OF ISLAMIC AQIDAH

 Dr Uthman Jum’ah Damayriyyah (1999:383-

94) points out five main characteristucs,
namely:
◦ (1) Divine or revealed (tawqifiyyah)
◦ (2) Unseen realities (ghaibiyyah)
◦ (3) Comprehensiveness (syumul)
◦ (4) Perfect and complete (takamul)
◦ (5) Balance
 Muhammad Qutb (1997:435-43) however
divides them only into three main
characteristics namely:
◦ (1) Comprehensiveness (shumul)
◦ (2) Perfect and complete or integrated (takamul or
tarabut), and
◦ (3) Balance (tawazun)
 For Sayyid Qutb (1991:41-202), as al-
tassawur al-Islami (Islamic concept or
worldview), it has the following
characteristics, namely;
◦ (1) The divine origin (rabbaniyyah)
◦ (2) The permanent realities (thabat)
◦ (3) Comprehensiveness (syumul)
◦ (4) Balance (tawazun)
◦ (5) Dynamism (ijabiyyah)
◦ (6) Realism (waq’iyyah)
◦ (7) The oneness of Allah (tawhid)
 Let’s us discuss some of them
 As the foremost characteristics, and the source of
all other characteristics.
 “Islamic beliefs are all of divine, taken from the
words of Allah which never falsified, in the Quran
and the Sunnah, such beliefs were neither
invented by a certain authority nor dictated by a
Pope.No one among Muhammad’s disciples or
even the great scholars of Islam was permitted to
change, add or to omit from the Islamic creed as
was done in Christianity by the so-called St Paul”.
(al-Qaradawi, 1997:128)
 It is definitely stable and unchangeable faith;
nothing can be added to or taken from it.
 Other belief systems are;
◦ (1) a purely human
◦ (2) a man-made religious system such as
Buddhism, and
◦ (3) distorted religions although they were divinely
origin.
 The Arabic term: Tawqifiyyah
◦ It is derived from waqqafa, yuwaqqifu, tawqif
◦ The saying:
 Waqqafa Allah Adam ‘ala ma sha’an yu’allimahu
iyyahu- means : “God taught, or revelaed to, Adam
what He pleased to teach him
 ‘Aqidah consists of belief in Allah, the angels,
all of Allah’s prophets, His Holy Books, the
Day of Judgement and Allah’s predestination.
 There is nothing mysterious or obscure about
it. Why?
 Since it originates from the Islamic principle
that knowledge and truth are not confirmed
to the sensory perception only. (Q 16:49-50;
21:19-20).
 It simply states that beyond this seen universe
there is One God who created who created it and
controlled it.
 He measured everything and ordained everything
in it. The One God has no associates or partners,
no wife, no child and none like Him. (Q 2:116)
 Islamic postulate is that life as seen and
experienced is not the whole life; the unseen
exists and is much greater than the seen.
 Islamic ‘Aqidah then tells the existence of the
unseen world and its nature.
 A system of belief that covers time from the
beginning and forever, that encompasses the
horizons of all nations, and that contains the
affairs of this life and the life to come.
 Why comprehensive ?
◦ (1) It explains all the problems that have always
obsessed the human mind such as problems of
divinity, the universe, man, prophethood and fate
that need decisive answers.
◦ (2) A doctrine that should be taken as whole
without denying or casting doubts on any of its
part.
 The contents of this ‘Aqidah are closely
related to each other.
 The six articles of faith are connected to each
other. The basic foundation is the belief in
Allah.
 Islamic ‘aqidah is also related to the islamic
law (shariah) since any implementation of it is
on the basis of belief in Allah.
 Islamic ‘aqidah is also related to human
action (‘amal).
 The islamic ‘aqidah is consistently balance
system of belief.
 It observes the balance between life and value,
wealth and enjoyment, knowledge and action,
relation to Allah and to human, and revelation
and reason.
 The balance is also observed between the
demands of this life and the preparation for the
hereafter.
 “But seek with that (wealth) which allah has
bestowed on you, the home of the Hereafter, and
forget not your portion of lawful enjoyment in
this world” (Q 28:77).
 What are the opposite of these
characteristics?
 Imagine the implications if we have the
opposite characteristics. What will happen to
us?
 So what are the aims of Islamic ‘Aqidah? Write
down three of its aims.
 Damayriyyah, Uthman Jum’ah, Madkhal li-
Dirasat al-Aqidah al-Islamiyyah (Jeddah,
1999).
 Qutb, Muhammad, Raka’iz al-Iman (Riyadh,
1997).
 Qutb, Sayyid, The Islamic concept and Its
Characteristics (Indianapolis, 1991); Khasa’is
al-tasawwur al-Islami wa Muqawwimatuh
(Beirut, 1983)