Sadr ad-Dīn Abu'l Ḥasan ʿAlī Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz was born in the year 1331 CE/731 AH. He came from a family that had been strong supporters of the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. He was originally from Damascus, moved to Egypt and then returned to Damascus. Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz became embroiled in a controversy due to his view that Allah Ta'ala has a direction, his view that Hell is not eternal and his censure of Ibn Aybuk's qaṣĩdah due to its contents which he held constituted disbelief. Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz was subsequently removed from his position as judge until an individual named al-Nāṣirī raised the issue to the authorities resulting in Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz's position being returned. He remained at his position until his death in Damascus in 1390/792. Others however have contested the existence of al-‘Izz altogether and have posited that biographical details are recent interpolations or false attributions. Muhammad Zahid Al-Kawthari said, "A commentary was published , authored by an unknown spuriously affiliated with the Hanafi school, but whose handiwork proclaims his ignorance of this discipline and the fact that he is an anthropomorphist who has lost his compass." The late hadith and usul scholar of Damascus, Sayyid Ibrahim al-Ya`qubi, suspected Ibn Abi al-‘Izz of being a pseudonym for Ibn al-Qayyim, given away by the author's systematic abandonment of the Maturidi and Sunni position on not one but several key points in favour of Ibn Taymiyyah's newly pioneered opinions, and the fact that Ibn al-Qayyim was known to be his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah's most vocal, ardent and vociferous supporter. This claim might be given further credence by the reality that both al-‘Izz and Ibn al-Qayyim lived at the same time and the fact that the former's opinions as espoused in his Al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah commentary are indistinguishable from that of Ibn al-Qayyim's opinions, which are furthermore known at the time to have been confined to his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah, himself and his small and select circle of students in Damascus. These claims of only being a pseudonym used by Ibn Al-Qayyim are in contradiction to biographical reports from famous muslim historians, as well as direct primarysource material from acquaintances of his students. For example Al-Sakhawi said about Al-izz, "The Allama as-Sadr Ali ibn Aila Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad bin abi al Izz Damishqi who was the Judge of the Hanafis, The commentator of the Aqeedah Tahawi and the Manaqashaat ala al Hidayah … My teacher ابْن الديري took knowledge from him." He was also well known to the renowned hadith scholar and historian Ibn Hajr al asqalani who mentioned him more than once in his works. Al-asqalani said, "he was a Hanafi and appointed as Judge in Damascus then Egypt and then again in Damascus, and Said, "He was among the most virtuous people. He was born on Dhul-Hijjah 12, 731, He suffered an ordeal that was caused by Ali ibn Aybak, the poet, who wrote a Qaseedah Nabawiyah that he opposed." Ibn Abī al-ʿIzz wrote the as yet unedited al-Tahdhīb li-Dhihn al-Labīb.
