Whenever this name is cited before the Ahle Sunnah, the Nawasib in particular, abruptly provide a two worded riposte, Shia, unreliable. They would like us and their naive followers to believe that Ibn al-Hadeed was an individual about whom a unanimous repulsiveness has existed amongst Ahlke Sunnah but the reality is altogether different. Our opponents cannot seek to ignore the text we often cite of Ibn al-Hadeed for the following reasons:
Allamah Salahuddin Khalil bin Aybak al-Safadi (d. 764 H) records in his lengthy work ‘Al-Wafi bel Wafyat’ Volume 18 page 46:
عزالدين ابن أبي الحديد عبدالحميد بن هبة الله بن محمد بن محمد ابن أبي الحديد عزالدين أبوحامد المدائني المعتزلي الفقيه الشاعر
Ez al-Deen ibn Abi al-Hadid Abdulhamid bin Hebtallah bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Abi al-Hadeed Ez al-Deen Abu Hamid al-Madaeni, the Mu’atzali, the jurist (Faqih) and the poet.
We read in Tarikh al-Islam Volume 48 page 20 by Dhahabi:
عبدالحميد بن هبة الله بن محمد بن محمد بن أبي الحديد عز الدين أبوحامد المدائني المعتزلي الفقيه الشاعر الأديب
Abdulhamid bin Hebtallah bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Abi al-Hadeed, Ez al-Deen Abu Hamed al-Madaeni, the Mu’atzali, the jurist (Faqih) the poet and the man of letters.
We read in Al-Awasim min al-Qawasim by Ibn al-Wazir, Volume 4 page 42:
علامة المعتزلة عبدالحميد بن أبي الحديد
The Mu’atzali scholar Abdulhamid ibn Abi al-Hadeed.
We read in al-Jawahir al-Sanya by Hur al-Amili, page 305:
الشيخ العالم عزالدين عبدالحميد بن أبي الحديد المعتزلي أصولاً ، الحنفي فروعاً في كتابه شرح نهج البلاغة
The Sheikh, the scholar, Ez al-Deen Abdulhamid bin Abi al-Hadeed the Mu’atazili in beliefs and Hanafi in Fiqh, narrated in his book Sharah Nahajul Balagha.
We read in Ehqaq al-Haq by Tusturi, page 200:
ابن أبي الحديد المعتزلي الحنفي
Ibn Abi al-Hadid the Mu’atzali and Hanafi.
We read in Izam al-Nawasib by Mefleh bin Rashid, page 183:
بن أبي الحديد المعتزلي أصولاً والحنفي فروعاً من أعيان علماء السنة
Ibn Abi al-Hadid the Mu’atzali in beliefs and Hanafi in jurisprudence, he was a prominent Sunni scholar.
We read in Tarikh al-Islam by Dhahabi, Volume 44 page 176:
هبة الله بن أبي المعالي محمد بن محمد بن أبي الحديد القاضي أبو الحسين الفقيه الشافعي قاضي المدائن وخطيبها
Hebtallah bin Abi al-Ma’aly Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Abi al-Hadid Abu al-Hussain, the Shafiyee jurist, he was the judge and preacher of Madaen city.
We read in Mujalat al-Manar by Muhammad Rasheed Raza, Volume 14 page 868:
والمصنف من المعتزلة وهم متفقون على أن بيعة أبي بكر بيعة شرعية صحيحة وكذا بيعة سائر الخلفاء الأربعة واختلفوا في التفضيل فبعضهم كالأشعرية يجعلون ترتيب الخلفاء الأربعة في الفضل كترتيبهم في الخلافة ومن هؤلاء عمرو بن عبيد والجاحظ والنظَّام وغيرهم من قدماء البصريين ، وبعضهم يفضل عليًّا على الجميع وذكر أن الجبائي والقاضي عبد الجبار ذهب إلى ذلك في آخر عمرهما ، وبعضهم توقَّف في التفضيل ، وقطع بعض هؤلاء بتفضيل علي على عثمان ، وإنما توقف في التفضيل بينه وبين أبي بكر وعمر ، والمصنف على رأي من يفضلون عليًّا على الجميع رضي الله تعالى عنهم . إن هذا الشارح على تشيُّعِه لأمير المؤمنين لم يكن مقلدًا لطائفة الشيعة
The author adhered to the Mu’atzali sect, and they all agreed that the Baya of Abu Bakr was correct and legal, as was the case with the rest of the four Caliphs, but they disagreed over the issue of superiority, some of them just like the Ash’aris classified the superiority amongst them in the same manner as the caliphs appeared, such as Amr bin Obaid, Jahiz, Nizam, and others. Conversely other gave superiority to Ali over all such as Jabai and Qazi Abduljabar became inclined towards this view in the last years of their respective lives, whereas some others stopped and didn’t give superiority to anyone, and some of those gave superiority to Ali over Uthman but they stopped in giving superiority between him and Abu Bakr and Umar. And the author is one of those who gave superiority to Ali over all of them. This author whilst inclined towards Tash’aeu to Amir al-mominin, but he didn’t follow the Shia sect.
Salafi scholar Muhammad Rasheed Raza in his book Mujalat al-Manar, Volume 14 page 868 said about Ibn al-Haded’s book:
ولكن هذا الشرح كتاب من أجمع الكتب في الأدب والتاريخ والكلام والفقه والخلاف والجدل
But this book is one of the most complete books in literature, history, philosophy, jurisprudence, ethics, and debates.
وجملة القول أن هذا الكتاب من أعظم المصنفات العربية في الفنون التي أشرنا إليها ، يجد الناظر فيه من فنون العلم والأدب ما لا يجده مجموعًا في غيره ، فهو مما يحتاج إليه كل متكلم وجدلي ومؤرخ وأديب
The summary of my statement is that this book is one of the greatest Arabic books in the fields which I mentioned above, the reader finds in it knowledge and literature what he can’t find gathered in any other book, so every philosopher, historian, man of letters and debater needs such a book.
The said comments cannot be dismissed as the rants of irrelevant personality. Muhamad Rasheed Raza, who was a Salafi scholar of great repute, died in year 1935 and was given the moniker “Reformer” for his status in the Salafi sect and Al-Albaani and many modern Salafi scholars have praised him.
Moreover another Salafi scholar Ibn al-Wazir al-Yamani in his books used to rely on various text from ibn Abi al-Hadeed’s authority work ‘Sharh Nahaj al-Balagha. One should know that Ibn al-Wazir al-Yamani was a revered Salafi scholar, he died in year 830 AH and his books were in manuscript for a long period of time, and are now being published. Shawkani said about him: ‘The great Imam and the absolute Mujtahid. (al-Badr al-Tale, by Shawkani, v2, p 81).