Ibn Abu al-Hadid

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Izz al-Din `Abd al-Hamid ibn Hibat-Allah ibn Abi al-Hadid al-Mu`tazili (d. 656/1258) was an eminent Mu`tazili Islamic scholar of his era and a writer.

Among his books are a comment on Nahj al-Balagha.

He also accused Shi'as and Sunnis of fabricating hadith:

... Know that the origins of fabrications in fada'il traditions were due to the Shi'ite, for they forged in the first instance traditions concerning their leader. Enmity towards their adversaries drove them to this fabrication ... When the Bakriyya saw what the Shi'ite had done, they fabricated for their own master traditions to counter the former ... When the Shi'ite saw what the Bakriyya had done, they increased their efforts ..

He further wrote regarding hadith forgeries sponsored by caliph Mu`awiya to oppose Ali. According to him:

Then Mu`awiya wrote to his governors saying: "Hadith about Uthman has increased and spread in every city, town and region. When this letter from me reaches you, summon the people to relate the merits of the Companions and the first caliphs. And do not let any Muslim relate anything about Ali without bringing something contradicting this about the Companions. This I like better and it pleases me more, it invalidates Abu Turab's claims and those of his Shi'ite in a more definitive way and it is for them more difficult to bear than the virtues and the merits of Uthman."

Mu`awiya's letters were read out to the people. And many forged reports concerning the merits of the Companions, in which there was no [grain of] truth, were related. The people went out of their way in relating reports in this vein until they spoke thereof in glowing terms from the pulpits. The teachers in the schools were instructed to teach their young pupils a vast quantity of these until they related them just as they studied the Qur'an and they taught these to their daughters, wives and servants. God knows how long they persisted in this. [1]

His master was Abu'l-Khayr Musaddiq ibn Shabib al-Wasiti (d. 605 A.H.) [2]