Course sections

• Al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah

  # Al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah ## Introduction and authorship The book presents central articles of faith in brief affirmative and negative statements. It aims to establish essential commitments concerning Allah, prophethood, revelation, the Last Day and the unseen, while rejecting positions that the author regarded as incompatible with orthodox belief. Its short propositions often require careful explanation to avoid reading later controversies back into an earlier formulation. Imam Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tahawi (239–321 AH / 853–933 CE), the Egyptian jurist and Hadith scholar, authored this compact statement of Sunni belief. In the opening he identifies it with the creed of Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani. It is a foundational creedal text, not a general Fiqh manual, and it has been studied and explained by scholars from different Sunni theological backgrounds. ## What the book teaches The text begins with the oneness and transcendence of Allah, His attributes and the distinction between Creator and creation. It discusses belief in Muhammad ﷺ as the final Prophet, the Qur'an as Allah's speech, and essential aspects of divine knowledge, will and decree. Other sections affirm resurrection, the Reckoning, Paradise and Hell, the Scale, the Bridge, intercession and other matters transmitted in revelation. The creed also addresses faith, its relationship to confession and deeds, and questions concerning Muslims who commit major sins. It affirms respect for the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, acknowledges the religious standing of the early community and discusses the proper attitude to disputes that exceed the learner’s evidence. These themes show why creedal precision is not merely vocabulary: a term may have different implications depending on what it affirms and what it excludes. Because the text has received commentaries from different Sunni traditions, readers should distinguish the wording of Imam al-Tahawi from the later commentators’ theological explanations. A broad common foundation exists, but some details of interpretation are disputed and should be presented fairly with reference to identifiable arguments. ## Academic importance Al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah is suitable for students with a basic grounding in Islamic belief who are ready to study creedal statements in their classical Arabic form. The work provides an important framework for the terminology of Sunni theology. It should be taught with clarity, intellectual care and attention to the difference between a core affirmation and the later theoretical explanation of that affirmation. ## How to approach the text A productive method is to begin each topic by identifying its principal definition, the particular question it answers and the limits of its application. Technical terms should be understood in their own setting, and the examples should be analysed rather than memorised without explanation. Related rules need to be compared carefully, especially where an exception or a condition changes the result. Readers should distinguish the exact position of the text from the additional clarification offered by a teacher or a modern learning resource. ## Learning through AALIM Study AALIM Study presents Al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah through guided bilingual explanations and structured learning. The aim is to make the underlying argument, classification or procedure intelligible to students, not merely to reproduce its wording. The lessons are best used alongside the original text, appropriate reference works and the guidance of qualified teachers. ## Further reading: key distinctions and examples Al-Tahawi's compact propositions are frequently quoted in theological discussions, but quotation without context can conceal what was being affirmed or rejected. For example, a statement about Allah's transcendence needs to be understood alongside the affirmation of divine attributes, rather than allowing either aspect to cancel the other. Likewise, belief in divine decree does not mean that human responsibility and the command to act can simply be ignored. The wording of the creed should be read as a connected whole. The book has also become a meeting point for different Sunni commentarial traditions. Some commentaries offer philosophical explanations or technical vocabulary from debates later than Imam al-Tahawi. Those discussions can be valuable, yet the historical distance between the original concise creed and its later interpretation must remain visible. Students should ask which points the original author explicitly states and which positions are a commentator's explanation. Such care encourages responsible learning, especially when studying passages touching on disputed theological terms. The aim is accurate knowledge of a recognised creed, not the use of detached phrases to create unnecessary polemics. ## Conclusion This work rewards deliberate study. Its enduring value is found in the discipline of learning terms accurately, understanding the relationships between different principles and applying those principles to relevant passages or cases. A careful reading builds both subject knowledge and the analytical habits needed for more advanced Islamic scholarship.

• Sharh al-Aqa’id al-Nasafiyyah

  # Sharh al-'Aqa'id al-Nasafiyyah ## Introduction and authorship Sharh al-'Aqa'id is an analytical work of Islamic theology, or Kalam. It explains the propositions of the Nasafi creed while also examining their philosophical and logical foundations. The reader encounters not only statements of belief but also arguments, objections, distinctions between concepts and responses to alternative positions. The base treatise al-'Aqa'id al-Nasafiyyah was composed by Imam Najm al-Din Umar al-Nasafi (d. 537 AH / 1142 CE), while its celebrated commentary, Sharh al-'Aqa'id, is the work of Sa'd al-Din al-Taftazani (d. 792 or 793 AH). This distinction is essential: the author of the creedal primer and the author of the explanation are not the same person. The commentary became a principal classroom text in the Maturidi theological tradition and beyond. ## What the book teaches The discussion begins with the reality of things and the possibility of knowledge, responding to forms of scepticism. It examines the sources of human knowledge, the nature of the created world, substances and accidents, and reasoning about the existence and attributes of Allah. Theological topics include divine unity, transcendence, knowledge, power, will, speech and related questions arising from the distinction between the eternal Creator and temporal creation. The commentary then develops questions of prophethood, miracles, revelation, human responsibility, decree and the relationship of faith to works. It discusses the Last Day and transmitted beliefs such as resurrection, judgment and intercession. Later sections address the Companions, leadership of the Muslim community and other doctrinal questions that were debated among classical schools. One of the work's central challenges is the compressed language of logical argument. Students must distinguish a definition from a proof, an opponent's objection from the commentator's adopted position, and a claim about conceptual possibility from a claim about what has actually occurred. The role of rational argument and the role of transmitted evidence should be explained rather than assumed to be interchangeable. ## Academic importance Sharh al-'Aqa'id is not an elementary creed booklet; it is intended for students who have sufficient Arabic grammar and some training in logic. Its value in advanced Islamic education lies in teaching how theological positions are formulated, argued and scrutinised. A responsible study should preserve the author's position accurately while acknowledging relevant scholarly differences without reducing them to polemical slogans. ## How to approach the text A productive method is to begin each topic by identifying its principal definition, the particular question it answers and the limits of its application. Technical terms should be understood in their own setting, and the examples should be analysed rather than memorised without explanation. Related rules need to be compared carefully, especially where an exception or a condition changes the result. Readers should distinguish the exact position of the text from the additional clarification offered by a teacher or a modern learning resource. ## Learning through AALIM Study AALIM Study presents Sharh al-'Aqa'id al-Nasafiyyah through guided bilingual explanations and structured learning. The aim is to make the underlying argument, classification or procedure intelligible to students, not merely to reproduce its wording. The lessons are best used alongside the original text, appropriate reference works and the guidance of qualified teachers. ## Further reading: key distinctions and examples The opening epistemological discussions help explain why later theological arguments begin by establishing what counts as knowledge. If the possibility of reliable knowledge is denied altogether, subsequent proofs about the created world or its Creator will not even be understood on their own terms. The text therefore differentiates sources of knowledge and examines the relation between sense perception, truthful report and reasoned inference. These subjects provide the conceptual groundwork for subsequent discussions of divine attributes and prophethood. The relationship between theological reasoning and transmitted revelation is also central. An argument may be offered to show the possibility of a doctrine, while revelation supplies the knowledge that it actually holds. Confusing these two roles can make the author's reasoning appear stronger or weaker than intended. Similarly, an objection attributed to an opponent has to be read together with the answer, and a compressed inference sometimes depends on an unstated but recoverable premise. Students should reconstruct each argument sympathetically before critiquing it. This makes Sharh al-Aqa'id a demanding but formative work for advanced students of the Islamic scholarly tradition. ## Conclusion This work rewards deliberate study. Its enduring value is found in the discipline of learning terms accurately, understanding the relationships between different principles and applying those principles to relevant passages or cases. A careful reading builds both subject knowledge and the analytical habits needed for more advanced Islamic scholarship.