Aqeedah Tahaawiyyah – The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi explained by Dawud Burbank
The great scholar, Hujjatul- Islaam, Aboo Ja’far al- Waraaq at-Tahaawee, in Egypt, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said:
1. This is a mention of an explanation of the ‘Aqeedah (Creed and Belief), of the Ahul-Sunnah walJamaa’ah upon the way of the jurists of the Religion: Aboo Haneefah an-Nu’maan ibn Thaabit al-Koofee, and Aboo Yoosuf Ya’qoob ibn Ibraaheem al-Ansaaree, and Aboo ‘Abdillaah Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybaanee- may Allaah be pleased withthem all, and what they held as their Creed from the fundamentals of the Religion and what they held asReligion in obedience to the Lord of the creation.
2. We say with regard to Tawheed of Allaah, holding as our Creed and Belief- due to the guidance to correctness granted by Allaah: that Allaah is One, having no partner.
3. And there is nothing like Him.
4. And nothing renders Him incapable;
5. And nothing besides Him has the right to be worshipped.
6. Ancient without any beginning, remaining forever without any end.*
7. He does not perish, nor pass away.
8. Nothing occurs except what He wills.
9. He is not reached by people’s conjecture nor can He be grasped by their understanding.
10. He does not resemble the creation.
11. Ever-Living, He does not die.
12. The Independent Sustainer of everything Who does not sleep.
13. Creator without any need. Provider without anydifficulty.
14. Giver of death without any fear.
15. The One who resurrects without any exertion.
16. He has always had His attributes from before His act of creation.
17. He was not increased in anything by their being brought into existence which was not already His attribute.
18. And just as He has always possessed His attributes,then likewise He will always possess them forever.
19. He did not acquire the name ‘al-Khaaliq’ (TheCreator) after the creation of the creation.
20. Nor did He acquire the name ‘al-Baaree’ (TheOriginator and Maker) after bringing forth the beings.
21. He possessed the meaning of ‘ruboobiyyah’(Lordship and Nurturing) even when there were no slaves under His Lordship, and the meaning of being the Creator even when there was no creation.
22. And just as He is the One who is the Giver of life to the dead – after He gives them life, then He deservedthis name before He gave life to them; likewise He deserved the name ‘The Creator’ (al- Khaaliq) before He created and produced them.
23. This is because He has full power and ability overeverything.
24. And everything is totally dependent upon Him.
25. And every affair is easy for Him.
26. He has no need of anything.
27.[Meaning: There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All- Hearing, the All- Seeing.]
28. He created the creation whilst having full Knowledge (of them).
29. And He decreed fixed limits for them.
30. And He laid down fixed time-spans for them.
31. And nothing was hidden from Him before He created them.
32. And He knew whatever they were going to do, before He created them.
33. And He commanded them to obey Him, and He forbade them from disobeying Him.
34. And everything occurs in accordance with His pre- decree.
35. And His Will is enacted, not the will of His servants-except what He wills for them, so whatever He willed for them occurs, and whatever he did not will for them does not occur.
36. He guides whoever He wishes, and protects and keeps safe as a favour (fadl) upon them; and He misguides whoever He wishes, and humiliates,1 and puts to trial from (His) Justice (‘adl).
37. All of them vary within His Will (Mashee.ah), between His Favour and His Justice.
38. He is Supreme and Exalted – High above having any opposites or rivals.
39. None can repel His Decree and none can delay His Judgement and none can overcome His commands.
40. We have Eemaan in all of that, and we are certain that everything comes from Him.
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Note: the Above is taken from Abdurrahman.org. Full url for this is: https://abdurrahman.org/2017/09/07/book-study-aqeedah-tahaawiyyah-the-creed-of-imam-al-tahawi/
Audio for Listening: https://abdurrahman.org/2014/09/25/explanation-of-aqeedah-at-tahaawiyyah-dawud-burbank/