Aqida Ibn Khafif
Al `Aqida Al Sahiha
By Ibn Khafif
I. Godhead
1.Glory and Praise to Allah Who has guided us in His path! He has sent down the Book to us. He has lavished His gifts upon us in the persons of the Prophets. He has shown us their tracks and their means of crossing the waters. He has detailed the verses and the suras, cautioning and warning, forbidding and commanding, prohibiting, haranguing and rebuking. These verses and suras are His Admonishments for those who heed admonishment, His wisdom for those who profit from Wisdom. To Allah belongs all praise, first and last, open and hidden! Blessings upon the best being in all creation – Muhammad, the elect – and upon his most pure Family, the chosen ones!
2. To proceed: Verily the one who is endowed with reason is he who believes what is right as his preparation for meeting his Lord; who sifts clean his intentions so that he purifies his deeds; who excels in the worship of his Lord so that he supplies himself for his return; and who knows that he was not created in vain nor will he be left aimless. Therefore let each one strive to make firm the ties of his religion, purify his deeds. And correct his worship. There, lies religions completion, purity, increase, and growth. And it is Allah Who grants success in leading one to the paths of guidance and to whatever He loves and accepts.
3. The first need of Allah’s servant is belief in Absolute Oneness (Al Tawhid) by which all works become complete. To achieve it one must hold the following beliefs:
4. Allah is one but not in the sense of a sequential number (Al `Adab or in that of units.
5. He is “something” yet not like things (shay`un la kal ashya`) [1]
6. There is no resemblance unto Him in all His creation.
7. There is no opposite (didd) to him in all His dominion.
8. There is no equal (nidd) for Him in all His handiwork.
9. He is neither a body (jism), nor an accident (`arad), nor an indivisible substance (Jawhar). [2]
10. In no way does He subsist in originated matters (Al Hawadith) [3] nor they in Him. [4]
11. He does not in anyway indwell anything nor does anything indwell in Him.
12. He does not manifest Himself in anything [5] nor does He hide Himself with anything created.
13. He is the All Knower of what was and what shall be; of what is not to be and, if it were to be, how it would be.
14. Allah was when there was nothing with Him:
15. He was [characterized as the] Knower when there was nothing to be known;
16. He was [characterized as the] Powerful when there was no object of power;
17. He was [characterized as the] Seer when there was nothing to be seen;
18. He was [characterized as the] Sustainer when there was nothing to be sustained;
19. He was [characterized as the] Creator when there was nothing created.
20. Knowledge is other then sight. For He sees all existent things whereas He knows of all inexistent things, although what is non-existent is not seen nor properly called a thing.
21. The attribute (Al sifa) is other then the subject of attribution (Al Mawsuf). It is a ntion pertaining to the subject and substituting (qa`im) therein. [6]
22. Allah is knowing by [the attribute of] knowledge and powerful by [the attribute of] power. [7]
23. The divine attributes are obtained only from the transmitted sources, that is, either what Allah said Himself, or what the Prophet – Peace be upon him – said of Him, or what the Muslims concur about in relation to a given attribute.
24. The divine names are not obtained by making up surnames nor by analogical derivation.
25. Neither the names nor attributes are created.
26. Allah’s speech is from Him and goes back to Him; it is heard, written down, preserved, recited and, studied. [8]
27. He established Himself over the throne and descends to the nearest heaven before dawn in the sense of an attribute of His, not in the sense of displacement.
28. He created Adam with His Hand – not “the hand that is His power” but “the hand that is His attribute.” [9]
29. The same applies with all the sound reports that were narrated concerning the attributes. One holds them true as part of ones belief and surrenders to them without evaluation or discussion.
30. The believers shall see Allah on the Day of Resurrection just as they see the full moon on the night when it rises. They will not be unfairly deprived of seeing Him. [10]
31. They will see Him without encompassment (ihata) nor delimitation (tahdid) within any given limit (hadd), whether from the front, the back, above, below, right, or left.
32. Allah is doer of what He wills:
33. Injustice in not attributed to Him,
34. And He rules over His dominion as He will, without [anyone’s entitlement to] objection whatsoever. [11]
35. His decree is not revoked nor His judgment amended.
36. He brings near Him whomever He will without [need for] cause and He removes far from Him whomever He will without [need for] cause.
37. His will for His servants is the exact state they are in.
38. His good pleasure in is their obedience, while the disobedience takes place by His will without His good pleasure.
39. He gives and He withholds, He blames and He praises.
40. Acts belong to Allah, not to creatures, while earning (iktisab) belongs to creatures, but earning is created by Allah, not by them. [12]
41. Things do not act on their own nature. Neither does water quench thirst, nor does bread sate hunger, nor does fire burn, but Allah creates satedness simultaneously with eating, and hunger at other times. Likewise, drinking is the drinkers doing while quenching [thirst] is from Allah, and killing is the killers doing while death is from Allah.
42. Imagination cannot perceive Him, nor knowledge encompasses Him, nor does reason describe Him.
43. He is the One Alone, the Unique, the Everlasting! To Him belong the most beautiful Names and most exalted Attributes. His is the Dominion here and the hereafter, with glory and praise, thanksgiving, laud, and magnificence.
(I havent typed up the Footnotes yet, will do soon)
Sallamu Alaikum
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