Ahmad Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tahawi

Background

Taḥawi was born in the village of Taha in upper Egypt to an affluent family.

Education

Tahawi then studied under the head of the Hanafis in Egypt, Ahmed ibn Abi Ibrahim, who had himself studied under the two primary students of Abu Hanifa, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani.

Career

Among them were al-Da'udi, the head of the Zahiris in Khurasan and al-Tabarani well known for his biographical dictionaries of hadith transmitters. The scholars of his time praised him and mentioned him as being a scholar of Hadith (Muhaddith), one whose report was reliable and an established narrator. He was viewed as a distinguished and highly proficient writer and became known as the most knowledgeable of fiqh amongst the Hanafis in Egypt.

Ibn Yoonus said of him, "At-Tahaawee was reliable, trustworthy, a Faqeeh, intelligent, the likes of whom did not come afterward." In his introduction to Sharh (pages 17–19) the editor Zuhayr Shawish describes Tahawi: He was the Imam, the Muhaddith, the Faqeeh, the Haafidh, the noble Scholar, Abu Ja'far Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Salaamah Ibn Salama 'Abdil-Malik Ibn Salama Al-Azdee At-Tahawi. He was educated under many shuyookh, whom he took knowledge and benefited from. He had more than three hundred teachers.

He would spend lots of time with those scholars that came to visit Egypt from different parts of the world, such that he would add to his knowledge what knowledge they had. This shows you the extent of the concern he had for benefiting from the scholars, as well as the intense eagerness he had for acquiring knowledge. Many scholars praised him and described him as being reliable, trustworthy, a Faqeeh, intelligent, a good memorizer and a pious worshipper.

He had a high proficiency in fiqh and Hadeeth.

Works

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  • **REPRINT** Jawharat al-nayyirah al Mukhtaar al-Qudr
  • **REPRINT** Mukhtaar Tadhkirat al-Qurub