Imam al-Qurtubi and the Claims of a Pseudo-Athari

This is a short response that was originally posted on an Islamic forum by Shaykh Dr. Abul Hasan Hussain Ahmed to an unknown person who claimed to be Athari in ‘aqida and Hanafi in fiqh. It also responds in brief to a certain Ali Rida Qadri and Abu Alqama Ali Hassan Khan, all back in 2005. It deals with the true ‘aqida of the famous Qur’anic commentator known as Imam Shams al-Din al Qurtubi (D. 671AH), as well as other matters pertaining to the attributes (sifat) of Allah.

A short biography of Imam al-Qurtubi:

Imam Qurtubi is Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abu Bakr ibn Farah, Abu Abdullah al-Ansari al-Qurtubi, of Cordova (in present day Spain). A Maliki scholar and hadith specialist, he was one of the greatest Imams of Koranic exegesis, an ascetic who divided his days between worship and writing. Educated in hadith by masters like Ali ibn Muhammad al-Yahsabi and al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Bakri, he wrote works in the sciences of hadith and tenets of faith, though his enduring contribution is his twenty volume al-Jami li Ahkam al-Qur’an [The compendium of the rules of the Koran], from which he mainly omitted the stories and histories customary in other commentaries, and recorded instead the legal rulings contained in the Koran and how scholars have inferred them, together with canonical readings (qira’at), Arabic grammar, and which verses abrogate others and which are abrogated (nasikh wa mansukh). Scholars have used it extensively ever since it was written. It is related that Qurtubi disdained airs, and used to walk about in a simple caftan with a plain cap (taqiyya) on his head. He travelled east and settled in Munya Abi al-Khusayb in upper Egypt, where he died in 671/1273

(Quoted in the appendix to the Reliance of the Traveller, p. 1090, by Sh. Nuh Keller)

Preview of the article:

Download HERE