His original contribution to Hadith literature...

His original contribution to Hadith literature, so far as we can estimate is that he introduced a new system of collecting legal traditions, developed a new method of interpreting and harmonizing the conflicting traditions, and adopted a new criterion for criticizing them. His predecessors and contem­poraries, the authors of al‑Sihah al‑Sittah (the Six Canonical Compilations) collecting traditions according to their own standards and principles, left out a large number of genuine traditions.

Al‑Tahawi made a strenuous effort to collect all the genuine legal traditions of the Prophet, narrated by different authorities on a particular subject, together with the opinions of the of the Prophet, their and the distinguished jurisprudents. He then scrutinized traditions ( ahadith ) and showed by evidence which of them were authentic, strong, weak, unknown, or such as might be supposed to have been repealed.

Thus, his collection provided for the scholars an un­precedented opportunity to judge for themselves the merits or demerits of a particular tradition. The criterion for judging the genuineness of a tradition, according to the Traditionists in general, was the isnad (chain of the nar­rators), and so they paid greater attention to the scrutiny of the isnad than to the scrutiny of the text ( matn ) of a tradition.

But al‑Tahawi, while scrutiniz­ing a tradition, took into consideration the matn as well as the isnad of the tradition. He also aimed at a harmonizing interpretation in case of conflicting traditions. Al‑Tahawi, like al‑Maturidi, was a follower of Imam Abu Hanifah (d. 150/ 767) in jurisprudence as well as in theology.

He wrote a little treatise on theology named Bayan al‑Sunnah w‑al‑Jama'ah , generally known as al­`Aqidat al‑Tahawiyyah .[^5] In the introduction to this treatise he says he will give therein an account of the beliefs of the Ahl al‑sunnah w’al‑jama'ah according to the views of Imam Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad al‑Shaibani ‑ the well‑known jurisprudents of the community.

So the importance of his creed lies in the fact that it corroborates the views of Imam Abu Hanifah, the founder of the school, that have come down to us from different sources. Al‑Tahawi made no attempt to explain the views of the Imam or to solve the old theological problems by advancing any new arguments. His sole aim was to give a summary of the views of the Imam and to show indirectly that they were in conformity with the traditional views of the orthodox school.