakhs. His most prominent teacher was Adud al-Din al-Iji. He mainly resided in Sarakhs. He was active during the reign of Timur, who noticed him as a promising scientist and supported his scholarship, and was part of his court. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani famously remarked about him that "science ended with him in the East" and "no one could ever replace him". He died in Samarkand in 1390 and was buried in Sarakhs.

## Career

During his lifetime, he wrote treaties on grammar, rhetoric, theology, logic, law and Quran exegesis. His works were used as textbooks for centuries in Ottoman madrasahs and are used in Shia madrasahs to this day. He completed "Sharh-i az-Zanjani" which was his first and one of his most famous works at the age of 16. He also wrote a commentary of the Qur'an in Persian and translated a volume of Sa'adi's poetry from Persian into Turkish. But it was in Arabic that he composed the bulk of his writing.
His treatises, even the commentaries, are "standard books" for students of Islamic theology and his papers have been called a "compendium of the various views regarding the great doctrines of Islam".

## Legacy

Ibn Khaldun said of him:
   I found in Egypt numerous works on the intellectual sciences composed by the well-known person Sa'd al-Din al-Taftazani, a native of Herat, one of the villages of Khurasan. Some of them are on kalam (speculative theology) and the foundations of fiqh and rhetoric, which show that he had a profound knowledge of these sciences. Their contents demonstrate that he was well versed in the philosophical sciences and far advanced in the rest of the sciences which deal with Reason.

## Writings by Al-Taftazani

Part of a series on :
Ash'arism :
Rock carved with al-'Aqida al-Murshida by Ibn Tumart :
Background :
Sunni Islam
Kullabiyya
Ahl al-Ra'y
Kalam :
Eminent scholars
3rd AH/9th AD
Abu Hasan al-Ash'ari (d. 324/936)
Ibn Khafif (d. 371/982)
4th AH/10th AD
Al-Baqillani (d. 403/1013)
Ibn Furak (d. 406/1015)
Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini (d. 418/1027)
'Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi (d. 429/1037)
Abu 'Imran al-Fasi (d. 430/1038-9)
Abu Dharr al-Harawi (d. 434/1043)
Al-Mawardi (d. 450/1058)
Al-Bayhaqi (d. 458/1066)
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463/1071)
Al-Qushayri (d. 465/1072)
Abu al-Walid al-Baji (d. 474/1081)
Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi (d. 476/1083)
Al-Juwayni (d. 478/1085)
5th AH/11th AD
Al-Raghib al-Isfahani (d. 502/1108)
Al-Ghazali (d. 505/1111)
Abu al-Qasim al-Ansari (d. 511 or 512/1117-19)
Ibn 'Aqil (d. 513/1119)
Ibn Rushd al-Jadd (d. 520/1126)
Al-Mazari (d. 536/1141)
Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi (d. 543/1148)
Al-Qadi 'Iyad (d. 544/1149)
Al-Shahrastani (d. 548/1153)
Ibn 'Asakir (d. 571/1176)
Ahmad al-Rifa'i (d. 578/1182)
6th AH/12th AD
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1209)
Ibn al-Athir (d. 630/ 1233)
Sayf al-Din al-Amidi (d. 631/1233)
Ibn al-Hajib (d. 646/1248)
'Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam (d. 660/1262)
Al-Qurtubi (d. 671/1272)
Al-Nawawi (d. 676/1277)
Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi (d. 684/1285)
Al-Baydawi (d. c. 685/1286)
Ibn al-Nafis (d. 687/1288)
7th AH/13th AD
Ibn Daqiq al-'Id (d. 702/1302)
Ibn 'Ata' Allah (d. 709/1309)
Safi al-Din al-Hindi (d. 715/1315)
Ibn Juzayy (d. 741/1340)
Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati (d. 745/1344)
Taqi al-Din al-Subki (d. 756/1355)
'Adud al-Din al-'Iji (d. 757/1355)
Taj al-Din al-Subki (d. 771/1370)
Shams al-Din al-Kirmani (d. 786/1384)
Al-Taftazani (d. 793/1390)
Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi (d. 794/1392)
8th AH/14th AD
Ibn 'Arafa (d. 803/1401)
Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini (d. 805/1405)
Zain al-Din al-'Iraqi (d. 806/1404)
Nur al-Din al-Haythami (d. 807/1404-5)
Ibn Khaldun (d. 808/1406)
Al-Sharif al-Jurjani (d. 816/1413)
Ibn al-Jazari (d. 833/1429)
Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani (d. 852/1449)
Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli (d. 864/1459)
'Abd al-Rahman al-Tha'alibi (d. 875/1470)
Ahmad Zarruq (d. 899/1493)
9th AH/15th AD
Al-Sakhawi (d. 902/1497)
Jalal al-Din al-Dawani (d. 907/1501 or 908/1502)
Al-Suyuti (d. 911/1505)
Al-Qastallani (d. 923/1517)
Zakariyya al-Ansari (d. 926/1520)
Al-Sha'rani (d. 973/1565)
Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (d. 974/1567)
Al-Khatib al-Shirbini (d. 977/1570)
10th AH/16th AD
Ibn 'Ashir (d. 1040/1631)
Ahmad al-Maqqari (d. 1041/1632)
Ibrahim al-Laqqani (d. 1041/1631)
Muhammad Mayyara (d. 1072/1662)
11th AH/17th AD
Al-Hasan al-Yusi (d. 1102/1691)
Muhammad al-Zurqani (d. 1122/1710)
'Abdallah ibn 'Alawi al-Haddad (d. 1132/1720)
Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (d. 1176/1762)
12th AH/18th AD
Ahmad al-Dardir (d. 1204/1786)
Ahmad ibn 'Ajiba (d. 1224/1809)
Ibn Kiran (d. 1227/1812)
Ahmad al-Tijani (d. 1230/1815)
Ibrahim al-Bajuri (d. 1276/1859-60)
Muhammad 'Ilish (d. 1299/1882)
13th AH/19th AD
Ahmad Zayni Dahlan (d. 1304/1886)
Yusuf al-Nabhani (d. 1350/1931)
Bediüzzaman Said Nursi (d. 1379/1960)
Muhammad al-'Arabi al-Tabbani (d. 1390/1970)
Muhammad al-Tahir ibn 'Ashur (d. 1393/1973)
14th AH/20th AD
Muhammad Mitwalli al-Sha'rawi (d. 1419/1998)
Muhammad 'Alawi al-Maliki (d. 1425/2004)
'Abdullah al-Harari (d. 1429/2008)
Nuh al-Qudah (d. 1432/2010)
Muhammad Sa'id Ramadan al-Buti (d. 1434/2013)
Wahbah al-Zuhayli (d. 1436/2015)
Muhammad 'Ali al-Sabuni (d. 1442/2021) :
Theological works
Istihsan al-Khawd fi 'Ilm al-Kalam
Mujarrad Maqalat al-Ash'ari
Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari
Al-'Aqida al-Tahawiyya
Sharh al-'Aqa'id al-Nasafiyya
Al-Insaf
Al-Irshad
Al-Iqtisad
Tahafut al-Falasifa
Al-Asma' wa al-Sifat
Al-Risala al-Qushayriyya
Al-Farq bayn al-Firaq
Al-Milal wa al-Nihal
Asas al-Taqdis
Daf' Shubah al-Tashbih
Lubab al-Muhassal
Al-Murshid al-Mu'een
Jawharat al-Tawhid :
Institutions
Abi al-Hasan al-Ash'ari Center
Al-Nizamiyya of Baghdad
Al-Azhar University
Al-Qarawiyyin University
Al-Zaytuna Mosque
Umayyad Mosque
Dar al-Hadith al-Ashrafiyya
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)
Islamic Education Movement
International Islamic University Malaysia :
Events
2016 International Islamic Conference :
Related groups
Classic
Maturidis
Sufis
Ahl al-Hadith
Modern
Al-Ahbash
Deobandis
Barelvis :
Islam portal
Category :
vte :

### Linguistics

* Sharh az Zanjani (aka. Serh ul Izzi fi't-Tasrîf, a.k.a. Sa'diyye). (738 A.H.). His first work.
* Al-Irsad (a.k.a. Irsad ul Hadi). (778 A.H.).
* al-Ni'am al-Sawabigh fi Sharh al-Nawabigh.

### Rhetoric

* Al-Mutawwal (747 A.H.).
* Al-Mukhtasar (a.k.a. Muhtasar ul Ma'ani). (756 A.H.).
* Sharh'u Miftah il Ulum (a.k.a. Mirtah il Ulum). (787 A.H.).

### Logic

* Sherh ur Risalet ash Shamsiyye (a.k.a. Sharh ush Shamsiyya). (752 A.H.).
* Maqasıd ut Talibin fi Ilmi Usul id-Din (a.k.a. Al-Maqasid). (784 A.H.).
* Tezhib ul Mantiq Wa al Kalam. (739 A.H.).
* Sharh al-'Aqa'id al-Nasafiyya (767 A.H.; commentary on Abu Hafs Omar al-Nasafi's creed).

### Legal Sciences

* at-Talwih fi Kashfi Haqaiq at Tanqih (758 A.H.).
* Hashiye tu Muhtasar il Munteha. (770 A.H.).
* Miftah ul Fiqh (a.k.a. Al-Miftah). (782 A.H.).
* Ihtisaru Sharhi Talhis il jami il Kabir. (785 A.H.).
* Al-Fatawa al Hanaffiya. (759 A.H.). A detailed compilation of his juristical decisions during his juristicaal career.
* Sharh ul Faraid is Sirajiyya.

### Theology

* Sharh al-'Aqa'id al-Nasafiyya: This is a commentary on Abu Hafs Umar al-Nasafi's treatise on the creed of Islam. Taftazani's commentary on this work soon became the most acclaimed commentary. By 17th century, there were more than fifty further commentaries that were written on Taftazani's "Sharh 'Aqaid al-Nasafi". He wrote this explanation according to the methodology of the maturidis.
* Sharh al Maqasid. The most advanced comprehensive Ash'ari theology book written until today alongside Sharh al Mawaqif of Al-Sharif al-Jurjani.
* Hashiyye Ala al-Kashshaf. (789 A.H.). This is an unfinished work of his.
* Al Arbain.
* Sharh ul Hadis ul Erbain en Neveviyye.
* Hashiyat al kashaf (extremely rare work by Taftazani) never finished by the scholar or unknown compiled during his lifetime. There are 3 manuscripts that have shed light on the subject and are known to the public in museums and private collections. One is dated 1147AH (private Saudi collection and is the oldest dated copy of his work some 357 years after his death), one dated 1209 AH, and one dated 1237AH.