Creed Al-Dhahabī states that al-Ẓāhirī learnt
kalām (dialectical theology) from
Ibn Kullāb. Similarly to other Muslim scholars who were accused of sharing Ibn Kullāb's
creed (
ʿaqīdah), such as
Ḥārit̲h̲ al-Muḥāsibī and
Muḥammad al-Bukhārī, al-Ẓāhirī was repudiated by certain factions of
ḥadīth authorities of his era, which accused him of holding particular creedal views relating to God's speech. Al-Ẓāhirī's understanding of the Islamic faith was described by al-Dhahabī's teacher, the Syrian Muslim historian and scholar
Ibn Taymiyyah, as having been based upon the
Atharī ʿaqīdah, affirming the attributes of God
without delving into their fundamental nature.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Shahrastānī, a 12th-century Persian Muslim
historian of religion and
Ashʿarī theologian, classified al-Ẓāhirī along with
Mālik ibn Anas (founder of the
Mālikī school), Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and
Sufyān al-Thawrī as early Sunnī Muslim scholars who rejected both
esoteric and
anthropotheistic interpretations of
God, but both Ibn Taymiyyah and al-Shahrastānī considered al-Ẓāhirī and his students, along with Mālik ibn Anas, al-Shāfiʿī , Ibn Ḥanbal, al-Thawrī, Abū Thawr,
al-Māwardī, and their students to be the
Ahl al-Ḥadīth ("people of the tradition"), as opposed to the ''
Ahl al-Ra'y'' ("people of logic").
Analogical reasoning This creed of not delving into the fundamental nature of the texts likely affected al-Ẓāhirī's views on literalism as well. While all the major figures of Islam were united upon the
Quran and
sunnah being the foremost sources of
Islamic law (
sharīʿa), al-Ẓāhirī held that these two sources must also be taken at the literal meanings and only applied in the particular circumstances which they described. Al-Ẓāhirī rejected the principle of
qiyās, otherwise known as "analogical reasoning", as a method of deducing rulings in Islamic jurisprudence, regarding it as a form of
bidʻah, which means "innovation" within the Islamic religion, which the
Islamic prophet Muhammad had not allowed. There are conflicting views regarding al-Ẓāhirī's position when the specific causality of a command or prohibition within the Quran or
prophetic example was stated, due to different Muslim historians recording opposing statements. Some take the view that al-Ẓāhirī restricted the ruling to the incident or condition in which the causality arose, seeing that the causality provides a concrete law; others take the view that he would instead form a general principle in the event of a stated causality.
Consensus Al-Ẓāhirī considered the
scholarly consensus (
ijmāʿ) to consist only of the opinions of the first generation of
Muhammad's closest companions (
ṣaḥāba), excluding all other generations after them from this definition.
Nature of the Quran While al-Ẓāhirī at one time
studied the ḥadīth literature under Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, he was later barred from study due to a dispute regarding the nature of the
Quran; al-Ẓāhirī stated that the Quran was
muhdath or "recently occurring", a stance of which Ibn Ḥanbal strongly disapproved. Even before that time, Ibn Ḥanbal had actually cut off contact with anyone who would study with or consult al-Ẓāhirī regarding religious matters, a habit which Ibn Ḥanbal started after witnessing Ẓāhirī's defense of al-Shāfiʿī against the attacks of Ibn Rāhwayh. but a semantic misunderstanding arose when al-Ẓāhirī, al-Bukhārī,
Muslim bin al-Ḥajjāj, and others used the phrase "recently occurring" to establish that God and the Quran, believed by Muslims to be the literal speech of God, are not the same thing, but rather that God's speech is an attribute. Modern-day scholarship has suggested, in light of the weakness in the chains of narration connecting the phrase "the Quran is recently occurring" to al-Ẓāhirī that he may have never made such a statement or held such a belief at all. Abū ʿUbaida further supported his point by noting that al-Ẓāhirī and his students were actually severer in their opposition to the Muʿtazilite school and their belief that the Quran was created than Ibn Ḥanbal was, using harsh language in their written responses to such beliefs.
Usury Al-Ẓāhirī held the view that regarding in-kind exchanges of goods, the forbidden type of
usury applies only to the six commodities specified by the Islamic prophet Muhammad:
gold,
silver,
wheat,
barley,
dates, and
salt. and
Hanbali scholars during his time. He considered that a woman's face could be uncovered in public, but that all other body parts must be covered.
Traveling If a Muslim begins traveling while
fasting (
ṣawm) during the month of
Ramaḍān, al-Ẓāhirī saw that the individual should break their fast on the day which they started their journey, a view upon which both Ibn Ḥanbal and Ibn Rāhwayh agreed. This was due to the Quranic verse allowing the traveler to skip the Ramaḍān fast and make it up when they complete their journey. If a Muslim did fast while traveling, they would still have to make up the days the skipped according to al-Ẓāhirī's view, as the verse wasn't merely an allowance for breaking the fast, but a command. Most Muslims shorten the length of their prayers while traveling as well. This "traveling" by which the Muslim shortens his prayers and breaks the fast is a topic of discussion among jurists as to its distance and duration. Al-Ẓāhirī saw that any form of traveling, regardless of distance or duration, allowed the individual to shorten their prayers. ==Works==