Glossary - Pure Monotheism

Tahawi's statement of islamic doctrine (aqida al-tahawiyya)

This is a presentation of the beliefs of a Muslim according to the jurists of this religion, such as; Abu Hanifa al-Nu`man ibn Thabit al-Kufi, and what they believe regarding the fundamentals of the religion and their faith in the Lord of the worlds.

We say about Allah (God):

1. Allah (God) is One, without any partners.
2. There is nothing like Him.
3. There is nothing that can overwhelm Him.
4. There is no God other than Him.
5. He is the Eternal without a beginning and enduring without end.
6. He will never perish or come to an end.
7. Nothing happens except what He wills.
8. No imagination can conceive of Him and no understanding can comprehend Him.
9. He is different from any created being.
10. He is living and never dies and sleeps.
11. He creates without His being in need to do so and provides for His creation without any effort.
12. He causes death with no fear and restores to life without difficulty.
13. He has always existed together with His attributes since before creation. Bringing creation into existence did not add anything to His attributes that was not already there. As He was, together with His attributes, in pre-eternity, so He will remain throughout endless time.
14. It was not only after the act of creation that He could be described as "the Creator" nor was it only by the act of origination that He could he described as "the Originator.
15. He was always the Lord even when there was nothing to be Lord of, and always the Creator even when there was no creation.
16. In the same way that He is the "Bringer to life of the dead," after He has brought them to life a first time, and deserves this name before bringing them to life, so too He deserves the name of "Creator" before He has created them.
17. This is because He has the power to do everything, everything is dependent on Him, everything is easy for Him, and He does not need anything. "There is nothing like Him and He is the Hearer, the Seer." (al-Shura 42:11)
18. He created creation with His knowledge.
19. He appointed destinies for those He created.
20. He allotted to them fixed life spans.
21. Nothing about them was hidden from Him before He created them, and He knew everything that they would do before He created them.
22. Everything happens according to His degree and will, and His will is accomplished. The only will that people have is what He wills for them. What He wills for them occurs and what He does not will, does not occur.
23. He is Exalted beyond having opposites or equals.
24. No one can ward off His decree or delay His command or overpower His affairs.
25. We believe in all of this and are certain that everything comes from Him.
26. He is beyond having limits placed on Him, or being restricted, or having parts or limbs. Nor is He contained by the six directions as all created things are.
27. The covenant which Allah made with Adam and his offspring is true.
28. Allah knew, before the existence of time, the exact number of those who would enter the Garden and the exact number of those who would enter the Fire. This number will neither be increased nor decreased.
29. We believe in the angels, and the Prophets, and the books which were revealed to the messengers, and we bear witness that they were all following the manifest Truth.

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