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Al-'Aqidah Al-Wasitiyah Footnotes

1. The scholars differed in regard to the "Basmalah"; is it a verse (ayah) of each chapter (Surah) it opens?, or is it a separate verse which was revealed to separate between the chapters?, and to be blessed by starting the reading with it; the second opinion is the preferable one. And they agreed that it is a part of a verse in Surat an-Naml (27/30), and to abandon it at the beginning of Surat Bara'ah or (at-Tawbah/9), because it is considered as one chapter with Surat al-Anfal/8.

2. Al-Hamdu Lil-Lahi (all the praise belongs to Allah): It was reported from the Prophet (may Peace Be Upon Him) that he said:

"Every talk which does not open with praising Allah and asking mercy for me is incomplete and has no blessing." (ar-Rahawi) The same thing was reported about the Basmalah. (Ibn Hibban)

3. The Messenger is a man who received a Revelation of Shari'ah (religion and law), and was ordered by God to announce it, however, if he received a revelation and wasn't ordered to announce it, then he is only a prophet and not a messenger.

4. The (Shahadah) of Allah, the Exalted, is implemented by His Word and His Action, and His Support for His Messenger by victory, miracles, and various proofs that what he brought forth is the Pure Truth.

5. La ilaha illa Allah (There is no god but Allah) is the formula of Tawhid (Oneness) which all Messengers (peace be upon them all) agreed upon, rather it is the essence of their messages, and every Messenger made it the opening of his message and its pillar, as our Prophet (may Peace Be Upon Him) said:

"I was ordered to fight people until they say La ilaha illa Allah, and if they say it, then they protect their blood and their property from me except for its dues, and Allah, The Almighty, The Supreme, will judge them." (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

6. And making the shahadah (testimony) for the Messenger (may Peace Be Upon Him) of the Risalah (Message) and the 'Ubudiyah (Servitude to Allah and worshiping Him) connected with the Testimony of the Oneness of Allah, to indicate that both of them must be mentioned together, and no one of them takes the place of the other, for this they were connected in adhan (the call for prayers) and at-tashahhud (the testimony). Some people interpreted the verse,

"And We exalted your name." (al-Inshirah 94/4) as: "Whenever I am mentioned you will be mentioned with Me."

And He combined for him (the Prophet) the two tides, namely that of the Messenger-ship and the Servitude, because they are the highest of which any human being could be described. The Servitude or the worship is the reason for which Allah made the creations, as He said:

"I created the jinn and humankind only that they should worship Me." (adh-Dhariyat, 51/56)

So the perfection of the creature is in accomplishing that goal, and the more the human being increases his accomplishment of the servitude, the more he increases his perfection and makes his status higher, for this Allah mentioned His Prophet with the title 'Abd (slave, servant, worshipper) during his highest and noblest situations like al-Isra' (the night journey from Makkah to al-Quds). Also, in the sound hadith, the Prophet (may Peace Be Upon Him) said:

"Do not praise me as the Christians praised The Son of Mary (Jesus), indeed, I am only a human being, so, say; 'The 'Abd of Allah and His Messenger'."

7. The Saved Group is the victorious one according to the saying of the Prophet (may Peace Be Upon Him):

"A band of my 'Ummah shall stick to truth and will stay victorious, and will not be harmed by whoever betrays them until the Day of Judgment" (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

And his saying:

"This 'Ummah will be divided into 73 divisions, all of them will go to Hell except one, which follows what I and my Companions are today." (at-Tirmidhi)

8. The Sunnah means the way which the Prophet (may Peace Be Upon Him) and his Companions lived and behaved before the rise of the heretical innovations.

9. These six articles are the pillars of the faith, and every true believer must accept all of them according to the guidance of the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and whoever rejects any article of them is not considered a true believer. Those pillars are mentioned in the story of Gabriel when he came to the Prophet (may Peace Be Upon Him) as a bedouin to ask him about Islam and Iman (faith) and Ihsan (worshiping Allah as if we see Him, since we do not see Him, He sees us): the Prophet said:

"To believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and to believe in the Resurrection after death, and the Qadar (Divine Decree) whether it is good or bad. The Books are the revealed ones from the heavens to the Messengers, of which are known to us are: The Scrolls of Abraham (Suhuf Ibrahim), The Old Testament (at-Tawrah), The New Qur'an Testament (al-Injil, the Zabur (the Psalms of David), and the Qur'an, the Last Revelation. "

The Messengers: only twenty-five of them are mentioned in the Qur'an, as for the rest, we should believe in them without bothering ourselves in counting them, or knowing their names, because this is what Allah kept for Himself as He said in the Qur'an

"Verily We sent Messengers before you, among them those of whom We have told you, and some of whom We have not told you." (Ghafir or al-Mu'min 40/78)

10. The negation is two kinds: general and specific. The general is to remove from Allah all that negates His Perfectness from defects and bad qualities, as He said: "There is nothing like Him." and "Do you know any similar to Him?" "Praise Allah of what they describe Him." The specific is to glorify Allah from having a father, or son, or wife, or partner, or equal, or ignorance, or weakness, or confusion, or forgetfulness, or slumber, or sleep, or falsehood and playfulness. All these negations are not required for their own, but at the same time to confirm their contrast, so, the negation of the partner and the equal is to confirm His absolute greatness, and so on.

Affirmation is also of two kinds: general and specific. The general is to affirm His Absolute Perfectness, and the Absolute Praiseworthiness, and Absolute Glory, and so forth, as Allah said:

"Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds" (al-Fatihah 1/1) and "Allah's is the Sublime Similitude." (an -Nahl 16/60).

The specific affirmation includes each name or attribute which has been mentioned in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and they are very numerous, which makes it very difficult to enumerate here, but one can find them all over the Qur'an and the Sunnah.

11. This Surah (chapter) is given special status because it contains what no other chapters of the Qur'an contain, therefore, it has been called al- Ikhlas (the purity of faith) because it purified the faith from the blemish of paganism. Al-Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal reported in his Musnad from 'Ubayy Ibn Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with him), the reason for its revelation was that the non-believers said: "Muhammad tell us the genealogy of your God, so, Allah, The Blessed, The Exalted revealed: 'Say: He is Allah The One, Allah The Eternal..." It has been confirmed in the Sahih (the Sound Book of Hadith) that it is equal to a third of the Qur'an, but the scholars disputed over the interpretation of this saying, the most acceptable interpretation is what Sheikh al-Islam (i.e.,Ibn Taimiyah) narrated from Abu al- 'Abbas which is summed up as follows: The Qur'an contains three basic objectives:

A. The ordinance which include the rules and the practical regulations which are the subject of Fiqh and Morality.
B. The stories and the accounts which contain the situation of the Messengers (peace be upon them all) with their nations, and the kinds of punishments which are inflicted on the non-believers; and the reward and the threat, and the details of the reward and the punishment in the Hereafter.
C. The Tawhid (the Oneness of God), and what people should know of Allah and His Names and Attributes, and this is considered the noblest of the three kinds.

Since Surat al-Ikhlas contained the essence of this kind of knowledge, generally speaking, it is proper to say it is equal to a third of the Qur'an. The same could be said about Ayat al-Kursi in which Allah informed us about Himself, that He is the One in His Lordship, which means no other deity should be worshiped beside Him.

12. These four names deal with encompassment; His Name "The First" indicates His infinitely pre-existence and eternity; and His Name "The Last" indicates His immortality and everlastingness; and His Name "The Outward" indicates His highness and greatness by the fact that He encompasses everything; and His Name "The Inward" indicates His closeness and being with and within everything.

13. Istawa 'ala al-Arsh (He Established Himself on, or Mounted The Throne). This issue must be accepted as al-Imam Malik said:

"The mounting is known, but "how" is unknown. "In other words, one must accept the fact that Allah Mounted the Throne without questioning how. Because it is better for a Muslim to spend his or her time thinking about improving the Muslims' and all humanity's situation than to waste the time in debating issues without answers. There are certain issues of the faith only Allah, The Exalted, knows their answers, so let us leave these issues to Him".

14. These verses indicate Allah's Highness over His creatures, therefore everything should be raised up to Him.

15. From these verses we learn that Allah is with us all the time, watching over our deeds and hearing our thoughts. If we remember this fact all the time, we will be better human beings, and we will be careful about our acts and behavior.

16. The Sunnah is the second source which Muslims must turn to in all their daily affairs after the Qur'an. Allah, The Exalted, confirmed that in the Qur'an as He said:

"Allah revealed unto you (Muhammad) the Scripture and Wisdom, and taught you that which you knew not." (an-Nissa' 4/113)

The Wisdom here referred to, means the Sunnah.

And He said:

"Our Lord! And raise up in their (the Arabs) midst a messenger from among them who shall recite unto them Your Revelations, and shall instruct them in the Scripture and in Wisdom..." (al-Baqarah 2/129)

And He said instructing the wives of His Prophet:

"And learn that which is recited in your houses of the Revelations of Allah and Wisdom." (al-Ahzab 33/34).

And Allah, The Praiseworthy said:

"And whatsoever the Messenger allows you to do, do it. And whatsoever he forbids, abstain (from it.)" (al-Hashr 59/7).

The Messenger (may Peace Be Upon Him) said:

"I was given the Qur'an and its equal in addition to it." (Abu Dawud)

From all this one can learn that the rule of the Sunnah is almost equal to the rule of the Qur'an in affirming the faith and the practices of Islam, indeed the Sunnah is a clarification to the Qur'an and an explanation of its general concepts, as Allah, The Exalted said:

"And We have revealed unto you the Remembrance (adh- Dhikr) that you may explain to mankind that which has been revealed for them." (an-Nahl 16/44)

Remembering all this no one is allowed to reject the sound Sunnah on the pretext that it is not authentic, or we accept only what is mentioned in the Qur'an. If this claim is true, then those people should not pray because the acts and the performance of prayers are not mentioned in the Qur'an, the same is true about the rites of pilgrimage, ablution, and many daily performances which are mentioned in the Qur'an in general terms only. Moreover, we should not exaggerate in allegorical interpretations of the Sunnah, and try to philosophize it, because the Prophet (may Peace Be Upon Him) did not intend that, rather he spoke in clear simple terms in order for people to be able to understand him, and be right in practicing their faith. It is true that some hooks of Sunnah and Hadith contain fabricated stories and sayings but this should not obstruct us from seeing The Truth and finding it in the many collections which do contain sound and authentic hadiths and stories, because the scholars of Sunnah and Hadith, such as al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah, at-Tirmidhi, an-Nassa'i and many others cleared the matter for us hundreds of years ago, may Allah reward them the best of rewards in the Hereafter.

17. In regard to the Attributes of Allah, one cannot help it but to think about it since there is a lot of argument and debate and disagreement around them, to the extent that some people reject them completely, while others treat them as bodily attributes and give them shape, like "Allah's Face". or "Allah's Eyes", or "Allah's Hand", etc. I believe that these Attributes should be explained allegorically, without shaping or rejecting, in other words, as they mean in regard to power, protection and watching and hearing without asking "how". The idea behind mentioning these Attributes is to make our limited minds comprehend Allah and relate to Him, otherwise how do we expect Allah to describe Himself to us?

18. The meaning of this hadith is that a believer goes to war with unbelievers, and a non-believer kills the believer Muslim so he enters Paradise because of him losing his life for the sake of Allah, however, after that the non-believer accepts Islam and becomes a believer then dies as a true believer, and he in turn enters Paradise, so the killer and the killed enter Paradise. This indicates to us the Mercy, Favor and Generosity of Allah to His creatures.

19. The Jahmis are the followers of Jahm Ibn Safwan Abu Muhriz, a (mawla) client of Banu Rasib, called at-Tirmidhi by some and as-Samarqandi by others, a Muslim theologian, who attached himself to al-Harith Ibn Suraij, the "man with the black banner", during the rising in Khurasan towards the end of the 'Umayyad period and was therefore put to death in 128 H./745-6 C.E. by Salm Ibn Ahwaz. As a theologian he occupies an independent position in as much as he agreed with the Murji'ah on the one hand in teaching that belief is an affair of the heart, and with the Mu'tazilah in denying the anthropomorphic attributes of God, but on the other hand he was one of the strongest defenders of Jabr. He only allowed that Allah is All-Powerful and the Creator because these are the things which can not be predicated of any created being. He further denied the eternity of Paradise and Hell. His followers called jahmiyah after him, survived down to the fifth century of the Hijrah/eleventh century C.E., around Tirmidh but then adopted the doctrines of the Ash'aris.

20. Qadariyah (Qadaris) is a Muslim sect which believes that man produced his own actions, which meant that they make man (khaliq al-af'al) creator of actions, thus giving Allah a partner in creating.

21. Jabriyah is the name given to those who, in opposition to the Qadariyah, deny the freedom of the will, and on this point make no distinction between man and inanimate nature, in as much as his actions are subordinate to the compulsion (jabr) of God. The most prominent champion of this view is Jahm Ibn Safwan and many other small sects.

22. Murji'ah is the name of one of the early sects of Islam, the extreme opponents of the Khawarij. The latter thought that a Muslim by committing a mortal sin becomes kafir. The Murji'ah, on the other hand, were of the opinion that a Muslim does not lose his faith through sin. This doctrine led them to a far-reaching quietism in politics; according to their doctrine, the Imam who was guilty of mortal sins did not cease to be a Muslim and must be obeyed. The Salah (prayers) performed behind him was valid.

23. Al-Wa'idiyah believe that Allah logically must punish the disobedient as He must reward the obedient, therefore, according to them, if a person committed a major sin and died before repenting, Allah must not forgive him. This doctrine conflicts with the Qur'an and the Sunnah.

24. Al-Haruriyah is a branch of the Khawarij, the earliest of the religious sects of Islam, whose importance lies particularly, from the point of view of the development of dogma, in the formulation of questions relative to the theory of the Caliphate and to justifications by faith or by work.

The Origin Of the Khawarij Movement:

The occasion for the schism was given by the proposal presented to 'Ali by Mu'awiyah during the battle of Siffin (Safar, 37 H./July, 657 C.E.) to settle the differences by referring it to two arbitrators who would pronounce judgment according to the Qur'an, while the majority of 'Ali's army readily adopted this proposal, one group of warriors, mainly of the tribe of Tamim, vigorously protested against the setting up of a human tribunal above the Divine Word. Loudly protesting that judgment belongs to Allah alone" (La hukma illa lil-Lahi), they left the army, and withdrawing to the village of Harura', not far from Kufah, they elected as their chief an obscure soldier 'AbdAllah Ibn Wahb ar-Rasibi. These first dissenters took the name al-Haruriyah or al-Muhakkimah.

25. Al-Mu'tazilah is the name of the great theological school which created the speculative dogmation of Islam. The Mu'tazilis are those who profess the doctrine of i'tizal, i.e., the doctrine of (al-manzilah baina al-manzilatain), or the state intermediate between belief and unbelief, the fundamental doctrine of the school. The name "Mu'tazilah" is derived from a schism which took place in the circle of al-Hasan al-Basfi: after laying down their doctrine of (al-manzilah baina al-manzilatain), Wasil Ibn 'Ata' and 'Amr Ibn 'Ubaid are said to have separated (i'tazala) from al-Hasan's circle to found an independent school. Some modern scholars believe that the Mu'tazilah had a political origin started at the time of 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib, when a group of Muslims stayed neutral in the fight between 'Ali on the one side and Talhah, az-Zubair and 'A'ishah on the other, as the third (neutral) group was described in the historical chronicles as: (i'taaalu) moved away from the fighting.

Part of their theological doctrine was that the Qur'an was created. This belief caused a lot of debate and argument among the Muslim theologians in the medieval times and the main proponents of this doctrine was the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun and his brother al-Mu'tasim, and its main opponent was the famous Muslim jurist Ahmad Ibn Hanbal.

26. Rawafid or Rafidah is one of the names given to the Shi'ah. Al-Ash'ari explains this denomination as those who rejected the caliphate of Aba Bakr and 'Umar:

27. al-Khawarij-See al-Haruriyah.

28. Allah's Books are: The Books which He revealed, namely; The Old Testament (at-Tawrah), The New Testament (al-Injil) and the Qur'an.

29. Here Ibn Taimiyah is responding to the Mu'tazilah who claimed that the Qur'an is created.

30. According to the Muslim faith, when a dead person is buried in his or her grave two angels, one called Munkar and the other called Nakir; examine and if necessary punish him or her in the tomb. To the examination in the tomb the infidels and the faithful, the righteous as well as the sinners are liable. They are set upright in their tombs and must answer certain questions. The righteous faithful will answer them properly, thereupon they will be left alone until the Day of Resurrection. The sinners and the infidels, on the other hand will not have satisfactory answers at hand. Consequently, the angels will beat them severely.

31. Uncircumcised means that people will be resurrected as they were created the first time, as Allah, The Exalted said:

"Now have you come unto Us solitary as We did create you at the first..." (al-An'am 6/94)

32. The believers and the righteous will receive their record of deeds in their right hand, but the infidels and the sinners will receive their records in their left hand or behind their backs.

33. Here means the murderer.

34. If the heir of the murdered person forgives the murderer by not executing him for committing the murder, rather he accepts the blood- money, in this case Allah recommended that the forgiving person should continue to be magnanimous and not to ask the blood-money in harsh and rough terms, and to wait if the murderer cannot afford it right away. At the same time, Allah commands the murderer to pay the blood-money without reducing the requested amount and without very much delay.

35-36. In the year 628 C.E., the Prophet Muhammad (may Peace Be Upon Him) led a band of believers to perform 'umrah (smaller pilgrimage) to Makkah, but the non-believers of Makkah prevented him and his followers from entering Makkah by blocking their way with a large army at a place called al-Hudaibiyah located nine miles out of Makkah. As a result, a war almost broke out between the two parties, but negotiations took place instead. The Prophet (may Peace Be Upon Him) sent 'Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) to Makkah to represent him at the negotiations, but he did not return for three days and rumors reached the Prophet and his followers that 'Uthman was killed by the Makkans. Although unprepared for battle, the Prophet could not leave the Makkans unpunished for their treacherous act. So, he assembled his followers and, standing under a large tree, they pledged allegiance to him to fight the Makkans. Therefore, Allah praised them in the Qur'an:

"Lo! Those who swear allegiance unto you (Muhammad), swear allegiance only unto Allah. The Hand of Allah is above their hands..."(al-Fat-h 48/10)

In the same chapter, verse 18, Allah expressed His pleasure with the believers who pledged allegiance to the Prophet (may Peace Be Upon Him) under the tree in Hudaibiyah, He said

: "Allah was well pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance unto you beneath the tree, and He knew what was in their hearts, and He sent down peace of reassurance on them, and has rewarded them with a near victory."

37. Nawasib is a group of people who do not like 'Ali or his family; they are the counterpart of the Rawafid.

38. Al-Abdal certain righteous persons, of whom the world is never destitute; when one dies, Allah substituting another in his place. Certain persons by means of whom Allah rules the earth; consisting of seventy men, according to their assertion, of whom the earth is never destitute; forty of whom are in Syria, and thirty in the other countries; none of them dying without another's supplying his place, from the rest of mankind; and therefore they are named Abdal.

Wa-ahhira da'wana: "Al-Hamdu lil-Lahi Rabbi al-'Alamin, was-salatu was- salamu 'ala ashrafl al-mursalin, Sayyidina Muhammad, wa-'ala alihi wa-sahbihi ajma'in wa-man walahum ila yawmi ad-din. Allahumma ighfir li wa-li- walidayya, wa-arhamhuma ha-ma rabbayani saghiran."


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