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Al Fiqh al
akbar by Imam Abu Hanifah
All the main beliefs (i'tiqadat =
spiritual convictions) of the Sunni-Hanafi school of law (madhab/maslak).
Translated by Hamid Algar, Professor of Persian and Islamic Studies, University
of California, Berkeley.
"One of the most regrettable features of the contemporary Muslim
situation is an anarchy and confusion in the sphere of belief that might lead
one to suppose the foundations of Islam to have been so obscured that the field
is open to anyone to redefine the religion. We begin with the Fiqh al-Akbar of
Imam al-A'zam Abu Hanifah, may God be pleased with him, a brief but
comprehensive statement of the irreducible dogmas ( ‘aqa’id - sing.‘aqidah)
of Islam."
Professor Hamid Algar, translator
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In the Name of God the
Compassionate, the Merciful
The root of the affirmation of
God's unity, and that which is correct conviction, consists of this, that one
says:
1. I believe in God, and His
angels, and His books, and His messengers, and resurrection after death, and
that the good and evil of destiny are from God Most High. I believe too in the
accounting and the scales, hell and paradise. All the foregoing is reality.
2. God is One, not in a numerical
sense, but in the sense that He has no partner – "Say: He is God,
One; God the Eternally Subsistent and Besought; He begets not, nor was He
begotten; and there is none like unto Him." He resembles nothing among His
creation, nor does anything among His creation resemble Him. He has been,
unceasing, and He is, unceasing, with His names and attributes, both those
relating to His Essence and those relating to His acts. As for those relating to
His Essence, they are life, power, knowledge, speech, hearing, sight, and will.
As for those relating to His acts, they are creativity, sustenance, originating
and fashioning ex nihilo, making, and other active attributes.
He has been, unceasing, and He is,
unceasing, with His attributes and names; neither attribute nor name was
created. He has always and unceasingly been a knower, by virtue of His
knowledge, and His knowledge is a pre-eternal attribute. He has always and
unceasingly been powerful, by virtue of His power, and His power is a
pre-eternal attribute. He has always and unceasingly been speaking by virtue of
His speech and His speech is a pre-eternal attribute. He has always and
unceasingly been a creator, by virtue of His creativity, and His creativity is a
pre-eternal attribute. He has always and unceasingly been an agent, by virtue of
His activity, and His activity is a pre-eternal attribute; the object of His
activity is creation, and His activity is uncreated. His attributes existed in
pre-eternity, without being created or called into existence at a particular
moment. Whoever says that they are created or summoned into existence at a
particular moment, or is uncertain about the attributes and doubts them, is an
unbeliever in God Almighty.
3. The Qur'an is the Word of God
Almighty, written on collections of leaves (masahif), preserved in men's hearts,
recited on men's tongues, and sent down to the Prophet, upon whom be God's peace
and blessings. Our uttering of the Qur'an is created, and our recitation of the
Qur'an is created, but the Qur'an itself is uncreated.
That which God Almighty mentions
in the Qur'an as a narration from Moses and other of the prophets - peace and
blessings be upon them - and also from the Pharaoh and Iblis, all of it is God's
word, and constitutes a report concerning them. God's word is uncreated. It is
the Qur'an which as the word of God Most High is uncreated, not their words,
Moses, upon whom be peace, heard the Word of God Almighty, as God Almighty says:
"God addressed Moses in speech." Thus God Almighty was the speaker,
and Moses, upon whom be peace, did not speak. God Most High was a creator in
pre-eternity, even without having brought creation into existence: "there
is naught like unto Him; He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing." When God addressed
Moses He did so with His word that was, like all of His attributes, an attribute
existing from pre-eternity, unlike the attributes of created beings.
4. God knows, but not as we know;
He has power, but not as we have power; He sees, but not as we see; He hears,
but not as we hear; and He speaks, but not as we speak. We speak by means of the
speech organs and sounds, whereas God Most High speaks with neither organs nor
sounds. Sounds are created, and the word of God Most High is uncreated. He is a
thing, but unlike other things; by saying "thing," we intend merely to
affirm His reality. He has neither body nor substance, neither accidental
property nor limit, neither opposite nor like nor similitude. He has a hand, a
face, and a self (nafs); the mention that God most High has made of these in the
Qur'an has the sense that these are among His attributes, and no question can be
raised concerning their modality (bila kayf). It cannot be said that His hand
represents His power or His bestowal of bounty, because such an interpretation
would require a negation of an attribute. This is the path taken by the
Qadarites and the Mu'tazilites (two theological sects in early Islam that
deviated from the path of Ahl as-Sunna - trans.) Rather, His hand is an
attribute, of unknowable modality, in the same way that His anger and pleasure
are two attributes of unknowable modality God Most High created things out of
nothing, and He had knowledge of them in pre-eternity, before their creation.
5. He it is Who determined and
predestined all things. Nothing exists in this world or hereafter except by His
will, His knowledge, His determining and predestining, and except it be written
on the Preserved Tablet (al-Lauh al-Mahfuz). He inscribed everything there in
the sense of description, not that of foreordaining. Determining, predestining
and will are pre-eternal attributes of unknowable modality. God Most High knows
the non-existent, while in its state of non-existence, to be non-existent, and
He knows too how it will be when He brings it forth into being. God Most High
knows the existent, while in its state of existence, to be existent, and He
knows too how will be its evanescence. God knows the one who is standing, and
when he sits then God knows him to be sitting, without any change being produced
thereby in God's knowledge, or any new knowledge accruing to Him. For change and
alteration occur only in created beings.
6. God Most High created creation
free of both belief and unbelief, and then He addressed His creation with
commands and prohibitions. Some men disbelieved through active denial and
rejection of the truth by virtue of being abandoned by God Most High. Others
believed through active assent and affirmation, by virtue of the succour of God
Most High. He brought forth the progeny of Adam, upon whom be peace, from his
loins in the form of particles, and appointed for them an intelligence. He then
addressed them and commanded them unto belief and forbade them disbelief. They
assented to His dominicality, this being a form of belief appropriate to them,
and thus it is that they are born in the possession of a primordial nature
disposed to belief.
Whoever disbelieves thereafter is
therefore changing and altering that primordial nature, and whoever believes and
assents is conforming and strengthening it. None of His creation has been
constrained either to disbelieve or to believe; God created men not as believers
or non-believers, but rather as persons. Belief and disbelief are acts of God's
worshippers. God Most High knows the unbeliever, in his state of unbelief, to be
an unbeliever, and if he thereafter becomes a believer, then God knows him to be
a believer in a state of belief, without any change occurring thereby in His
knowledge or attributes.
All deeds of God's servants, both
of commission and omission, are in truth acquired by them; God Most High is
their creator. All of them take place by His will, knowledge, determining and
predestining. Obligatory acts of obedience and worship take place by the
command, love, satisfaction, knowledge, will, determining and predestining of
God Most High, and all facts of sinful rebellion take place by His knowledge,
determining, and predestining and will, but not by His love, satisfaction and
command.
7. The Prophets, peace and
blessings be upon them, are free of all sins, major and minor, of unbelief, and
of all that is repugnant. It may be, however, that they commit insignificant
lapses and errors. Muhammad the Messenger of God – may God's peace and
blessings be upon him! – is His Prophet, His Bondsman, His Messenger and
His Chosen One. He never worshipped idols, he never assigned partner to God,
even for an instant, and he never committed a sin, major or minor.
8. The most virtuous of all men
after the Messenger of God, -- may God's peace and blessings be upon him!
– are Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, may God be pleased with him; then 'Umar ibn al-Khattab;
then 'Uthman ibn 'Affan; then 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, may they all enjoy the
pleasure of God Most High. They were all steadfast in the truth, with the truth,
and we proclaim our allegiance to all of them. We make only good mention of all
of the Companions of the Messenger of God, may God's peace and blessings be upon
him!
9. We do not proclaim any Muslim
an unbeliever on account of any sin, however great, unless it be that he regards
his sin as permissible. Nor does he forfeit the name of belief; we continue to
call him a believer in essence. It is possible to be a sinful believer without
being an unbeliever.
The wiping of the feet when
covered, by way of ablution, is a sunna (under conditions specified by the
fuqaha). Tarawih prayer in the month of Ramadan is similarly a sunna. It is
permissible to pray behind any believer, pious or sinful. We say neither that
sins do not harm the believer, nor that they cause him to remain indefinitely in
hell, even if he leaves the world in a state of sin.
10. We do not say, like Murji’ites
(an early theological school - trans.), that our good deeds are accepted by God,
and our evil deeds forgiven by Him. Rather we say that the matter is to be
clarified and expounded as follows: whoever performs a good deed in accordance
with all requisite conditions, free of all corrupting deficiencies and
nullifying concerns, and does not then cancel his deed with unbelief or apostasy
at any time before his death, God Almighty will not cause his deed to be wasted;
rather He will accept it and bestow reward for it. As for evil deeds –
other than the assigning of partners to God and unbelief – for which the
believer does not offer repentance before his death, the will of God Almighty
may elect either to chastise their author or to forgive him, without chastising
him in Hellfire. Hypocrisy and arrogance in any deed annul its reward.
11. Miraculous signs (mu’jizat)
bestowed on the Prophets are established as true, and so too ennobling wonders (karamat)
made manifest through the saints (auliya). As for apparently miraculous and
wondrous deeds performed by God’s enemies, like Iblis, the Pharaoh and the
Dajjal, whatever is mentioned in tradition as having been performed by them in
future, is neither miraculous nor wondrous. Rather it is a question of their
needs being fulfilled by God Most High; this he does in order to lead them
toward destruction and to chastise them, but they are deceived. They increase in
rebelliousness and unbelief. All of the foregoing is possible and contingent on
God’s will.
12. God Most High was a Creator
before He created, and a Provider before He bestowed provision. God Most High
will be seen in the Hereafter, visible to the believers in Paradise with their
corporeal vision. This we say without any implication of anthropomorphism, or
any notion of quality or quantity, for there is not a fixed distance between Him
and His creation (to permit any comparison).
13. Belief means assent and
affirmation. There is no increase of decrease with respect to the content of
belief, whether for angels or men, but only with respect to degrees of certainty
and affirmation. The believers are equal in what they believe and in their
assertion of the divine unity, but enjoy differing degrees of excellence with
respect to their deeds.
Islam is surrender and submission
to the commands of God Most High. There is a lexical distinction between belief
(iman) and Islam, but there is no belief without Islam, and Islam cannot be
conceived of without belief. They are like the outer and inner aspect of a thing
(that is inseparable). Religion (din) is a name applied to both belief and
Islam, and indeed to all divine codes.
We know God as it is fitting for
us to know Him through His description of himself in His Book, with all His
attributes; but none is able to worship God Most High as He deserves to be
worshipped and as is fitting for Him. Rather man worships God Most High in
accordance with His Command, as promulgated in His Book and the Sunna of His
Messenger. Although believers are equal insofar as they believe, they differ
with respect to knowledge, certainty, reliance, love satisfaction, fear, hope.
14. God Most High is both generous
and just toward His bondsmen, bestowing on them in his liberality a reward far
in excess of what they deserve. He requites them for their sins because of His
justice, and forgives them because of His generosity. The intercession of the
Prophets, upon whom be blessings and peace, is a reality, and in particular that
of our Prophet – peace and blessings be upon him! – for sinful
believers and for those who have committed major sins and are deserving of
requital is a firmly established reality. The weighing of deeds in the balance
on the Day of Resurrection is similarly a reality; the pool of the Prophet, upon
whom be peace and blessings, is a reality; retribution among enemies on the Day
of Resurrection through the redistribution of good deeds is a reality. If they
have no good deeds, then the burden of evil deeds is redistributed; this too is
a reality.
Paradise and Hell are created and
existing today, and shall never vanish. The houris shall never vanish, and the
requital exacted by God Almighty and the reward bestowed by Him shall never
cease.
God Most High guides whomsoever he
wills out of His generosity, and he leads astray whomsoever He wills out of His
justice. God’s leading man astray consists of His abandoning him, and the
meaning of God’s abandoning man is not impelling him to do that which is
pleasing to Him. All this is determined by His justice.
It is not permissible for us to
say: "Satan steals belief from man with violence and coercion." Rather
we say: "Man himself abandons belief, and when he has abandoned it, then
Satan snatches it from him."
The interrogation by Munkir and
Nakir is a reality; the return of the spirit to the body in the tomb is a
reality; the pressing in upon man of the tomb is a reality; God’s
punishment of all unbelievers and some Muslims is a reality.
All of the attributes of God Most
High – may His name be glorified and his attributes be exalted! –
may be mentioned by the ‘ulama in languages other than Arabic (here
Persian in particular is mentioned, but the meaning is any non-Arabic tongue -
trans.), with the exception of yad (hand). Thus we may say "the face of
God," may He be exalted and glorified, without any implication of
anthropomorphism or of a particular modality.
Closeness to God Most High and
remoteness from Him do not refer to any spatial distance, great or small, nor do
they refer to the nobility or humility or man in His sight. Rather the one
obedient to Him is close to him, in indefinable fashion. Closeness, remoteness
[or] approaching all, in fact refer to God’s action towards man (i.e., it
is not man who in the strict sense defines relation to God; it is rather God who
determines that relation). Proximity to God in Paradise and standing before Him
are similarly realities of indefinable modality.
The Qur’an was sent down to
His Messenger, upon whom be blessings and peace, and it is that which is now
inscribed on collections of leaves. The verses of the Qur’an, insofar as
they are all the Word of God, are equal in excellence and magnificence; some,
however, enjoy a special excellence by virtue of what they mention, or the
fashion in which they mention it. The Throne Verse, for example, enjoys
excellence on both counts: what it mentions – splendour, magnificence and
other attributes of God – and the way in which it mentions it. Other
verses have no excellence on account of what they mention – for example,
those containing narratives of unbelievers – but only on account of the
way in which they mention it. Similarly, all the names and attributes are equal
in their magnificence and excellence; there is no difference among them.
If someone experiences difficulty
with the subtleties of the science of divine unity, it is incumbent upon him to
believe (without further investigation) what is correct in the sight of God Most
High until he finds a scholar to consult. He should not delay in seeking such a
scholar, for hesitation and suspension of judgment may result in unbelief.
The narration of the Mi'raj (by
the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings) is true, and whoever rejects it is
misguided and an innovator.
The emergence of the Dajjal and of
Gog and Magog is a reality; the rising of the sun in the West is a reality; the
descent of Jesus (‘Isa), upon whom be peace, from the heavens is a
reality; and all the other signs of the Day of Resurrection, as contained in
authentic traditions, are also established reality.
And God guides to his Path
whomsoever He wills.
(Translated from the text
published in Hama, 1392/1972. All phrases between round brackets were added by
the translator.)
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Our visitors/readers will also be
interested to learn that a publication entitled "Islamic Creeds - A
Selection" translated by W. Montomery Watt, renders into English the
following creeds: 1. The Hanbalites Hamid ibn Hanbal A Shorter Hanbalite Creed A
Longer Hanbalite Creed 2. Al-Ash'ari 3. Al-Tahawi 4. The Testament of Abu
Hanifah 5. A Later Hanafite Creed [*] 6. Al-Qayrawani 7. Al-Ghazzali 8. Al-Nasafi
9. Al-Lji 10. Al-Sanusi 11. 'Allama-i-Hilli 12. Index -- Total pages 106 ©
W.M. Watt 1994, Edinburgh University Press Limited, 22 George Square, Edinburgh
* This is Montgomery Watt's
translation of Al-Fiqh Al-Akbar. Mr. Watt has the following comment preceding
the actual translation of the text: "This is the creed called by Wensinck
Al-Fiqh Al-Akbar II. There is a text (with commentary) in the Hyderabad volume
which contains the Testament, and this has been used here. This creed also is by
an anonymous Hanafite author. Wensinck's suggestion (Muslim Creed, p. 240) that
it might be by al-Ash'ari is impossible, because he failed to appreciate the
difference in the definition of faith between the Hanafites and the Hanbalites
(and al-Ash'ari). The discussion of the attributes of God suggests that this
creed is somewhat later than the Testament."
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