Al-Fiqh Al-Akbar: A Creed
by Imam Abu Hanifa
Translated by Hamid Algar, Professor of Persian and Islamic Studies,
University of California, Berkeley
Translated by Hamid Algar, Professor of Persian and Islamic Studies, University of California, Berkeley
(published in the journal Al-Bayan ca. 1980) From The Heritage of Islamic Literature
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 Hanifa, may God be pleased with him, a brief but comprehensive
statement of the irreducible dogmas (‘aqa’id - sing. ‘aqidah) of Islam.
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 of
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 succor 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; the '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 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 what they
mention, or the fashion in which they mention it. The Throne Verse, for example,
enjoys excellence on both counts: what it mentions – splendor, 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
brackets were added by the translator.)
