Belief in Imam al-Mahdī within the Ḥanafī Creed: The Testimony of Imam Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr al-Rāzī (d. after 666 AH)
Imam Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr al-Rāzī (d. after 666 AH) compiled Hidāya min al-Iʿtiqād as a concise creed [ʿaqīda] of Ahl al-Sunna wa’l-Jamāʿa, attributed expressly to the school [madhhab] of Imam Abū Ḥanīfa, Abū Yūsuf and Muḥammad al-Shaybānī. He said he drew it from eight fundamental works [uṣūl]: al-Sawād al-Aʿẓam, al-Fiqh al-Akbar, al-Ṭaḥāwī, al-Kisāʾī, al-Durar al-Azhar, Tūjiz al-Taʾlīf, Waṣiyyat al-Nuʿmān and al-Muʿtaqad wa’l-Muʿtamad. He also said its teaching reached him from the leading Sunni authorities of Samarqand and Bukhārā.
Among the matters he listed for affirmation was the emergence of Imam al-Mahdī, alongside the tribulations [fitan] and the effacement of knowledge and of the scholars. Of these he said, “all of this is true.” Al-Mahdī was therefore counted within the creed itself.
In his closing disavowal, he named the Mushabbiha, Jahmiyya, Jabriyya, Qadariyya, Muʿtazila, Karrāmiyya, Rāfiḍa, Khawārij, Shīʿa, Qarāmiṭa and philosophers, and named no Sunni or Ḥanafī that denied al-Mahdī. This supports the conclusion that belief in al-Mahdī formed part of the Ḥanafī creed as he received it.
He stated in his Ḥanafī work on Islamic creed (ʿaqīda), Hidāya min al-Iʿtiqād [i](p. 286)
وغير ذلك من الأخبار عن سيد البشر [ﷺ] عند ظهور الفتن واندراس العلم والعلماء وخروج المهدى، وكل ذلك حق والسلام.
“And other such reports from the master of mankind [ﷺ] at the appearance of tribulations [fitan], the effacement of knowledge and of the scholars, and the emergence of al-Mahdī.[ii] All of this is true, and peace.”
The significance of the foregoing declaration, and its place within the creed of the Ḥanafī school [madhhab], is evident from the following passages of Imam al-Rāzī, in particular his judgement on those in our own time who reject belief in Imam al-Mahdī. He stated (pp. 21–22):
أما بعد لقد سألونى بعض أهل التوحيد أكرمهم الله تعالى بالتقوى والسعادة، وأمنهم من البعد والضلالة، أن أشرح لهم شرحًا على طريق السنة والجماعة حتى يمشوا به على سبيل الهداية جمعتها من السواد الأعظم والفقه الأكبر، ومن الطحاوي، والكسائي، ومن الدرر الأزهر، ومن توجز التأليف ووصية النعمان ومن المعتقد والمعتمد به دلائل الألوان، فمن قرأها فكأنما قرأ ثمان أصول بالدرس وجمع بين البدور والكواكب والشمس.
“To proceed: some of the people of the Oneness of Allah [ahl al-tawḥīd], whom may Allah the Exalted honour with piety [taqwā] and felicity, and grant security from remoteness and misguidance, asked me to prepare for them an explanation upon the path of the Sunna and the Jamāʿa, so that they may walk by it upon the path of guidance. I compiled it from al-Sawād al-Aʿẓam and al-Fiqh al-Akbar, and from al-Ṭaḥāwī and al-Kisāʾī, and from al-Durar al-Azhar, and from Tūjiz al-Taʾlīf and Waṣiyyat al-Nuʿmān, and from al-Muʿtaqad wa’l-Muʿtamad, in which are the proofs of the colours [dalāʾil al-alwān] [sic]. Whoever reads it, it is as though he had read eight fundamental works [uṣūl] through study and had brought together the full moons, the stars and the sun.
وقد جمعت من بين الكتب لإفادة المسلمين جمعا ولرجاء دعاء الموحدين طمعا، لكي يعرفوا طريقهم فى ملتنا عن طريق مذهب المخالفين والمبتدعين لاسيما في زماننا وليس عند الله أولى من هداية العباد إلى سبيل الرشاد والإبانة لهم عن المرضى من الاعتقاد وهو اعتقاد أهل السنة والجماعة جمعته صافيًا عن كدر البدعة، وشوب الضلالة، وجعلته قصير الدلائل؛ ليسهل حفظه، ويعم نفعه لأهل الفضائل، رجاء أن يكون ذكراً لى في الدنيا وذخراً للآخرة. فسميتها هداية من الاعتقاد ؛ لكثرة نفعه بين العباد، منسوب إلى مذهب فقهاء الملة، وعلماء الأمة: أبى حنيفة النعمان بن ثابت الكوفي وأبي يوسف يعقوب بن إبراهيم الأنصارى وأبى عبد الله محمد بن الحسن الشيباني، وما يعتقدون أصول الدين ويدينون به لرب العالمين ويقرون بتوحيد الله تعالى معتقدين، بتوفيق الله.
I have compiled it from among the books for the benefit of the Muslims, as a compilation, and in hope of the supplication of the people of Tawḥīd, out of aspiration, so that they may know their path within our religious community [milla], as distinct from the way of the school [madhhab] of the dissenters and the innovators, especially in our time. Nothing is more deserving in the sight of Allah than guiding His servants to the path of right guidance and making clear to them the approved creed [iʿtiqād], which is the creed of Ahl al-Sunna wa’l-Jamāʿa. I compiled it pure of the turbidity of innovation [bidʿa] and the admixture of misguidance, and made its proofs brief so that it would be easy to memorise and its benefit would extend to the people of virtue, hoping that it will be a remembrance for me in this world and a store for the Hereafter. So, I named it Hidāya min al-Iʿtiqād, because of the abundance of its benefit among the servants. It is attributed to the school of the jurists of the community [milla] and the scholars of the Ummah: Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit al-Kūfī, Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm al-Anṣārī, and Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī, and to what they believe of the fundamentals of religion [uṣūl al-dīn], which they profess as their religion before the Lord of the Worlds, affirming the Oneness of Allah the Exalted, in belief, by the granting of success [tawfīq] from Allah.”
Towards the end of the work, he said (p. 364):
وهذا ما بلغنا من أساتذتنا الطيبين الطاهرين، رئيس أهل السنة والجماعة بسمرقندى وبخارى، وهذا ديننا، واعتقادنا باطنًا وظاهرًا، ونحن نتبرأ إلى الله تعالى من كل من خالف الذي ذكرناه وبنيناه، ونسأل الله تعالى أن يثبتنا عليه ويختم لنا به وأن يعصمنا من الأهواء المختلفة، والآراء المتفرقة، والمذاهب الرديئة مثل المشبهة، والجهمية، والجبرية، والقدرية، والمعتزلة والكرامية، والرافضة والخوارج والسوفسطائية، والشيعة، والقرامطة، والفلاسفة، وغيرهم من أهل الأهواء والبدعة.
“And this is what has reached us from our teachers, the good and the pure, the head [raʾīs] of Ahl al-Sunna wa’l-Jamāʿa in Samarqand and Bukhārā. And this is our religion and our belief, inwardly and outwardly. We disavow before Allah the Exalted everyone who opposes what we have mentioned and built. We ask Allah the Exalted to make us firm upon it, to seal our lives with it, and to protect us from divergent whims [ahwāʾ], scattered opinions, and corrupt doctrines [madhāhib], such as the anthropomorphists [mushabbiha], the Jahmiyya, the Jabriyya, the Qadariyya, the Muʿtazila, the Karrāmiyya, the Rāfiḍa, the Khawārij, the Sophists [Sūfisṭāʾiyya], the Shīʿa, the Qarāmiṭa and the philosophers, and others among the people of whims [ahl al-ahwāʾ] and innovation [bidʿa].
الذين خالفوا السنة والجماعة وأخذوا الكفر والضلالة ونحن منهم نتبرأ، وهم عندنا ضلال أردياء وأشقياء، فمن اعتقد جميع ما ذكرنا موقنًا به مصدقًا له، كان من أهل الحق وعصابة المسلمين، وفارق أهل رهط الضلالة وحزب المبتدعين.
They are those who opposed the Sunna and the Jamāʿa and adopted disbelief and misguidance, and we disavow them. They are, in our view, misguided, base and wretched. So, whoever believes all that we have mentioned, being certain of it and affirming it, is among the people of truth and the company of the Muslims, and has parted from the people of the band of misguidance and the party of the innovators.
نسأل الله الثبات على الدين القويم، وعلى هذا المذهب المستقيم، والعصمة من الشيطان الرجيم والشهادة عند النزع والتسليم بفضله إنه هو الغفور الرحيم، وجواد كريم ذو المن وذو الفضل الحكيم حي قيوم رؤوف عطوف صبور حكيم شكور عليم إنه أرحم الراحمين واغفر لنا ولوالدينا واغفر لكل المسلمين أجمعين، اللهم صل على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين وسلام على المرسلين، والحمد لله رب العالمين.
We ask Allah for steadfastness upon the upright religion and upon this straight school [madhhab], for protection from Satan, the accursed, and for the testimony [shahāda] [of faith] at the time of the death-throes, and for submission [taslīm], by His grace. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful, the Generous and Munificent, Possessor of favour and of bounty, the Wise, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting, the Compassionate, the Kind, the Patient, the Wise, the Appreciative, the All-Knowing. Indeed, He is the Most Merciful of the merciful. Forgive us and our parents, and forgive all the Muslims altogether. O Allah, send blessings upon our master Muḥammad and upon his family and Companions altogether, and peace be upon the Messengers, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.”
Belief in al-Mahdī was thus an established component of the Ḥanafī creed as received and transmitted by him, and his text provides no indication that any Ḥanafī adherent of Ahl al-Sunna rejected this belief.
Compiled by:
Abul Hasan Hussain Ahmed
3 Jumādā al-Ūlā 1448 AH / 14 October 2026
Updates on Telegram: https://t.me/Darul_Tahqiq
[i] This work was published as Sharḥ Badʾ al-Amālī and wrongly ascribed to Imam Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ (d. 370 AH). It was edited by Abū ʿUmar al-Ḥussainī ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm and issued in its first edition in Beirut in 2001 by Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya. The correct title is Hidāya min al-Iʿtiqād as expressed by the author himself and confirmed by looking over a manuscript held in the Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi: Esad Efendi collection no. 01298
[ii] The author affirms this point on al-Mahdī in his own words in the passage of Hidāya min al-Iʿtiqād quoted above (p. 286 of the printed edition), and the same passage is found in the manuscript preserved in the Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul (Esad Efendi collection, no. 1298, fol. 71a), which I have examined.
