Al‑Kawthari

Muhammad Zahid ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Ê¿AlÄ« (; –1952), commonly known by the al-Kawthari (), was an Islamic scholar and theologian. A prolific author of over 40 works, al-Kawthari followed the Hanafi school of jurisprudence and championed the Maturidi school of theology.

A Circassian, al-Kawthari was born in Düzce, Ottoman Empire and studied at the Fatih Mosque, Istanbul. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, al-Kawthari fled to the Kingdom of Egypt in 1922 to avoid crackdown by the Kemalists. He then resided in Cairo and became a well-known scholar there.

Al-Kawthari authored numerous works defending traditional Hanafism and was a staunch critic of Salafism and Kemalism. He was known for authoring numerous works on the different Islamic Sciences and editing different manuscripts. He is widely honored by modern Hanafis, and is considered a leading of the Ottoman era.

Biography

Muhammad Zahid Hasan was born in 1879 in Düzce, then part of the Ottoman Empire. His family was of Circassian descent. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Atatürkists began a violent crackdown on the religious scholarly class.

Fearing that his life may be in danger, al-Kawthari fled to Cairo, then to Syria and finally returning to Cairo. There, he edited classical works of Fiqh, Hadith and Usul al-Fiqh, bringing them back into circulation. In particular, he wrote short biographies of prominent personalities of the Hanafi school of thought. A staunch Maturidi, he held a critical view of the medieval scholar Ibn Taymiyya and his student Ibn al-Qayyim.

Scholarly works

al-Kawtharī had left numerous works including nearly 51 original works, 30 critical editions, and prefaces for 30 works. Most of the works that he wrote in Astāna are in manuscript form while the majority of the rest are published. The commonly known works are as follows.

Critical Editions

• TabyÄ«n kadhib al-muftarÄ« fÄ«-mā nusiba ila al-Imām AbÄ« al-Hasan al-Ash'ari - A defence of Abu al-Ḥasan al-AshÊ¿arÄ« by Ibn Ê¿Asākir
• TabdÄ«d al-ẓalam al-mÅ«khÄ«m min nÅ«niyyat Ibn al-Qayyim – Refutation of Ibn al-Qayyim's NÅ«niyyah by TaqÄ« al-DÄ«n al-SubkÄ«
• al-Inṣāf fÄ«-mā yajib iÊ¿tiqāduhu wa-lā yajÅ«z al-jahl bihi - A book on theology by al-Baqillani
• Marātib al-ijmāʿ - a book on Ijmāʿ by Ibn Hazm and its refutation by Ibn Taymiyyah
• al-Asmāʾ wa-al-á¹£ifāt - a book on theology by al-BayhaqÄ«
• Munyah al-AlmaÊ¿Ä« fÄ«-mā fāta min takhrÄ«j aḥādÄ«th al-Hidāyah lil-ZaylaÊ¿Ä« - A supplemental book to Naá¹£b al-Rayah of al-ZaylaÊ¿Ä« that illustrates Hadith supporting the legal positions stated in the classical HanafÄ« manual al-Hidayah

Prefaces

• Fiqh Ahl al-`Iraq wa Hadithuhum – Originally an introduction to Nasb al-Raya, it was published separately with Shaykh Abdul Fattah Abu Ghudda's footnotes.
• Fatḥ al-mulhim fÄ« sharḥ á¹¢aḥīḥ Muslim - A commentary on Sahih Muslim by Shabbir Ahmad Usmani
• Ishārāt al-marām - A book on Maturidi theology by Kamāl al-DÄ«n al Bayāḍī
• Manāqib al-Imam al-ShāfiÊ¿Ä« - A laudatory biography of Imam al-ShāfiÊ¿Ä« by Ibn AbÄ« Ḥātim al-RāzÄ«
• QānÅ«n al-taʾwÄ«l - A book on theology by al-GhazālÄ«

Original Works

• Maqālāt al-Kawthari – Collection of his articles
• Muqaddimāt al-KawtharÄ« - Collection of his prefaces to different books
• TaʾnÄ«b al-Khaá¹­ib Ê¿alā mā sāqahu fÄ« tarjamah AbÄ« ḤanÄ«fah min al-akādhÄ«b - A refutation of al-Khatib al-Baghdadi's allegations about Imam Abu Hanifa in his work, Tarikh Baghdad
• al-Nukat al-á¹­arÄ«fah fÄ« al-taḥadduth Ê¿an rudÅ«d Ibn AbÄ« Shaybah Ê¿alā AbÄ« Ḥanifah - A response to Ibn Abi Shaybah's refutations of Imam Abu Hanifa, mainly the claim that Abu Hanifa went against 125 authentic hadith which this books replies to case-by-case
• Iḥqāq al-ḥaqq bi-ibṭāl al-bāṭil fÄ« mughÄ«th al-khalq - A response to the accusations of Imam al-Juwayni against the hanafis in his work MughÄ«th al-khalq
• Al-Istibṣār fÄ« al-taḥadduth Ê¿an al-jabr wa al-ikhtiyār – (The Obtainment of Insight Concerning Determinism and Freedom of Choice).
• Ḥusn al-taqāḍī fÄ« sÄ«rah al-Imām AbÄ« YÅ«suf al-Qāḍī – A biography of Imam Abu Yusuf
• Bulugh al-amānÄ« fÄ« sÄ«rah al-Imām Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-ShaybānÄ« – A biography of Imam Muhammad al-Shaybāni
• al-ḤāwÄ« fÄ« sÄ«rah al-Imām AbÄ« JaÊ¿far al-ṬaḥāwÄ« – A biography of Imam Al-Tahawi
• al-Imtāʿ bi-sÄ«rah al-Imāmayn al-Ḥasan ibn Ziyād wa ṣāḥibuhu Muḥammad ibn Shujāʿ - A biography of Imam Hasan ibn Ziyād and Imam Muḥammad ibn Shujāʿ
• Hanin al-Mutafajji` wa Anin al-Mutawajji`– A poem on the horrors of World War I.
• Al-Fara'id al-Wafiya fi `Ilmay al-`Arud wa al-Qafya – (The Abundant Peerless Matters in the Two Sciences of Prosody and Rhyme)

Assessment and legacy

Mufti Muhammad Anwar Khan Qasmi, a Deobandi scholar, has recently translated many of al-Kawthari's works into Urdu and published them in Indian academic journals and magazines. For example, al-La Madhhabiyya Qintarat al-La Diniyya, an article al-Kawthari wrote equating non-adherence to the schools of jurisprudence to irreligiousness, was translated by Qasmi with extensive footnotes and introduction by him and published by Deoband Islamic Research and Education Trust in 2013 under the title of Ghayr Muqallidiyyat: Ilhad Ka Darwaza. Also, Qasmi translated al-Kawthari's extensive introduction to Imam Ibn `Asakir's Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari, published by the same center in Deoband in 2013, under the title of Islami Firqe: Eik Jaiza. Qasmi also translated and edited in Urdu one of his great books called Fiqh Ahl al-`Iraq wa Hadīthuhum, initially an introduction to Naṣb al-Rāyah, which was published separately with ʿAbdul Fattāḥ's footnotes. On the same pattern, other books of al-Kawthari like Min ʿIbar al-Tārīkh fi al-Kayd lil-Islam, and his introduction to the book al-Asmā wa al-Sifāt of al-Bayhaqi, and al-Kawthari's footnotes on al-Dhahabi's Bayan Zaghal al-Ilam were also edited and translated by Qasmi and published by the same center in Deoband.

References

Further reading

• The Life and Thought of Imām Zāhid al-KawtharÄ«
• The life and works of Muhammad Zâhid al-Kevserî and his approach to the scholars of hadith
• Muhammed Zahid El-Kevseri hayatı eserleri fikirleri ve hadisçiliği
• Zahid al-Kawthari and his perspective of Islamic jurisprudence