Commentary on The Creed of At-Tahawi Part 1

Commentary on the Creed of At-Tahawi Part 1

COMMENTARY ON THE CREED OF AT-TAHAWI PART 1 – Book Sample

TABLE OF CONTENTS – COMMENTARY ON THE CREED OF AT-TAHAWI PART 1

• Introduction
• Translator’s Preface
• Commentator’s Preface
• The Creed of At-Tahawi
• The Creed and its Commentary 1
• Tawhid: Affirming God’s Unity 1
• Two aspects of tawhid:
• tawhid al-ilahiyyah, and Tawhid al-rubübiyyah Tawhid is inherent in man
• The Qur’an expounds on and argues for God’s unity
• Tawhid in faith and in action
• The prophets’ Tawhid was the most perfect Criticism of the mystical view of tawhid
• God is unlike anything 23
• To affirm attributes of God is not to liken Him with His creatures (tashb’h)
• Words common between the Creator and the created denote nothing real.
• Nothing is impossible for God 31
• The Qur’an mentions God’s positive attributes in detail, and negative attributes in brief
• Mutakallimün do just the reverse
• God is Eternal and Everlasting 35
• The Qur’an uses the words: The First and the Last
• Mutakallimün use the word Al-Qadim, which is not a happy choice
• Nothing comes into existence except what
• God wills 38
• Two kinds of Divine will: creative and prescriptive Creative will does not necessarily imply that God
• approves of the object He creates Prescriptive will implies that God approves of
• the object He commands men to do
• Both the wills have some purpose which may concern man, God or both
• It is not necessary that God should help one to do what He asks him to do
• God is beyond understanding and imagination 41
• The Jahmiyyah are wrong in saying that to affirm attributes of God is to anthropomorphize Him
• Theological discussion does not admit of syllogistic or analogical argument; it admits only the argument of priority
• God is Living and All-Sustaining 45
• He is the Creator and the Provident He causes death and shall raise again
• All the attributes of God are eternal 49
• This is true of essential attributes, such as knowledge and power,
• Of active attributes such as creation, and
• Of voluntary attributes such as coming, descending, mounting, anger and pleasure
• The meaning of coming, mounting, anger etc.,
• is known to us; what is not known is their modality Do things happen to God?
• Essence and attributes, whether one or different? Name and the Named
• Events as a class have no beginning and God is active from eternity
• God is Creator, Originator, Lord, Reviver, etc., from eternity
• God has power over all things; the impossible in itself is nothing

• God has created things with knowledge 66
• He Ordained them in due measures, and fixed their terms
• He knew what people would do even before He created them
• Things happen as He ordains and wills
• This does not mean that He approves of everything people do
• Nor does pre-ordination offer any justification for doing evil
• His guidance and protection are a favor from him Refutation of the view that God must do
• what is best for man
• His decision is not reversed, resisted or frustrated

• Prophecy of Muhammad (pbuh)
• Muhammad is a servant of God, and the most perfect man is the most perfect servant of God
• Miracle is a proof among other proofs of prophecy Other proofs are: the message, teachings, life
• and conduct, works and achievements of the prophet
• it is on these grounds that Negus of Abyssinia and Heraclius of Syria testified to Muhammad’s prophecy
• The difference between Nabi and rasul
• Muhammad is the seal of the prophets
• Ahadith on the subject He is the leader of the pious
• He is the chief of the apostles
• He is the best of all the prophets, but this should not be said to degrade other prophets
• He is very dear to God Grades of love
• Every claim to prophecy after him is false He is sent to men as well as to jinn
• The Qur’an
• The Qur’an is the word of God
• it has proceeded from Him in an unknown manner as articulated speech
• To say that it is spoken by God is not to anthropomorphize him
• Verses and Ahadith saying that God speaks; the meaning of His speech
• The Qur’an is an attribute of God, not something created

• It has been brought down to Muhammad by Gabriel, acting simply as a messenger
• It is not the word of a human being, one who says that is a kafir
• Speech is an attribute of God, and He has been speaking from eternity as and when He has willed
• His speech as a class is eternal
• Refuting the objection that God shall then be the locus of contingent events
• The Qur’an is the word of God whether recited, written or remembered; and it is uncreated
• However, our reciting, writing, or remembering is our act, and is contingent, as is the voice or the ink involved in the process
• This is the view of Abu Hanifah and the Ahl al-Sunnah the view of later Hanafis on the subject is not correct the view that God’s speech is a simple inaudible idea,
• and what is recited is its interpretation is wrong
• Beatific Vision
• People will see God in Paradise in an unknown manner and without encompassing Him
• Verses referring to it must not be interpreted allegorically Refutation of the arguments advanced by the Mu’tazila Ahadith on the subject are very clear
• However, no one has seen or can see God in this life Did the Prophet see God in his life?
• Mu’tazila interpretation of texts is not correct
• Tawhid is to believe in what has come down from the Prophet authentically
• Islam is to believe, submit, and refrain from misinterpreting texts
• Three kinds of people destroy religion:
• Rulers pursuing policies opposed to the Shar’
• Sufis following kashf and experience Mutakallimün arguing from reason alone
• Al-Ghazali on the inadequacy of kalam
• The reason the Salaf condemned kalam
• The root cause of error is lack of reflection on the Qur’an and the Sunnah
• Philosophers and theologians speak about the limitation of philosophy and kalam
• Meaning of Tawil
• Tawil in the Qur’an and Sunnah
• Tawil in early commentaries
• Tawil in the works of later jurists and Mutakallimün
• Interpreting divine names:
• Avoid both negation and anthropomorphizing God’s hands, face, eyes
• God and space (jihah)
• Ascension of the Prophet His Fountain
• His Intercession
• Intercession by other prophets, ‘ulama’ and martyrs Praying in the name of someone
• Tawassul
• God’s Covenant with Mankind
• Tawhid is inherent in man
• Shirk is alien to human nature
• Fore-ordainment
• God knows from eternity who will go to Paradise and who will go to Hell, as well as their deeds leading them to their destination
• Everyone gets the opportunity to do what he or she has been created for
• Fore-ordainment is a secret of God; one should not delve into it
• Everything good and bad is brought out by God’s creative will, which does not necessarily imply His approval
• However, God does not will pure evil
• God may not help one do what He approves of Fore-ordainment and repentance
• Fore-ordainment and resignation (ridaa ‘)
• We are not required to resign to everything decreed
• The Pen and the Tablet
• What shall come into existence till the Last Day has been written down
• No one can change what has been written
• Earning is not opposed to trust
• There is no change in God’s fore-knowledge Faith in fore-ordainment is necessary
• What qadr implies Questioning qadr is a disease

• The Throne and the Footstool

• The Throne and the Footstool are real But God does not need the Throne He encompasses all and is above all
• Verses and Ahadith that speak of His being above the world (fawqiyyah)
• Twenty reasons for His fawqiyyah Sayings of Abu Hanifah on the subject ‘Ulu and fawqiyyah
• The knowledge that God is above the world is inherent in human nature
• God took Abraham as friend
• Angels, Prophets and Heavenly Books
• Angels, their grades and functions
• We must believe in all the prophets of God and in all His books
• As for Muhammad (pbuh), we must believe in him as well as follow his teachings
• One is Muslim and mu ‘min so long as one witnesses to what the Prophet has brought
• The Qur’an may be read in all the seven established ways The Faithful Spirit has brought down the Qur’an and
• conveyed it to Muhammad (pbuh)
• Sin, Faith and Salvation
• No Muslim becomes kafir by committing a sin unless he or she thinks it to be lawful
• To deny what the Prophet has affirmed, affirm what he has denied, legalize what he has prohibited, or prohibit what he has legalized is kufr; and whoever does so is a kafir
• However, one should refrain from calling a particular
• person kafir, for he may be mistaken or may not be aware of relevant texts
• The Ahl al-Sunnah do not excommunicate on grounds of bid ‘ah
• Kufr as used in the Qur’an and Sunnah is of varying degrees: one justifies excommunication (takfir), another does not
• Sin exposes one to God’s punishment
• We hope that God will forgive righteous Muslims and put them in Paradise, but we cannot be sure
• Similarly, we fear about the sinners, but they should not lose hope
• Punishment for sins is waved for ten reasons Complacence and disappointment both are wrong;
• the right course is in between
• one goes out of lman only by repudiating what has brought him into it

• Iman and Islam
• Does lman include works or not?
• Many scholars of hadith and jurists say that it does.
• Abu Hanifah and his followers say that it does not; however, the difference is not important.
• Does Iman increase or decrease? Arguments of the ahi al-Hadith Arguments of the Hanafi School, and comments on them
• Ahadith saying that works are parts of lman
• Verses and Ahadith that lman increases and decreases Sayings of the Companions on the subject
• Iman and Islam mean the same when mentioned singly, but mentioned together they mean different things
• All that has authentically come down from the Prophet is true
• The Ahl as-Sunnah do not ignore texts or oppose to it their reason or the word of any person.
• A one-man hadith which is accepted by the ummah
• provides knowledge
• All Believers are friends (awliya ‘) of God
• Meaning of walayah
• Walayah and taqwa Grades of awliya ‘
• The most perfect awliya’ are those who are most obedient to God

• Articles of Faith
• God, Angels, Heavenly Books, Prophets, Last Day, Fore-ordainment
• Every hasanah and sayyiyyah is from God
• God does not create pure evil
• Supplication is worship
• Faith in all the prophets without discrimination
• Those who commit grave sins (kaba’ir)
• God may forgive them,
• Or punish them in Hell for a time However, they will not stay there forever,
• even if they do not repent
• What is kabirah?
• Şalah may be offered behind a sinner
• and behind one guilty of bid ‘ah
• Şalah should be offered at the funeral of every Muslim, except an open hypocrite
• We do not send anyone to Paradise or Heli
• Nor do we charge anyone with kufr or shirk
• or nifaq unless he is guilty of it openly, we do not take up sword against anyone
• unless it is necessary
• We do not revolt against our leaders and rulers even if they are unjust, nor defy their orders unless they order something sinful
• We follow the Sunnah and the Jama’ah,
• and avoid dissension
• We love the just and the honest
• When something is unclear, we say God knows better Wiping on leather socks (in wudü ‘) is right
• hajj and Jihad shall continue under all Muslim
• Akhirah: Life after Death Angels that note down our deeds Angels of Death
• Spirit (ar-rüh) is created
• An-nafs and ar-rüh
• Is spirit mortal?
• Angels that visit in the grave
• Reward and punishment in the grave
• Resurrection, Judgement, reward and punishment, Bridge and Balance
• Paradise and Hell exist at the present
• Most Salaf and Khalaf believe that Paradise shall last forever, but Hell will disappear in the end
• God has created some people for each; whom He has allotted for Paradise He has allotted as a favor, and whom He has allotted for Hell He has done so because His justice demanded it
• Power and Responsibility
• Power is of two kinds: before and at the time of action
• The former is the basis of obligation, but it is not sufficient to produce action Thus, the power concomitant to action is created
• Human actions are created by God and acquired by men Criticism of the Mu’tazila view
• How is it that God should punish man for actions He has created?
• God does not charge man except what he can do Everything happens as He wills, knows and decrees However, God does no injustice; in fact, He has
• prescribed mercy on Himself
• Benefits to the Dead
• Funeral prayer
• Prayer at the grave Charity
• Fasting, Hajj, reciting the Qur’an God responds to prayer and grants it
• God’s Anger and Pleasure
• God gets angry and is pleased as and when He likes
• To interpret God’s anger and pleasure allegorically is incorrect
• Companions of the Prophet and Khalafa’
• We love all the companions, but not anyone to excess nor do we disown anyone
• Love for them is part of Imani, and hatred for them is kufr and nifaq
• After the Prophet the first rightful khalifah was
• Abu Bakr, then ‘Umar, then ‘Uthman, then ‘Ali
• The order of their khalifahs is the order of their honor Besides these four, there are six more to whom the Prophet gave the good tidings of entering Paradise
• Whoever speaks well of the Prophet’s companions and his wives is free from hypocrisy
• ‘Ulama’ and Awliya’
• ‘Ulama ‘ of the Ummah should be honored
• No friend (wali) of God should be exalted over a prophet one prophet is better than all the awliya’ combined Criticism of lbn ‘Arabi
• Miracles are true, and when ascertained should be believed Kinds of miracles: effective and cognitive
• Miracles are an honor only when they serve religion
• Insight (firasah) and its kinds
• Signs of the Hour Diviners, Fortune Tellers
• We do not believe in them nor in the astrologers Magic and its kinds
• Sufis
• Rijal al-Ghayb Mystical experience
• The Malamatiyyah
• Sima’ and spiritual exercises
• The story of Moses and Khidr
• Unity of the Jama’ah, differences and sects
• Preservation of the unity of the Jama ‘ah
• Differences should be referred to the Qur’an and Sunnah Differences are of two kinds:
• Difference of variation Difference of contradiction
• God’s religion is one, and it is Islam
• Islam is between excess and negligence
• between tashbih and negation,
• between coercions and libertarianism, between complacency and pessimism
• Review of heretical sects
• Mushabbihah, Mu’tazila, Jahmiyyah,
• Jabariyyah, Qadariyyah
• Heretical sects treat revelation in two ways: Some alter the meaning of text,
• Others charge the prophets with ignorance
• Biographical Sketches Bibliography

To read more about the Commentary On The Creed Of At Tahawi Part 1 book Click the download button below to get it for free

or

Report broken link
Support this Website

COMMENTARY ON THE CREED OF AT-TAHAWI PART 2
COMMENTARY ON THE CREED OF AT-TAHAWI PART 3
COMMENTARY ON THE CREED OF AT-TAHAWI PART 4

for websites