The Text and Its Commentary: An-Nasafi and At-Taftazani

Sharh al-Aqa'id an-Nasafiyyah — Commentary on the Creed of an-Nasafi — is the work that more than any other defined theological education across the Sunni world from the eighth Islamic century onward. It consists of a base text (matn) composed by Abu Hafs Najm ad-Din Umar an-Nasafi (d. 537 AH / 1142 CE), a Hanafi jurist and Maturidi theologian from Samarqand, and a commentary (sharh) composed by at-Taftazani in 768 AH (1367 CE).

An-Nasafi's base text — Al-Aqa'id an-Nasafiyyah — is a brief creedal summary covering the main positions of Maturidi theology on knowledge, the divine attributes, the Quran, prophethood, and the Imamate. Its brevity was a pedagogical asset: the text could be memorized and served as a skeleton around which extended teaching could be organized. Dozens of commentaries were written on it before at-Taftazani composed his, but his commentary became the standard because of its clarity, comprehensiveness, and scholarly depth.

At-Taftazani composed Sharh al-Aqa'id at a relatively early stage of his career, making it more accessible than the encyclopedic Sharh al-Maqasid he would compose later. The commentary explains each phrase of an-Nasafi's text, provides the argument supporting the position stated, identifies and responds to objections from opposing schools, and notes relevant disagreements within the Sunni kalam tradition itself. The result is a text that gives students genuine engagement with the arguments of kalam theology while remaining manageable in length.

The pairing of an-Nasafi's compact matn and at-Taftazani's lucid sharh created an ideal educational unit. The matn gave students a memorable structure; the sharh gave them the substance. This format — a brief text paired with a medium-length commentary — was the dominant pedagogical format in Islamic madrasa education and Sharh al-Aqa'id an-Nasafiyyah is one of its most successful realizations.

The work's adoption as a curriculum standard in the Ottoman Empire was particularly significant. Ottoman scholars validated it, built their theological education around it, and through the global reach of Ottoman scholarship spread its influence to every part of the Islamic world that Ottoman educational institutions touched.