He is
علي بن علي بن محمد بن عبد الرحمن بن ابي العز
ʻAlī ibn ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī al-ʻIzz
Dates of birth and death
(1331 CE/731 AH—1390/792)
He was a jurist of the Hanafi school and was nicknamed Qāḍī al-Quḍāh (the Judge of Judges).
This praise was made by the following Imaams and found in their works
- Hafidh Ibn Hajr al-`Asqalani in his al-Durar al-Kaminah
- Ahmad ibn `Ali.
- Hashim al-Nadwi
- Abdur-Rahmaan bin Yahya al-Mu`allimi Dairah al-Ma`arif al`Uthmania. pp. 87. Hyderabad, India:
Brief Biography
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. Like most of his family members, Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz served for much of his life as a judge.
Having been educated by his family at an early age, he then commenced teaching aged seventeen at the Qimaziyyah school (built by Ṣārim ad-Dīn Qaimāz قيماز (sometimes: Qaʾimāz قأيماز), a descendent of the warrior Salah ad-Dīn al-Ayyūbi) which specialised in Hanafi jurisprudence. He also gave sermons in Husban for an unspecified period of time. In 1369/771, Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz started teaching at the Rukniyyah school. In June 1377/Muharram 779, he was appointed as judge of Damascus in place of his cousin (Najm ad-Dīn) who had been transferred to Egypt. This was short-lived, however, as Najm ad-Dīn resigned from his new post three months later and returned to his old position in Damascus. As too was Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz’s subsequent tenure as judge in Egypt, which lasted only a month. He then returned to his previously held positions in Damascus. By 1382, he was teaching at the ʿIzziyyah school, which had been founded by Abu’l Faḍl ʿIzz ad-Dīn Aybak.
Ibn Abī al-ʻIzz became embroiled in a controversy due to his censure of Ibn Aybuk’s qaṣĩdah (poem) 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.
[Sources: al-`Asqalani, Ahmad ibn `Ali. Hashim al-Nadwi and al-Mu`allimi. ed (in Arabic). al-Durar al-Kaminah. 3. Hyderabad, India: Dairah al-Ma`arif al`Uthmania. pp. 87.]
Likewise he was the student of Haafidh Ibn Katheer
Fadheelkatu-Shaykh Hamaad al-Ansaaree said of him
Ibn Abil ‘Izz Al-Hanafee the explainer of At-Tahaawiyyah was Hanafee in madhab; but was in opposition to the Hanafees in ‘Aqeedah.
Shaykh Hammaad al-Ansaaree
Al-Majmoo’ fee tarjumah Hamaad Al-Ansaaree volume 2 page 751.
What have the ahlul-kalam tried to say about Haafidh ibn Abil-‘Izz
Zahid al-Kawthari, a mufti of the Ottoman Empire, said about it [meaning his sharh on the Tahaawiyyah]
“A commentary was published [on the `Aqida Tahawiyya], 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.”
Another antagonist detractor of the athari sunni creed and the late scholar of hadith and usul of Damascus, Sayyid Ibrahim al-Ya`qubi, suspected that “Ibn Abi al-`Izz” was a pseudonym for Ibn al-Qayyim, given away by the author’s systematic abandonment of the Maturidi – and even Sunni – position on not one but several key points in favor of Ibn Taymiyya’s controversial stances.
One can refer to a more detailed an enlighting biography of Imam ibn Abil-‘Izz al-Hanafi, champion of the Athari creed in the following link
The Boriqee Notes 