al-Qayyim and from the writings of other leading imams. The commentary is therefore extensive, and scholars have long relied on it and valued it for its purity of style and the soundness of its information. It ranks among the foremost references on matters of creed.

As already noted, the author composed this creed in accordance with the methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah in general, among whom is Imām Abū Ḥanīfah, al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit al-Kūfī—the earliest of the four imams, who met the Successors and reported from them. The same holds true for his two eminent students, Abū Yūsuf and Muḥammad al-Shaybānī, and for the scholars of the Ḥanafī school at large.

Al-Ṭaḥāwī stated their creed and confirmed that it is in full agreement with the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamāʿah. This constitutes a rebuttal of those who, whether in our time or in later periods, affiliate themselves with the Ḥanafī school yet diverge from Abū Ḥanīfah in matters of belief. They adopt his jurisprudence alone while opposing him in creed, embracing instead the doctrines of speculative theologians and logicians. The same pattern is found among later Shāfiʿīs who contradict Imām al-Shāfiʿī in creed, linking themselves to him only in fiqh, and among many later Mālikīs who no longer hold to the creed of Imām Mālik but merely follow his legal school, adopting instead various later paths and doctrines.

This creed, then, serves as a refutation of such people and all who claim association with the imams while departing from their belief.