Commentary on
Al-`Aqidah Al-Tahawiyyah 
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Authority, encyclopedic Egyptian scholar
Abu Ja’far Al-Warraq Al-Tahawy (may Allah be merciful to him) said, "This is a concise remembrance of the creed of Ahl-ul-Sunnah wal-Jama`ah (adherents to the Sunnah and the Muslim mainstream) according to the leading Muslim Fuqaha' (Muslim jurists), including
Abu Hanifah Al-Nu`man ibn Thabit Al-Kufy, Abu Yusuf Ya`qub ibn Ibrahim Al-Ansary and
Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Al-Hasan Al-Shaybany (may Allah be pleased with them all) and what they believed in terms of the basics of religion, and took as their religion for the sake of the One, the Lord of the worlds.
We say with regard to the belief in the Oneness of Allah, as believers, by the success that Allah grants: Allah is One and thus does not have a partner; nothing is like Him; nothing can prevent Him from implementing His Will; there is no true deity other than Him;
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Eternal without a beginning;
Everlasting without an end; never dies or goes to ruin; nothing exists except what He wills; what enters the realm of ideas does not grasp Him; intellects do not reach comprehension of Him;
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humans do not resemble Him; Attributed with Life not dying; Controlling all things and does not sleep; The Creator without any need; Provider of sustenance without burden; causing death without fear of anything; Resurrector without difficulty. He is now as He has always been, Eternal with His Attributes before His creation came into being. Nothing was added to His Attributes through their existence that He was not attributed with before. Just as He was eternal with His Attributes He will never cease to be Eternal. He did not gain the name “Creator” after creating; and not by bringing creation into existence He gained the name "Inventor". He has the Attribute of Lordship, not depending on the existence of subjects. He has the Attribute of being Creator, not depending on the existence of the creation. Just as He has the Attribute of giving life both before and after He gives it, He has the Attribute of being Creator before giving existence. This is because He is over all things Competent. Everything needs Him and nothing is difficult for Him. He does not need anything.
There is nothing like Him; and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.
He created the creation with His Knowledge, predestined their fates and appointed the times of their endings and nothing about them was concealed for Him before creating them. He knew what they would do before creating them and ordered them to obey Him and forbade them to disobey Him. Everything happens according to His Predestination and Will. His Will happens. His creations do not have a will except what He wills for them; whatever He wills happens, and whatever He does not will does not happen.
He guides whomsoever He wills; protects and defends as grace; causes whoever He wills to go astray;
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forsakes and afflicts with justice; and the creation alternate by His Will between His Grace and Justice. He is clear of and above having a match or an equal. None can ward off His Decree or delay His rulings, or have any control over what He has willed to be. We believe in all of this and are certain that all of it is from Him.
We also believe that Muhammad is his chosen slave, His selected prophet and His approved messenger, and that he is the seal of the prophets, the leader of those who fear Allah, the master of all messengers, and the beloved of the Lord of the Worlds. Any claim of prophethood after him is a deviation and from perverse desires. He was sent to all jinn and mankind with truth, guidance, light and enlightenment. The Qur'an is Allah's Speech and from Whom it was brought forth without questioning as speech and sent down to His Messenger as revelation. The believers deemed it truthful and were sure that it was really Allah's Speech and not a created speech, like the speech of people. Therefore whoever hears it and claims it is human speech is committing disbelief. Allah blames, reproaches and threatens such a person with Hellfire, saying,
I will cast him into Hell-fire. Since Allah threatened with Hellfire whoever says:
"This is nothing but the word of a human being!" We know for sure that is the word of the Creator of mankind that does not resemble that of humans.
Whoever attributes to Allah an attribute that is for humans he will be Kafir (disbeliever). Whoever apprehends this will ponder carefully, and will keep apart from the claims of disbelievers. He will also know that Allah's attributes are not like those of humans. Seeing Allah is true for the People in Paradise without any meaning of surroundedness or modality. This is as stated in the Book of Allah, our Lord,
Some faces that Day shall be Nâdirah (shining and radiant). Looking at their Lord (Allâh). Its explanation is what Allah wills and knows. All that has been narrated to us of sound Hadith regarding this from the Messenger of Allah is as what he said and the meaning is as what he meant. We do not interpret this
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with our own opinions and views or as we like. Indeed, no one is safe in his religion except he who lets the meaning of what he does not know to Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) and His Messenger (peace be upon him) and returns the knowledge of what is unclear to him to the one who knows it.
No foot stays firm in Islam except on the platform of surrender and submission. So whoever seeks to know what is unattainable to him and does not satisfy himself to leave it to the one who knows it; his search will restrain the sincerity of his belief in the Oneness of Allah and the purity of his knowledge and soundness of faith. The result will be that he will swing between disbelief and belief, truthfulness and falsehood, and confirming and denying. He will be obsessed with anxieties and will be lost. He is doubting, not believing fully or stubbornly denying.
Belief in seeing Allah by the people of Paradise is not sound as for whoever considers it to be by heart or interprets it according to one's own understanding. This is because interpretation of seeing or any meaning that is ascribed to Lordship is done by abandoning interpretation, and adhering to submission. This is the religion of Muslims. Whoever does not guard himself from Inkar [denial (of Allah's Attributes or Names)] and Tashbih (comparison of Allah's Attributes or Names) will deviate and will not be declaring Allah clear of imperfection. For Our Lord (Glorified and Exalted be He) has the Attributes of Oneness and Uniqueness that can not be ascribed to any one of the creation.
He is Exalted above borders, ends, corners, organs, and instruments. He is not subject to the six directions as creatures are.
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Mi`raj (the Prophet's ascension to Heaven) was true and the Prophet (peace be upon him) was taken on a night journey in person, while awake, to the heavens and then to where Allah has willed of high places. Allah honored him with whatever He willed and revealed to him whatever He revealed.
The (Prophet’s) heart lied not in what he (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) saw. Allah has sent blessings upon him in the Hereafter and the worldly life. The Hawd (Prophet's lake in Paradise), which Allah has honored him with as a relief for his nation as well as Shafa`ah (intercession), which is reserved for them as narrated in Hadiths, are true.
The Covenant that Allah took from Adam and his descendants is true. Allah has eternally known the number of people going to Paradise, and the number of those going to Hell as a single total number. This number neither increases nor decreases, and so are their deeds; and what He knew from them that they would do, [they would do]. Everybody will find it easy to do such deeds as will lead him to his destined place. Everyone is facilitated in that for which he has been created. Deeds are judged according to the endings. The happy are those who are made happy according to Allah's predestination. The miserable are those who are made miserable according to Allah's predestination.
The reality of predestination is a secret of Allah pertaining to His creation. Neither a favored angel nor a sent prophet has ever been given knowledge of it. To become deeply absorbed in and ponder about this reality is to be domed to failure, and to lead to deprivation and transgression. Beware of that in thoughts, reflection, and random ideas. Allah (Exalted be He) has hidden the knowledge of Predestination from the creation and forbidden them from seeking it.
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Allah (Exalted be He) says,
He cannot be questioned as to what He does, while they will be questioned. So, whoever asks, 'why did He do that?' has rejected the judgment of the Book. Whoever rejects the judgment of the Book is a disbeliever. This is the amount of knowledge needed for the one whose heart is enlightened among the Awliya' (pious people), which is the rank of those well-grounded in knowledge. This is because knowledge is of two kinds: knowledge that is accessible to creation and knowledge that is not accessible to creation.
The denial of the knowledge that is accessible to the creation counts as disbelief, and claiming of having the knowledge that is not accessible to the creation is also disbelief. Belief is not established except by accepting the knowledge that is accessible to the creation and abandoning the search for the knowledge that is not.
We believe in Al-Lawh-ul-Mahfuzh (the Preserved Tablet), the Pen, and all that is written in it. If all creation had gathered and agreed on making something happen that had not been written by Allah in it, then they would not able to do that.
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The Pen has dried up with regard to what will be until the Day of Judgment. Whatever misses the creation by accident was not intended to befall him and whatever befalls him was not to miss him.
The slaves should know that Allah foreknew all that is to be among His creation. He predestined that firmly and surely without any contradiction therein or overruling against Him or anything that can cease or change it. There is nothing that reduces or increases His creation in the Heavens or in the Earth. This is all part of belief, the fundamentals of faith and admitting to the Oneness of Allah and His absolute ownership of creation. Allah (Exalted be He) says,
He has created everything, and has measured it exactly according to its due measurements. And,
And the Command of Allâh is a decree determined.
Woe to the one that has become a disputant against Allah with regard to predestination, prepared a sick heart to ponder it, has sought with his delusions to investigate the hidden secrets of the Unseen, and has concluded his statements as a sinful liar.
The `Arsh (Allah’s Throne) and Kursy (Allah’s Chair) are true. Allah does not need the `Arsh or what is below it. He surrounds all things and is above them. He made His creation unable to have encompassing knowledge. We say that Allah has taken Ibrahim (Abraham) as a Khalil (an intimate friend) and has spoken with Musa. We say all of this in faith, belief and submission. We believe in the angels, the prophets and the Books sent down to the messengers and we testify that they were on the path of obvious truth.
We call the people of our Qiblah (Ka`bah-direction faced in Prayer) believing Muslims as long as they admit to be true whatever Muhammad (peace be upon him) brought and believe in and do not deny any of what he said. We neither get into pondering about Allah nor dispute the religion of Allah. We do not argue about the Qur'an and we testify that it is the Speech of the Lord of the words with which the Trustworthy Spirit descended to teach the master of the messengers Muhammad (peace be upon him). Nothing of the created speech is like Allah's Speech. We do not say that the Qur'an is created nor we deviate from the Muslim nation.
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We do not declare any of the people of the Qiblah who commits a sin as a Kafir (disbeliever) as long as he doesn't consider it lawful.
We do not say that Iman (faith) is not affected by sins.
We hope that those who do good deeds among the believers will be forgiven by Allah and that will make them enter Paradise by His Mercy, but we do not feel confident about them being safe, and do not testify that they will enter Paradise.
We ask Allah to forgive the sinners among them,
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fear for them, and we do not make them lose hope. Safety or despair may take a person out of Islam, while the path of truth for the people of Qiblah is set between them. A believer can be rendered out of Iman by the denial of what made him a Muslim.
Iman is affirming with the tongue and believing with the heart.
All that has been authentically narrated from the Prophet, including Islamic laws, rules, practices and clarifications are true. Iman is one and
its people in its essence are the same, but superiority between them is according to the level of
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fearing Allah and doing contrary to sinful inclinations. All the believers are 'Awliya (pious people) of Allah, the Most Gracious, and the most honorable of them are those most obedient and compliant to the Qur'an.
Iman is the belief in Allah, and His angels, books, messengers, and the Last Day; and to believe that Predestination, good and bad, sweet and bitter, is from Allah (Exalted be He). We believe in all of that and do not distinguish between any of His messengers; we believe in all of them and what they brought. The people of major sins from the nation of Muhammad in the Hellfire will not be left there forever, if they died as believers in Allah's Oneness, even if they did not repent. This is as long as they meet Allah while knowing and believing in His religion. They will be subject to what Allah has willed and judged. He will forgive and pardon them if He wills as grace, as He (Glorified and Exalted be He) says in His Book,
...But He forgives except that (anything else) to whom He wills If He wills He will torture them by His Justice according to their sin. After that, He takes them out of it by His Mercy and the intercession of the intercessors from the people of obedience. Then He sends them to His Paradise for He protects those who know Him and will not make them in the Two Abodes (worldly life and the Hereafter) like those who disbelieve in Him - those who did not obtain His guidance and did not get His protection.
O Allah, the Guardian of Islam and its people, make us steadfast in Islam until we meet You as Muslims. We are of the view that Salah (Prayer) is valid behind any pious or sinful person among the people of Qiblah. We offer Funeral Prayer for any of them who dies. We do not affirm with certitude for any of them to be among the dwellers of Paradise or Hellfire. We do not say about any of them that he is Kafir, Mushrik (one who associates others with Allah in His Divinity or worship) or hypocrite if he does not clearly appear to be that as only Allah (Exalted be He) knows one's intentions.
We are of the view that anyone of Prophet Muhammad's nation should not be killed unless he deserves it. We do not hold the view that one should rebel against the rulers even if they transgressed; we do not supplicate against them or disobey them. Rather, we hold that obedience to them is obedience to Allah and an obligation,
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as long as they do not order us to do a sin, and we ask Allah to mend their ways and protect them. We adhere to the Sunnah and the Muslim mainstream and avoid deviations, disagreement and schism. We love the people of justice and trustworthiness, and hate the people of injustice and treachery.
We say when something is unclear to us: Allah knows best. We hold that it is valid to wipe over the socks during travel and non-travel as was narrated in Hadith. We hold that Hajj and Jihad are continuous obligations with the Muslim rulers, whether they are pious or sinful, and nothing abolishes or invalidates these two obligations.
We believe in the Noble Scribes and that Allah has made them to watch over us. We believe in the Angel of Death appointed to take the souls of mankind and jinn. We also believe in the torture in grave (i.e. During the period between death and the Resurrection) for whosoever deserves it, and in the questioning of Munkar and Nakir (two angels who question people in grave after death) for the dead about their Lord, religion and prophet, as narrated in Hadiths of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his Sahabah (Companions of the Prophet) may Allah be pleased with them.
The grave is one of the gardens of Paradise, or one of the pits of Hell. We believe in Resurrection, recompense for one's deeds on the Day of Resurrection, presentation of one's deeds, Reckoning, reading the persons records, punishment and reward, Sirat (the bridge over the Fire), and Mizan (the Scales for weighing deeds). Paradise and Hellfire are both creations and they do not end or perish. Allah had created Paradise and Hellfire before He created the creation and he created people for them; then whomsoever He wills Paradise for will be admitted there as Grace from Him, and whomsoever He wills Hellfire for will be put there as Justice from Him. Everybody do what they have been created for and toward what they would proceed.
Good and evil are predestined for the slaves. Ability, with which deeds are done, depends on success that is impermissible to describe the creation with, as it is simultaneous with the action. Ability is the one depending on Allah's creation of the ability to do good, which is forbidden to ascribe to creation. In terms of soundness, capability, mastery and defect-free organs, Ability occurs before action, and to which the following Ayah refers:
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Allâh burdens not a person beyond his ability.
People's actions are created by Allah and acquired by the slaves. Allah does not make the creations accountable for other than what they are capable of and they are not obligated to do other than what He has made them accountable for.
This is the explanation of the expression: 'There is neither might nor power except with Allah!'. We say that no one has a trick, movement, or a shift away from disobeying Allah unless He helps. And there is no ability for any creation to perform acts of obedience to Allah and keep steadfast in them without success from Allah.
Everything proceeds according to Allah's Will, Knowledge, Action, and Predestination. His Will controls the will of everything else. His Action overrules all tricks. He does what He wills and is never unjust. He Himself is absolutely clear of any kind of defect or ruin and is free of any flaw or blemish.
He cannot be questioned as to what He does, while they will be questioned.
The dead benefit from the supplications and charity made by the living persons. Allah (Exalted be He) answers supplications, fulfills needs, owns everything and nothing owns Him. No one and nothing is without need for Him for even the blink of an eye. Whoever thinks himself without need from Allah for the blink of an eye is rendered a disbeliever and becomes one of the people doomed to ruin. Allah has wrath and pleasure not like any of his creation. We love Sahabah of the Prophet (peace be upon him). We do not go to extremes in the love of any of them, and we do not disavow any of them. We hate whoever hates them or mentions them with anything bad. We only mention them with good. Loving them is religion, belief and pure obedience. Hating them is disbelief, hypocrisy and injustice.
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It is confirmed that the Caliphate after the Prophet (peace be upon him) first went to
Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) in preference and to give him precedence over the entire nation. Then it went to
`Umar ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) then to
`Uthman ibn `Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) then to
`Aly ibn Abu Talib (may Allah be pleased with him). They are the Rightly-Guided Caliphs and Imams.
We testify that the ten people whom the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave glad tidings to be among the dwellers of Paradise will be admitted to Paradise, just as the Messenger testified. His saying is the truth. They are
Abu Bakr, `Umar, `Uthman, `Aly, Talhah, Al-Zubayr, Sa`d (ibn Abu Waqqas),
Sa`id (ibn Zayd),
Abdul-Rahman ibn `Awf, and
Abu `Ubaydah ibn Al-Jarrah, the latter is the Trustworthy of the Nation (may Allah be pleased with them).
Whoever speaks well of the Sahabah and the Prophet's (peace be upon him) wives, freeing them of any filthiness and his purified offspring of any disgrace, is free of hypocrisy.
Scholars among the Salaf (righteous predecessors) and Tabi`un (Followers, the generation after the Companions of the Prophet) are reliable transmitters of Hadith and records of event; jurisprudence and insight; they are mentioned with good and whoever speaks ill of them is not on the path (of truth).
We do not prefer any Waliy to any prophet (peace be upon them) and say that one prophet is better than all Awliya' together.
We believe in their Karamah (an extraordinary event caused by Allah for or through a pious person) and in what the trustworthy narrators reported about them. We also believe in the signs of the Day of Judgment, including the appearance of Al-Masih-ul-Dajjal (the Antichrist) and the descent of 'Isa (Jesus), son of
Maryam (peace be upon him), and the rising of the sun from the west and coming of the creature of the earth. We do not believe any fortuneteller, soothsayer, or the one
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who claims anything going against the Book of Allah, Sunnah and Ijma` (consensus of scholars). We see Ijma` as true and right and division as deviation and torture. Allah's religion on earth and in heavens is one and the same; it is Islam. Allah (Exalted be He) says,
Truly, the religion with Allâh is Islâm. And,
...And have chosen for you Islâm as your religion. Islam is between excessiveness and negligence, between likening Allah's Attributes to those of His creation and rejecting them; between fatalism and belief in Divine Decree; and between feeling safe from Allah's punishment and despair of His forgiveness. This is our religion and belief, both outward and inward, and we declare to Allah that we disavow whosoever disagrees with what we have mentioned and explained.
We ask Allah (Exalted be He) to make us firm in faith and to end our lives while we are in that state and to protect us from the various kinds of deviant inclinations and divisive opinions and lowly schools, such as that of
Al-Mushabbihah (those who compare Allah's Attributes to those of His Creation),
Al-Mu`tazilah (a deviant Islamic sect claiming that those who commit major sins are in a state between belief and disbelief),
Al-Jahmiyyah (a deviant Islamic sect denying some Attributes of Allah, claiming they are ascribed to people and cannot be ascribed to Allah),
Al-Jabriyyah (those who claim that mankind have no choice and are obliged), and
Al-Qadariyyah (a deviant sect that claims Allah has no power over His Creation and humans are independent of Him) and the other sects that disagreed with the Sunnah and the Muslim mainstream, and pledged allegiance to deviation. We are clear of them and they are deviants and lowly in our view. May Allah grant us protection and success!
End of quote Al-`Aqidah Al-
Tahawiyyah, may Allah forgive its author and help His slaves benefit from it!
