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All praise is due to Allah who created the Shariah sciences…

The poetry of the ulema is used in the beginning of the text which things end in the same ending sound in this case it is “een”, the sheikh rimes deen with deen which some people look down upon but none the less he balagha is impressive. The sheikh intends to mean that the rank of fiqh is obvious it suffices only to bring up the words of the saqiq ameen the trust worthy and honest one, whoever Allah wants good for them he gives them knowledge of the religion which is fiqh knowledge. Fiqh itself means to learn or to understand in this case knowing the religion as it deserves to be known.

I have extracted this book from Aqrab al Masalik in what is useful to the Salek. The word salek means a wayfarer or in other words the traveler who is taken the path of sacred Islamic knowledge. He says he shortens the text in what he needs for and minimizing in what is not needed. What he means by this is in the language and the topics itself which has become irrelevant. One of which is Jihad in the time of which the text was written there was fighting but the author took it out but, in that case, we will quote from the book Aqrab al Masalik to be sure that that important chapter is not missed.

He says he has also added a section of Aqeedah that is suitable for beginners and should be useful for those who want to learn

Intro chapter on the important things of Aqeedah

The first important point for the mukalif who is the Muslim who is not underage, insane, under the control of others, dsa…

The first thing for him to know is there is no deity other than Allah which separates Islam from henotheism which means there can be multiple Gods but you on devote yourself to one. Some historians claim that the ancient Israelites held this view. This does not harm Islam or Muslims as we know throughout history the yahd have been misguided so it’s possible that a faction of them believed in henotheism

Allah is one without any rival (Sharik means rival)

Allah is one without any rival (Sharik means rival) and that Allah is entirely powerful and self-sufficient and needs nothing and that he exists without an external cause. He is not in need of anything other than himself. Rather anything other than him exist due to him and in the footnotes, it quotes from the Quran (Add this later, Allah is Ghaniyun and you are impoverished).

He is totally different than anything in his creation and he is Qadeem which is ancient meaning he Is enteral.

He is totally different than anything in his creation and he is Qadeem which is ancient meaning he Is enteral. The pre-eternality and the post eternality in the sense that Allah will exist forever. There is nothing prior to him and he is post ternal meaning exist and always exist with no end for his eternality. These are philosophical terminology found in Arabic language that express this concept very well more so than English.

Allah is living as per the verse (Baqarah, 255 – ghaffir,65).

Allah is living as per the verse (Baqarah, 255 – ghaffir,65). This is important because naturalist concepts of God depict him as nature and nature does not have a will but rather Allah is a being with a will instead of being just nature. Allah says in the Quran once more in Surah buruq verse 9 which demonstrates this and again in yasin verse 87 Allah commands a thing he says be and it is.

Allah is powerful and he has knowledge which is evident from the verse of Quran found in surah Talaq verse 12.

Allah is powerful and he has knowledge which is evident from the verse of Quran found in surah Talaq verse 12. Allah is powerful over all things and has knowledge of All things!

Allah is all hearing and all seeing and he is speaking

Allah is all hearing and all seeing and he is speaking and there are verses of the Quran that says all of these. The attributes listed by Allah has parallels with humanity and this is the great tension in Islamic theology, how similar do we make God similar to what in this world or how transcendent. The far end of transcendent is the Ismalili who say that Allah cannot be known at all and the other end is the subsets of the Salafi or athari ends of things which in some viewpoints can more so liken things to what is created which can be accused of anthropomorphism, although the overwhelming majority of its followers of the Athari creed do not follow anthropomorphism and far remove themselves from such accusations it was important to mention the 2 ends of Islamic scholarships view point on the topic.

Man is the highest creation because

For this reason, Man meaning humanity is the highest creation because we embody those characteristics in a limited fashion we can hear and see similar to Animals but we embody them in a higher way due to having an Aql and freewill. The ashari view is most persuasive on this topic, we have freewill but angels do not and that raises us higher than angels which makes us so highly rank and that relates to the sin of Iblis.

Iblis felt he is a cosmic being who is immortal and powerful why would he bow to a weak mortal creature?

Iblis felt he is a cosmic being who is immortal and powerful why would he bow to a weak mortal creature? Yet Adam was more noble than iblis, even the sons of Adam vary in nobility. There is a concept of the perfect man who embodies them to the highest degree who was the prophet Mohamed himself who embodies it the highest of the prophets who are the highest of Humanity. This means the prophet is the single best thing created in the universe and from Among mankind he is embodying them to the highest degree possible.

There is a doctrine that is called noor Mohamedi,

Ibn kamuna is a Jewish author who wrote many works on the differences in the beliefs of Jews, and the prophet is the source of the ideal nature of a man, it is impossible to be like Allah and to an extent Allah is not truly knowable because Allah is transcendent but you can know the prophet and that is within your range of aspiration and Allah sent the prophet to be our model. The Christians believe that Allah himself became the model in the form of Jesus which Muslims would disagree with. Allah is all powerful so how could he embody a man and sacrifices himself to himself even though he is all powerful and this is a contingent in Christian theology.

Some Christians say in this life he is fully God, the prophet Mohammed in not God in this life he can still be tempted by things (there are different views on that) but the main point is he is not all powerful and not all knowing.

All of the attributes of God which Allah describes himself with in his book and the attributes which are verified and confirmed by his prophet

All of the attributes of God which Allah describes himself with in his book and the attributes which are verified and confirmed by his prophet Mohammed such as Allahs face or his eye or his hands or his istiwah (descend or to be above), his descent to the heavens of this world as per the hadith (add here later), that Allah will be visible on the day of judgement all of theses are established.

Everyone agrees on the attributes but disagree in the interpretation

Everyone agrees in the attributes but disagree in the interpretation such as the Athari school which says Allah has an eye that is unlike our eye or the Ashari school which would say it’s a metaphor to Allahs omniscience. A view in the text is given on the meanings is that only Allah only knows its reality not how we as humanity picture it on the aspect of created things.

So far, the text does not go hard on the Athari side of understanding text

Allah is above all of that since the attribute comes out of the essence and we believe in the existence of Allah’s holy essence and believe in his holy essence without imagination or likeness regarding it (the sifat). This is closer to the Athari side of things which is the without howness doctrine which is even acceptable to an Ashari since we cannot know what these attributes mean but we accept them which is the safe opinion to hold. The Ashari school also has this view that ultimately no one can totally know what the sifat of Allah are but they will still give their best shot as to what they mean to what makes the most sense or what is the only possible logical sense.

Imam ghazli says philosophy is haram uslan

Imam ghazali says it was haram uslan and we should not do philosophy but because were asking many questions and we not satisfied with believing but not how became a fard kiffiyah. That means that you should read the text and believe and that is what is best but due to the situation of the Ummah it became wajib in order to have some people who are excerpts in theology. The early drive to develop to developed Islamic orthodoxy was the other religions like manakism or the desanites or the Marcionites and many other pseudo religions. They were very sophisticated in their theology and they were very religiously sophisticated and even Arab Muslims left Islam to follow those religions and in our modern times there are many ideologies which are battling for the hearts and minds and possibly souls of the Muslim world just as it once was in the time of Imam Ghazali

(Tadrib al Salik is a step up from the Izziyah)

Recap

We left off on the Aqeedah section where we discussed the Athari and Ashari view points with the author being closer to the Athari side of things being a Maliki scholar from Saudi Arabia.

Imam Ahmed said anything that might occur to your mind is different than his reality

Imam Ahmed said anything that might occur to your mind is different than his reality what this means is that the Human being is a created finite being and you cannot only imagine something that is created. TO Imagine Allah’s hand is impossible we can only imagine types of hands whether they be human hands or animal hands etc so its impossible to imagine Allah accurately.

Imam shafi said, that in my own words is that we cannot think about how Haqqiat thatihi (reality of Allahs essence) is.

Imam shafi said, that in my own words is that we cannot think about how Haqqiat thatihi (reality of Allah’s essence) is. We cannot know the reality of that and likewise Allah’s attributes we can only understand it in limited fashion. Imam Suyuti says the general position of Ahlulul Sunnah and among the salaf and people of hadith are of the belief we do tafweed of the meaning of the attributes. Tafweed means you do not devolve into it which is upon the Athari side of the spectrum. Tafweed al ma’ana means relegating the meaning to Allah in other words letting Allah define his own attributes himself without our early perspective which in reality we have no knowledge of.

In theology it consists of main topics (ilihiyat means things related to God) and you have nabuwat (beliefs pertaining to prophets).

In theology it consists of main topics (ilihiyat means things related to God) and you have nabuwat (beliefs pertaining to prophets). Ilahiyat is close to the English word theology in other words God science whereas Kalam means speech in Arabic which encompass all of this and there is no harm in saying Kalam theology.

Allah has chosen from amongst Bani Adam the prophets and he made them infallible and preserved them from small sins and big sins.

Allah has chosen from amongst Bani Adam the prophets and he made them infallible and preserved them from small sins and big sins. This means their beliefs will be correct and cannot transmit false information about Allah and theological matters and also as part of their naboowa they are preserved from all sins because that would be a defect in their ability to transmit the message. In the Old Testament you will find prophets who commit major sins, and for the Judeo-Christian viewpoint they will say the prophets are human beings and are likely they to sin but its foes not prevent their transmission of the message. Some would argue this makes the prophets human and relatable.

Ibn kamuna is a Jewish author who wrote many works on the differences in the beliefs of Jews,

Ibn kamuna is a Jewish author who wrote many works on the differences in the beliefs of Jews, Muslims and Christians so that is something to look into to know more about the differences in Muslims Jews and Christians. This idea from the judo Christian religion allows them to rally behind evil and sinful men and believe that is a will of God to use wicked men for his agenda in the example of Donald trump evangelical Christians as they compare him to King David, He made from among them messengers who communicated this revelation to their people. .

There is a difference between a prophet and messenger. Not every prophet is a messenger,

There is a difference between a prophet and messenger. Not every prophet is a messenger, the Quran is a Risala and the Original Gospel is a Risala. The prophet Mohamed was a rasool and Isa was a Rasool but for example Suleiman was not a rasool because he did not have a message. They communicated their message with honesty and in a complete fashion and they communicated what they were ordered to communicate to the people, the first of them being Adam the father of mankind. Adam is praised as the father of mankind and the prophet Mohamed the Master of mankind. Allah sent his final prophet with his Shariah and of all his shara’I this refers to the previous prophets and messengers which had come before. All previous shariat become abrogated by the final shariah of Islam Surah Maida verse 48 is an indication of that.

An interesting story is that Omar had a copy of the Torah and he was looking at it and

Shiekh Abdul Aziz mentions that Allah made the prophet Mohamed a messenger to all the people meaning all humanity which is contrary to the previous prophets who were sent to only their people. Allah also sealed the prophets and messengers with him (prophet Mohamed) which means his status as the last and final messenger.

The next Aqeedah point

The Quran is the speech of God which is uncreated.

In the day of Imam Ahmed, the Mutazilites spread a false creed of the speech of Allah being created which is not the belief of Ahlul Sunnah. What is the issue with the Quran BEING CREATED? It refers to the enteral speech of Allah being eternally with him or is it something created. The Quran and the meanings of it where always with Allah even before the time of Uthman which the Quran was compiled. The meanings are eternal not created this is the view point of Ahlul Sunnah. Important point here All that is in the world is under the command of Allah Qadah of Allah and his Qadr (divine determination). Nothing moves and nothing remains stationary except by his will and foreknowledge of that intimate detail.

The question of theodicy is why do bad things happen to good people?

The Mutazilite were of the view that Allah created only the good and the bad comes from the creation whereas Ahluil sunnah hold the view that the bad is from the Qadr if we say that Allah does not create the bad then evil is an enteral existent presence some form of an evil god that creates evil which is the view of Zoroastrianism. Muslims believe shaytan is a source of Allah of evil but he is a creation of Allah he implicitly acts with Allahs will and allowance and if Allah is allowing him to spread corruption and having the power to stop him its still of the Qadr.

What is Ahlul Sunnahs view on this?

Ahlul sunnah believes Allah creates the evil and the Good and this is all part of Allah design and its all for his purposes and Allah is the best of planners and created everything and knows how they will be and in an infinite order effect (butterfly effect). The purpose of evil is to draw contrast with Good, if there was no evil then what distinctness would there be for goodness? In Jannah there is static perfect pious perfection in the heavens that is the life of Angels they do not have moral status or free will whereas humanity is created for a wise purpose and are different than angels.

Interesting Ashari theory on Qasd

The asharis have a theory of qasd by which people can acquire responsibility of their actions even though Allah has predestined it to defend this point (in Ibn arabi and other sufic hold this view) Allah creates people in their totality, Allah does not create a person then he has not control of it Allah is in total control over all that happens nothing is beyond his control what this means is that is Allah creates a person in its totality from before their birth their entire lifespan to their death and everything that happens in between is predestine including the choices of their moral profile and their end fate. If this is true then that Allah created all of their whole existence which would mean their final fate is apart of who they are when Allah creates a sinner who is to hell this means he did not create a noble person who erred but he created an evil creation destine for hell Allah has created Satan so easier for him to create a sinner who lives for 70 years and dies. A sinner wants to sin he is inclined towards evil Allah created them to sin to fit a role in his overall role.

Differing unique views regarding the hellfire

There are different views on if the hellfire be extinguished eventually or will the people come out or will hell stop be being a punishment and stop being a place of suffering but an enteral abode. Some say the hellfire will not be destroyed but endure but be no longer be a place of suffering. This might be seen as in just but Allah does not have a morality as there is no one to hold Allah to an account Allah is free to do as he wills. The Maturidi position is more inclined towards free-will in comparison to the Ashari school. However, the Mu’tazilah were even more beyond that the Mutazilites went into zaydism and to an extent to 12vers. Zaydis are like Mutazilites in many positions with some Shiite political opinions, 12ver shias believe in the Mutazilites opinions of freewill. The ashari opinion is not total freewill, Allah creates the positions you are in and the situations you face you choose your moral choice but this is a very large discussion to get into that must be saved for another time.

Fun facts

The position of the hellfire will be annihilated is held by Ibn taymiyyah and the view that people will remain in hell is a position of Ibn arabi.

Angels

The angels are a farib a group created by God for his obedience, they do not disobey Allah in what he has commanded. This means they are incapable of disobeying Allah therefor they do not have morality whereas we have a choice to have morality or not surah tahreem verse 6.

The grave

We believe that people are alive in their graves they have some perceptible ability in their graves and possibly a trial in the grave depending on their moral standing. The grave is either a garden of paradise for those who are headed there or it is like a pit of hellfire for those who are headed there. This means the grave is a much weaker form of the ultimate fate in other theological text that experiencing your grave will be as a reward causes you to rest easy on the flip side the dread and anticipation of going to hell is apart of the punishment.

Resurrection

People will be resurrected from their graves and gathered and their actions will be weighed on a scale Allah says who ever has done a atoms weight of Good shall see it and whoever has done an atoms weight of evil shall see it. On that day people will be naked on that day but will not be considered with the bodies of others, some Theologians disputed a bodily resurrection but a soul resurrection alone.

Forgiveness during resurrection

Allah will forgive as he so wills peoples sins either through righteous actions or through shifa (intercession) or through his grace. Allah is the most merciful he forgives all sins except shirk and there is no making up for shirk except repenting before one’s death. Allah will choose to forgive your evil actions except for the evil action of polytheism. In a way Christianity is the opposite of this where you have to believe in what is considered shirk (according to an Islamic perceptive) in order to be saved (trinity nature of God), Islam calls you to Monotheistic understanding of Allah and mainstream Christianity calls you to a trinitarian concept of Allah which are opposite creeds.

The sirat (bridge)

The sirat is a bridge between Jannah and under it is hell and those who are righteous it will be wide and easy to cross and those who are evil it will be narrow and easy to fall off.

Heaven and hell

Heaven the garden is an abode of pleasure and a place of immortality and Allah has made it a blessing for those who believe in him and fear him, hellfire is also a place of immortality but an unpleasant place of perpetual residence for those who disobeyed him and only those who associated partners with God and disbelieved in him whereas others can be removed from the hellfire. The footnote mentions an interesting point some of the salaf someone who murders a believer on purpose a mushrik to be eternally in hell based on the verse surah nisa verse 93 which says to kill a believer intentionally the punishment is hellfire eternally and Allah is angry with such a person and curses him and prepares for him a horrible punishment.

Obligatory beliefs

It is obligatory for a Muslims to believe in everything in the Quran or which is confirmed to come from the messengers. This also means you cannot pick and choose from the religion you believe in all of it so if you find a hadith you don’t like then it’s not permissible to dislike it and not follow as you are commanded to believe in the Quran and all that came from the prophet authentically.

Recaping for the 2nd time!

To finish off the aqeedah section,

We have a good view and praise the family of the prophet; his companions and we avoid what occurred between them and have the best opinion as possible of them. What is he referring too? The companions did not always get along they had issues with each other blood was shed a defining position of Sunnism is that the religion is not defined by the death of the companions this is a straw man opinion of the shia is that the sunnis is trying to hide the fitna of the prophets’ companions. The religion was completed and elaborated in the proceeding centuries. Sunnis acknowledge that the Sahabah are humans and humans are able to make mistakes and make failing and if the companions could fight with each other the succeeding generations of Muslims will have certainly fought each other up until our modern times. The salaf doesn’t always refer to the first 3 generations but it can refer to succeeding generations the author mentions the salaf saleh

What is a companion?

A companion is someone who met the prophet as a believer meaning they believed in his prophet-hood after meeting him if someone was a non-Muslims and meet him, they are not companions and those who believe in him but never saw him are not his companions. Mukhradram tabi are those who met the prophet but did not believe until after he died! There were thousands of companions and not all of them narrated hadith or left behind a written account large amounts of hadith come from a small portion of the companions.

The best of the companions

Starts as abu bakr sadiq, omar Farooq, uthman thul noorayn, Ibn an al rasool Allah Ali and the father of the 2 hassans.

Final point for Aqeedah that every Muslims should know before studying Maliki fiqh

Peace and safety are in Taqlid (imitation) one of the 4 Imams, Abu Hanifa, Sheikh of Medina Imam Malik, Scholars of qurash Imam Shafi, Sadiq thani Imam Ahmed. These Imams are Imams of guidance and their Madhahab are preserved and widespread May Allah bless all of them. This alludes to a major point; the 4 Madhabs are not the only valid way to do fiqh but it’s the destiny of Allah that these have endured as there are many extinct schools but did not endure. If you study the Awzai madhab even if its valid in methodology it is no longer a practiced or active school if one of these 4 Madhab were to die out there would be a lot more enduring text compared to the other madhahabs which did die out. The mahaqiq mentions an interesting point about rejecting madhabs, He says its become widespread in our times a fitna of “Quran and Sunnah” this fitna goes out beyond the wordings as its not actually Quran and Sunnah and it has spread a great deal of chaos and misguiding efforts and strange opinions and the reality of their dawah is to take people away from the madhahab of truth which the Ummah has gathered upon the madhab of the 4 Imams and switch it to the Madhab of their Mujtahid Imams, They are far more ignorant and a fitna which distances people from the book of their Lord and the understanding of the Imam of the salaf from the corrupted madhab which do not know anything of Quran and Sunnah except external Matters. This appears that the Muhaqiq is refuting some subsets of modern Salafi dawah which often times can be la madhabiyya (and even heavily against following 1 of the 4 schools although not all streams of Salafi thought hold this view). La madhabiyya is historically divorced from the 1400 years of Islamic tradition. The traditions of the Muslims have revolved around Quran and Sunnah from the start its not as if the 1000 years of Islamic history was not upon Quran and Sunnah which is a form of misguiding Muslims from the traditional understanding of Quran and Sunnah and is typically a political dawah from the modern gulf states.