[15][19][20][21] The Hungarian scholar of Islamic studies Ignác Goldziher agreed that al-Ẓāhirī was born in Kufa, but attributed the confusion regarding his place of birth due to his father's role in the civil service of the Abbasid caliph al-Maʿmūn in Kashan, a smaller city near Isfahan.
[15][24] His study under renowned figures of traditionalist theology (Atharī) was in contrast to the views of his father, who was a follower of the less orthodox Ḥanafī school.
[21][23][25][26][27] Indian Muslim reformist Chiragh Ali has suggested that Ẓāhirī's school was, like that of Ibn Ḥanbal, actually a direct reaction to the Ḥanafī system of jurisprudence.
[17] Toward the end of his education, al-Ẓāhirī traveled to Nishapur in Greater Khorasan in order to complete his studies with Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh,[15][18][23][28] at the time considered a champion of the traditionalist Sunnī philosophy.
[31] Al-Ẓāhirī was initially a follower of al-Shāfiʿī in matters of jurisprudence, later branching off in terms of his principles,[32][33][34] likely due to the influence of Ibn Rāhwayh.
[24][25] His reputation spread outside of Baghdad, and even high-level scholars from elsewhere in the Muslim world began seeking al-Ẓāhirī's advice on religious topics of study.
[35] While his views were not universally accepted in his time, no attempts were made by his contemporaries to prevent him from granting religious verdicts, nor were they opposed to his teaching position.
[36][37][38] Al-Ẓāhirī was also the teacher of the Sunnī Muslim jurist ʿAbd Allāh al-Qaysī, who was responsible for spreading the Ẓāhirīte school in Al-Andalus.
[45] Al-Ẓāhirī's understanding of the Islamic faith was described by al-Dhahabī's teacher, the Syrian Muslim historian and scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, as having been based upon the Atharī ʿaqīdah, affirming the attributes of God without delving into their fundamental nature.
[52][53] There are conflicting views regarding al-Ẓāhirī's position when the specific causality of a command or prohibition within the Quran or prophetic example was stated, due to different Muslim historians recording opposing statements.
[61][62][63] Modern-day scholarship has suggested, in light of the weakness in the chains of narration connecting the phrase "the Quran is recently occurring" to al-Ẓāhirī that he may have never made such a statement or held such a belief at all.
[64][65] Al-Ẓāhirī held the view that regarding in-kind exchanges of goods, the forbidden type of usury applies only to the six commodities specified by the Islamic prophet Muhammad: gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates, and salt.
[23] Al-Ẓāhirī was known as being a prolific author, and the Arab-Persian Muslim historian and bibliographer Ibn al-Nadīm was able to personally record the names of at least 157 of his written works, the majority on topics within Islamic studies.
[74] Modern scholarship has pieced together chapter headings for al-Ẓāhirī's work on juristic principles from other early works in the following order: binding consensus, invalidity of blindly following the clergy, invalidity of analogical reasoning, traditions transmitted by single authorities, traditions which provide certainty, incontrovertible proof, particular vs. general scriptural texts, and specified vs. unspecified texts.
[15][18][23][41][77] The Muslim scholars al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī,[28] al-Dhahabī,[15] al-Ṭabarī,[78] al-Nawāwī, al-Suyūṭī, and al-Albānī all attested to his morality, humility, and personal ethics.
In the 1970s, Twelver Shīʿīte scholar Abdul Kareem Mushtaq accused al-Ẓāhirī of having held anthropotheistic beliefs regarding God, citing the Persian Sunnī historian and theologian al-Shahrastānī as his source.