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What are the Sources of Islamic Aqeedah Faith of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat

Article is part of Aqeedah Education Programme )


There are many Muslims who have little knowledge of Islamic Aqeedah. Faith is most important aspect of a Muslim Life and all of us should know and believe it from heart.


So this article is part of Aqeedah education Programme .All the Chapters are being given on following links
 PART  1         PART 2            PART 3

Sources of Islamic Aqeedah
Islamic Aqeedah will be derived only from two sources.
1.         The Holy Quran
2.         The Authentic Ahadith.
Following is not Source of Aqeedah.
1.               Weak Hadith.
2.               Any Analogy Logic, interpretation or  Ruling Whatsoever.
3.         Any interpretation direct or indirect based on any Story,even if it is authentically proved.
4. Any interpretation direct or indirect based on Kashf/Karamat/dream of Aulia Allah.

Few Important Points to be understood.
1.   For Fiqh (Islamic Law, Jurisprudence) There are four Sources of Islamic Law.
a)   The Holy Quran.
b)  The Authentic Ahadith.
c)   The Ijma (Consensus)
d)  The Qiyas (Analogy based on similar situation )
But in Aqeedah only the first two will be the source. Aqeedah matters are very clear unambiguous and unanimous among salafus salehin Scholars and Imams.Whereas is Fiqh (Islamic Law) there could be difference of opinion among Scholars as it happened even within the the companions (Sahanba Raziallahu Anhu) 

2.   The weak Hadith cannot be used for Aqeedah but will be used for Virtues (Fazail) and Targheeb o Tarheeb e.g for encouragement for a good work or warning for a bad action.
           Slafus Salehin Scholars including Imam Bukhari Rahimullah and Imam Ibne Taimmiya Rahimullah and others have used weak Hadith in Virtues (Fazail) e.g Imam Bukhari’s Al Adabul Mufrad Imam Ibne Taimmiya and but for Aqeedah the weak Hadith will not be used .But they will not be source of Islamic Aqeedah.

3.   Aqeedah can never be derived from any interpretation direct or implied based on Kashf/Karamat or dream of Aulia Allah. Even Rule of Fiqh (Jurisprudence) cannot be derived from Kashf/Karamat/Dreams.
Karamat or Kashf of the Aulia Allah (Friends of Allah) are possible and to be accepted even if it looks impossible because Karamat and Kashf are by Allah power and will and for Allah nothing is impossible. The base line is, it should be authentically reported.  
          But as these are only historical facts. And for recording and narrating of historical fact there is no strict regulation (compared to very strict regulation is for Hadith) so proving any Karamat authenticity beyond doubt is very difficult.
       Similarly if any historical fact comes with reasonable evidence it can be acceptable and altogether rejecting it will not be acceptable .In summary no one should stress much on for or against of any historical fact of Karamat or Kashf.
But the final point is that Karamat/Kashf/Dreams of Aulia Allah will not be a source of Islamic Aqeedah to prove or disprove any belief of Islam.

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Book on Islamic Aqeedah?
As we came to know that there are only two sources of Islamic Aqeedah
  • The Holy Quran and
  • Sahih Ahadith.

         So obviously the Books on Islamic Aqeedah are The Holy Quran and all the Sahih Ahadith.
Now the question arises What is the need of an separate Aqeedah Book by any Scholar?

The Holy Quran has been sent to the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam by Allah in the period of 23 years according to the need of time, The Holy Quran is not arranged topic wise e.g Aqeedah Chapter, Jurisprudence Chapter, Chapter on Social issue, Economic issues or on manners. Almost same is the case of Ahadith collection although the major books of Hadith has chapters but still not very finely defined.
         So for having comprehensive knowledge on Aqeedah it has to be collected from Quran and authentic ahadith and has to be compiled.
To fulfil this requirement of general Muslims the Scholars compiled book on Aqeedah of Islam and has made the work of Muslims easy. There are many books from Slafus Salehin Scholars Imams on Aqeedah.
Muslim should have a comprehensive knowledge of Aqeedah. To fulfill this requirement I have chosen to present Aqeedatutahawia with its English translation.
I have chosen the book of Aqeedatutahawiah written by Imam of Hadith Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad At-Tahaawee, (843 or 853 AD Born- 935 A.D. Died In Hijri 239-321Hijri) because of following reason.
1.   Aqeedatutahawia is an scholary and complete collection and explanation of Quranic Ayats and Ahadiths that are related to muslim beliefs/Aqeedah. 
2.   Tahawi's "Doctrine" (al-`Aqida), very comprehensive and basic text for all times, listing what a Muslim must know and believe and inwardly comprehend. It is considered a source book by all Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat scholars. There is consensus among all the leading Islamic scholar including the Muhaddethin and authoritative Scholars of four School of Jurisprudence on the doctrines enumerated in this work, which are entirely derived from the undisputed primary sources of Religion, the Holy Qur'an and the authentic Hadith.
3.   Aqeedah Tahawiyyah is written for students and has been/is part of education curriculum and is one of the perfect book on Aqeedah.
4.   As Aqeedah is derived from Quran and Hadith so it is very important, and it has been written by an undisputed scholar and Imam of Hadith Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad At-Tahaawee, (843 or 853 to 935).
5.   He was the great scholar of Hadith ,has been described in these words by other greats of Islamic History.
Al-Dhahabi said in his Major History of Islam:
"He (Imam Tahawi) was the Faqeeh, the Muhaddith, the Haafidh, one of the elite personalities, and he was reliable, trustworthy, knowledgeable of fiqh and intelligent."
"He was one of the reliable, trustworthy and brilliant scholars of Hadeeth (Haafidh)."
6.   He has not only explained but has also described the limit of explanation at appropriate place and has refrained and warned the muslims not to indulge in those detail that has not been considered important by Hazrat Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi wasallam and Sahaba Karam Raziallahu Anhu and Salafus Salehin scholars and Imams  of earlier generation of muslims. And it is a fact that many of the muslims including some scholars have forgotten.
7.   This book is accepted by the scholars of Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama`a (sunni) of four school of Jurisprudence  (Hanfi,Shafai,Maliki,Hanbali) and contemprory Scholars  including Grand Mufti of Saudi Arab Shaykh Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz (R.A.).
The quotation of the entire text of Tahawi's "Doctrine," which is considered as the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama`a, will be of benefit to the Muslims (May Allah help us).

(For Aqeedatut Tahawi in Arabic and english click Part 3 of the article.)

So this article is part of Aqeedah education Programme .All the Chapters are being given on following links
 PART  1         PART 2            PART 3




Notes on Categorization classification and three Types of Tawheed



Ibn Abi Al Izz Al Damishqi (D 792 A.H.) in his Famous Sharah Aqeedatut Tahawi has classified into two

1.   Tawheed al-ilahiyyah, or the belief in the unity of God the oneness of His Godhead, that Allah alone is to be worshiped, and no one else is to be worshiped.and matters concerning to attributes of Allah .

 

2. Tawheedar-rububiyyah (the oneness of His Lordship), which states that Allah alone create everything; and hold everything.



Some Other Scholars has divided into three categories.

1.     Tawheed ul-Uluhiyyah/Ibaadah  (Tawheed of Worship)

 

Tawheed of Worship means that all acts of worship belong to Allah alone, and no one else. All acts of worship Ibadah are purely and sincerely for Allah, not for idols, not for any Prophet, not for any Aulia Allah ,not for the universe, not for anything except the one Allah.

 

2.     Tawheed al-Rubbubiyyah   (Tawheed of Lordship)

Tawheed of Lordship means that you believe that there is only one  God, namely Allah, and that there are no other gods or goddesses. All form of Ibadah and Worship is only for Allah.It also means that all power, creation, and such things belong to Allah alone, for instance Allah alone is the creator of everything we see around us, and it is he who is in full control of them, and it is he who controls life and death and all such matters, and not anyone including our money/Position/ materialistic resources/worldpowers or any human or devine help other than Allah  else.

 

3.     Tawheed al-Asmaat wa-Sifaat (Tawheed of Allah's names and Attributes).

Tawheed al-Asmaat wa-Sifaat is the Tawheed of Allah's unique and exclusive Names and Attributes, this means a Muslim affirms a Name of Allah, and affirms that this Name is unique and exclusive to Allah alone, not for anyone else, and not for anyone else to be named with.

For example one of Allah's names is the All Knowing, this Name is unique for him alone because Allah is the only one who is All Knowing, and perfect in his knowledge, there is no created being who has such an attribute. The same applies to all of Allah's names, they are unique for him alone, and not for others.




Here It is important to be clarified that ........

1.    This division of Tawheed into two/three is not from The Prophet of Allah or from Sahba. Although its meaning  is established from Quran and Hadith.
2.    These classification has been done by scholars for better and easy understanding purpose
3.    There is no question on validity of classifcation.and its is a true classification.
4.    One must not get confused about there being three types/categories of Tawheed of Allah. Essentially all categories fall within the single term of Tawheed. Rather all the categories are all connected to Allah only Simple word Tawheed also encompass all these. 

5.       It is incorrect to say that if someone is not using these term that mean his Aqeedah/Emaan/Yaqeen/belief is weak. This claim is not CORRECT and acceptable. Sahabas did not use these term for the classification of Tawheed  but their Imaan was most strong.