❞ كتاب The general prescription of belief in the Quran and Sunnah ❝ ⏤ عبدالرحمن عبدالخالق

Translato/sWord. ...... i
Introduction " " 'iii
lssues of Belief in Allah the Exalted . . . . . 1
TheexistenceofAllah ....'....1
Uniqueness of the tssence of Allah . ' . . ' 1
The Uniqueness of His Aftributes
The wisdom behind creation
Unification of worship
The belief in angels
The belief in the Scriptures .. .
The belief in the Apostles of Allah
ThebelieiintheHereafter.... ..... -..12
Thebelief inpredestinationandfatalism .... '..16
The Muslim ummah (nation) . . . ."17
Thebasics olda'wahtoAllah .........22
Attitudestowardsnon-Muslims . ' -.....24
The fundamentals of Fiqh liurisprudence)
TheSunnah .....29

All praise is due to Allah the Exalted, and may peace be on Muhammad,
the Seal of the Prophets, who delivered the message of his Lord in the best
manner.
t he Apostle of Allah was reported to have said: "lf you deal with eenah,'
and hold the cows' tails, and become content with employing yourselves

with agriculture, and abandon jihad' in the way of Allah, Allah would per-
mit your humiliation and would not relieve you of it until you return to

your religion."'
The preoccupations mentioned in the above hadeeth are not all that we
must be aware of. We must also beware of all that may be inferred from
them, taking them in a metaphorical sense. Eenah transactions and holding

cows' tails, and contentment with employing in agriculture represent in-
clination towards the affairs of this world. They all lead to abandoning jihad

in the way of Allah.
Indeed, the wordS of the Prophet (Peace be on Him) serye as a warning
to the Muslims of a future which has been realized. He was describing our
present time, and informing us of the significance of our present activities.
Relief cannot come through embracing false beliefs and deviant tenets.
The Prophet Muhammad, (Peace be on Him) on the other hand, foretold
the fact that his ummah would be divided into sevenw-three sects, all of
which would end up in the Fire except one only, and that is Ahlus-Sunnah
Wal-lama'ah. Many of those sects claim their adherence to the Book and
Sunnah. lf, for the sake of argument, their claim is held to be true, then
there has to be something else which distinguishes the safe sect from the
other sevenw-two.
lndeed, it is the way of understanding the Book and the Sunnah which
makes the difference. The tvvo great sources of lslam have to be
understood the way they were understood by the pious predecessors
amongst whom the Prophet lived.
Allah says: "Whoever opposes the Apostle after the right way has been
clearly shown to him, and follows other than the believers'wav. we shall
keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell, and what an evil
destination." 4.115
'fenah is one of the prohibited form of buying and selling, as it involves usury
'Striving in the way of Allah.
tAbu Dawood.

The beirevers whom Allah cornmands us to follow held the right
a<7r'edah and gained prosperity. lt is unfortunate that most of the books in
English deal rvith lslamic issues which represent particular schools of
thought refleetrng the opinions of one particular imam or another. In marty
cases they are supported by weak ahaadeeth (traditions) or by none at all.
Thus we have taken upon ourselves in Al-Haq Publication Society the task
of making works of our pious predecessors, As-Sa/afus-Saalih, and of those
who follow their suit. available to our Muslim brothers who do not speak
Arabic, by translating those works into English, French and other languages.
We also have taken upon ourselves the duty of addressing the pressing
issues the N'luslims usually encounter in non-Muslim societies.
M.A.P. Society presents this book with a sense of fulfillment, as it indeed
contains the g,eneral articles of belief that are incumbent on all Muslims to
hold in order to safeguard themselves against every hideous tenet and
belief introduced to them under the false pretense of defending lslam.
The reader will find in this book the fundamentals of lslam and the
prescripts of faith, and other important issues supported by proofs from
the Qu/an and Sunnah and other reliable references.
I tried my best to convey the message of the basic text of this book, and
be faithful to the language of the original. Where necessary for the sake oi
making an idea clear, a strictly literal translation has been abandoned, and
besides the quotations from the Qur'an and Sunnah, I have introduced
footnotes and commetrtary where | {elt that a term or a concept requried
some elaboration. However, I would like to draw the kind attention of the
reader that although Qur'anic texts and Prophetic traditions in this book

are preceded with "Allah says" or "the Prophet said", yet only their mean-
ing is quoted in this book.

In conclusion, I am grateful to ,qllah that He gave me the chance to serve
His religion and my brothers-in-lslam.

Praise be to Allah of Whom we ask help, forgiveness and guidance, and
in Whom we seek refuge against our own wrongdoing5. "He who Allah
guides there is none to lead astray and he whom Allah misguides there is
none to guide."
It has been almost ten years since this discourse was first published in
Arabic, a period in which it has been reprinted or photocopied in various
countries throughout the Muslim world, where it has been received with
approval, praise be to Allah for His grace.
It is our purpose in publishing this concise discourse to present to our

brothers-in-lslam the articles of our creed in their entirety. Following the ex-
ample of those of our pious predecessors who have composed concise

discourses on the tenets of lslanr, I have written this in a simple style, and

numbered it in order to facilitate comprehending and retaining its con-
tents. lt was my intention to write explanatory comments on this discourse,

had I not been preoccupied with the daily editing of articles on issues
which required immediate attention. Allah, however, made it possible to
expound on the subject in consecutive lessons and lectures that were
recorded in about forty-five audio tapes, copies of which are available, by
the grace of Allah, in the East and West, to the benefit of many people irr
terested in learning throughout the world.

ln the ten years since the first edigpn of this discourse, Muslims have suf-
fered many afflictions, that caused some to swerve from the right way and

others to tamper with the fundamentals of lslam, while still others came to
claim partners to Allah, to whom they ascribed His attributes. This
necessitated the exposition of terms of reference to safeguard the Muslims
against deviation from the right way.
ft is common knowledge that lslamic atlee<Jah1 is presented in the Qu/an
in two types of ayat (verses):
1) Statements in which Allah plainly and clearly informs us (e.g. Say:
He is Allah, the One, Allah, the absolutely independent upon whom all de

pend. He does not beget nor was he begotten. And there is none com-
parable to Him." [5.1120. This surah (chapter)is a Divine statement inform-
ing us about His Exalted essence and His attributes and His Oneness, praise

be to Him. He is Self-sufficient, who stands out matchless, with none equal
to Him, and He neither begets nor was begotten. The reason behind
revealing the above surah, as it has been reported, was that the
Prophet(Peace be on Him) was asked either b y

''Aqeedah'is a rehgious tenet upon whrch one's mind and heart is firmly senled and to which
he holds or adheres.

Quraishl or by some bedouins: "Tell us of your Lord's lineage!"2 The surah

was revealed in response to their query. lrrespective of the particular cir-
cumstances of the revelation of this surah, it and many other similar ones

were revealed by Allah to make us aware of His attributes and his existence.
2) Statements in which Allah rebuts or repels dubious or profane teneB
held by the paggns or People of tre Boo[ to verify *re truth and ordain His
aqeedah. For example: "And they said the Compassionate has taken unto
Himself offspring." [19.SS] Allah in the above ayah reftrtes a belief held by tre
pagans that angels were the daughters of Allah. The angels are His honourable
slaves, not His daughters as they alleged.
Another example: 'The Jews say: Allah's hand is tied up (.e. He does not spend of His
bounty).' Be treir hands tied up and be *rey accursed for what frey
uttered. Nal Both His hands are widely ouBtretched. He gives and
spends (of His bounty) as He wills. . ." 5.64
and:'Those who take partners (in worship) with Allah will say:'lf Allah tnd
willed, we would not have taken parhers (n wonhip)with Him, nor
would our fahers, and we would not have forbidden a dring (against
His Will).' Likewise those who were before trem gave *re lie (to
Aflah's messengers). . ." 6.148 cr
The latter ayah in which Allah rebuts and rebukes unbelief and confirms the
true belief represents atype commonly found in the Qu/an.
No doubt, the lesson of correct aqeedah is more froroughly leamed
tlrrough the presentation of dre false and is refutaton. Ihis is dtrc to dre fact
that things are recognized befter when placed in opposition to their contraries;
light for instance can be distinguished only by contrast with darkness. Similarly,
truth may be sought through an awareness of falsehood. Allah the Exalted
says:'lA/hoever disbelieves in the false deities and believes in Allah, then
he has grasped the most trustworlfiy handhold, fiat will never
break. . ." 2.256
This means that in order to belie taghoot'one first must be aware of it and its
nature.

I have compiled this discourse in accordance with the concept of Ahlus-
Sunnah wallamaah (the Sunni Muslims) in order to present the authentic

creed as perceived by as-Salafus-5aa/ih (the pious predecessors). lt is due to
His grace that neither a tenet which is held by Ahlus-Sunnah wal-lamaah,
'Quraish is the tribe of the Prophe(Peace be on Him).
rlt is customary for the Arabs to take pride in their family lineage and to set it as a criterion by
which social status is judged.
''At-taghctctt'is any derty worshipped beside or other than Allah, or any obiect of wonhip.

nor any issue related to the subject matter, were left out of this discourse.
In other.words, this work comprises all of'the issues relevant to aqeeda
dealt with by scholars of the past and by contemporary ones, along with
other commentaries relating to disruptive controversies of our time.
Anyone who is well acquainted with works on aqeedah realizes that
there have been times when many of religion's minor issues have been
treated as fundamental, e.g., wiping over boots (in ablution), the imamate
(leadership) of Abu Bakr, Urrrr and Uthman (may Allah be pleased with
them), the definition of the term Ahlul-Beit (the family of the prophet(peace
be on Him), the marriage of mut'ah (enjoyment), stoning the married
adulterer, and other minor judicial issues, differing over which resulted in
attacks on the reputations of the companions of the Prophet (may Allah be
pleased with them all), Differing over these issues ultimately led some to
regard the Prophefs respected companions as infidels, and even to go so
far as to regard the Qur'an as incomplete.
Thus there have been times when people so exceeded the bounds of
correct behaviour in pursuing differences in minor issues in religion, that
they ended by differing over fundamentals.
Similar to them are many people of the present time, who form a small
group to invite to the way of Allah and deem themselves the sole lslamic
group, while holding all others to be either infidels or polytheists.
Invariably, the source of this anitude is a disagreement over some minor
question which later develops into the central feature of their sect and the
criterion by which they judge others.
Motivated by the concern over this situation, I brought together all the
major issues of aqeedah in this work, including the articles of faith (i.e. the
belief in Allah, His angels, His Scriptures, His Messengers, the Final Day,

predestiny (of good or bad)) and other issues of importance on which peo-
ple have differed now and in the past. I have also included that which it is

incumbent on the Muslims to believe with regard to jurisprudence and
ijtihadl, and the stand that the believers must take in relation to both
Muslims and non-Muslims. All the basic issues have been included, of
which the Muslim should be aware in order to learn, and to evaluate his
convictions so that he may hold fast to the right way.
The Sunni Muslims have no choice but to accept this pure aqeedah to
achieve their unity and avoid all innovations in belief or acts of worship,
and to resist deviation from and perversion of religion, and to rebuff false
opinions and the deviant seventy-two sects to which the prophet(peace be
on Him) referred: "The Jews were divided into seventy-one sects, and
Nasaraa (Christians) were divided into seventy-two sects, and my Llmmah
(nation) shall be divided inb seventy-three secrs; all of them are in the
(Hell) Fire except one, that is Al-Jamaahr."
"litihad'is drawing forth judicial laws or rulings by studying relevant texts from the eu/an and
Sunnah.
')'Al-lamaah'is the assemblage of Sunni Muslims.

v,

ln another hadeeth, he referred to them saying, "A group of my Um-
mah will remain victorious in their struggle in the course of the truth until

Allah's order (the Final Hour) comes upon them."'
The above authentic hadeeth makes it abundantly clear that only the
sa/afls (those who follow the methodology of the Prophet(Peace be on
Him) and his companions) constitute the lama'ah, the people of the truth
who hold fast to the Book and Sunnah and who shun disbelief, falsehood
and shirk.'l
The sa/afi call and the aqeedah of the safe sect is what this discourse is
all about.
We hope that this aqeedah dwells in the hearts of every Muslim, and
that every da'ee (inviter) to Allah promotes it. We also hope that Allah
makes feasiable completing a concise Arabic commentary on this
discourse substantiated by valid arguments and by proofs from the
Qu/an and Sunnah.
It is entirely up to Allah to make our endeavour purely for His sake, and
to help us avoid errors in belief, utterance and deed; He is the Hearer the
Knower.

 Allah Almighty ordered all his servants to enter Islam and adhering to it and warned them of disobeying him. Also he sent His messenger to call to this. Allah told us that the one who follows him is the rightly guided and the one who turns away from his call goes astray. He warned us in many ayahs of apostasy, polytheism and disbelief.