 He is known for his work al-'Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah, a concise summary of the essentials of the Sunni Islamic creed.Al-Tahawi was a contemporary of al-Ash'ari and al-Maturidi, two leading representatives of Sunni Islam, and produced a creed which exerted an influence upon the followers of the Hanafite school in Egypt.According to al-Dhahabi, in his Siyar A'lam al-Nubala', He is Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Salamah ibn 'Abd al-Malik ibn Salamah, al-Azdi al-Hajari al-Misri al-Tahawi al-Hanafi.