Kashf al-Ghawamid fi Ahwal al-Anbiya' al-Musamman 'Ismat al-Anbiya (2 Volumes) ' كشف الغوامض في احوال الأنبياء المسمى عصمة الأنبياء

Kashf al-Ghawamid fi Ahwal al-Anbiya’: A Rediscovered Maturidi Masterpiece

Kashf al-Ghawamid fi Ahwal al-Anbiya’ al-Musamman 'Ismat al-Anbiya’ (كشف الغوامض في أحوال الأنبياء المسمى عصمة الأنبياء), published in a beautiful two-volume set, is a major historical milestone for Islamic theology (Aqidah), specifically within the Maturidi tradition.

The Author: A Second-Generation Maturidi Titan

The author, Imam Muhammad bin Yahya al-Maturidi, was born in 335 AH, just two years after the passing of the school’s founder, Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 333 AH). Growing up in the golden age of Central Asian Islamic scholarship, his work serves as an invaluable primary link in the early codification and transmission of Maturidi theology. His writings reflect the pristine, early development of Sunni dialectical theology (Kalam) in Transoxiana.

The Manuscript and Historic First-Ever Printing

For over a thousand years, this vital theological text remained unpublished and inaccessible to the public, preserved only as a manuscript. This historic first-ever printed edition was meticulously transcribed and reconstructed from a rare, preserved manuscript housed in the renowned Al-Biruni Institute of Oriental Studies (Ma’had al-Beiruni) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan—the traditional geographical cradle of the Maturidi school.

The rigorous academic effort of editing, collating, and annotating this thousand-year-old manuscript was carried out by the contemporary Azhari theologian Dr. Ahmed Sa’d al-Damanhuri. His critical editing bridges the classical era with modern scholarship, providing verified source citations, detailed annotations, and precise theological indexing.

Defending the Infallibility ('Ismah) of the Prophets

The core of this two-volume work is a comprehensive, systematic defense of ‘Ismat al-Anbiya’ (the divine protection and infallibility of the Prophets of God). The Imam addresses the delicate “problematic” ayahs in the Quran and narrations in historical texts that superficially suggest mistakes or moral lapses by certain Prophets (such as Adam, Yusuf, Yunus, or Dawud). Using advanced linguistic analysis, context-driven Quranic exegesis (Tafsir), and rational theological proofs, the author demonstrates the absolute moral perfection of the Prophets, refuting early deviant groups (like the Mu’tazilah, Hashawiyyah, and fabrications from Israelite traditions).