1. Introduction

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^[1]–1390^[2]) was a Muslim Persian^[3][4][5] polymath.^[6] He also wrote a commentary on the Qur'an in Persian called "Kashf-al-Asrar".^[2][7]

2. Early Life and Education

Al-Taftazani was born in 1322 in Taftazan, Khorasan in Iran,^[7] then in the Sarbedaran state.^[8] He completed his education in various educational institutions in the cities of Herat, Ghijduvan, Feryumed, Gulistan, Khwarizm, Samarkand and Sarakhs. 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".^[9] He died in Samarkand in 1390 and was buried in Sarakhs. He sincerely practiced Islam, and practiced and preached in the Hanafi and Maturidi schools. He was of the Hanafi school in matters of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and a Maturidi with regard to issues of Aqidah (Islamic creed).^[10]

3. Career

During his lifetime, he wrote treaties on grammar, rhetoric, theology, logic, law and Quran exegesis.^[2] His works were used as textbooks for centuries in Ottoman madrasahs.^[8] and are used in Shia madrasahs to this day.^[11] He completed "Sharh-i az-Zanjani" which was his first and one of his most famous works at the age of 16.^[12] 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.

4. Contributions

Al-Taftazani made contributions to theology, Islamic jurisprudence, linguistics, rhetoric, logic and literature.^[2] 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".^[7]

5. Legacy

Ibn Khaldun, who is considered by some to be the father of the social sciences^[13] for anticipating many elements of these disciplines centuries before they were founded in the West, said of him:^[14]

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.

6. Writings by Al-Taftazani

6.1. 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.

6.2. 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.).

6.3. 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 ul Aqaid in Nasafiyye (767 A.H.; commentary on Abu Hafs Omar al-Nasafi's creed).

6.4. 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 gis juristical decisions during his juristicaal career.
• Sharh ul Faraid is Sirajiyya.

6.5. Theology

• Hashiyye Al ak-Kashshaf. (789 A.H.). This is an unfinished work of his.
• Kashf ul Esrar ve Uddet ul Ebraar.
• 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.