ʿAqīda
ʿAqīda ( Arabic عقيدة) is an Arabic term that is used in general terms for a certain doctrine of the faith, but in the narrower sense denotes a creed in which the totality of the beliefs of a Muslim or a certain Islamic group are summarized.
Contents of ʿAqīda writings
Some of the things that are commonly addressed in such creeds include:
- doctrine of God (including attributes and names of God ),
- the position of the Koran ,
- human actions and their relationship to God (question of predestination ),
- the questioning by Munkar and Nakīr ,
- the day of resurrection ,
- the intercession of Muhammad ,
- Paradise and hell ,
- the position of the prophets and their sinlessness ,
- the position of the rightly guided caliphs and the Sahāba ,
- the position of the one who has committed a great sin,
- Definition of what belief ( īmān ) means.
Well-known ʿAqīda texts
The well-known ʿAqīda texts include (in chronological order):
- the two texts known under the title al-Fiqh al-akbar ("the greatest insight") and attributed to Abū Hanīfa (699-767),
- the ʿAqīda, which Abū l-Hasan al-Aschʿarī (d. 931) presents in his work Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn ,
- the text Bayān as-sunna wa-l-ǧamāʿa from aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 933),
- The "qādiritic creed" ( al-iʿtiqād al-qādirī ), which is traced back to the Abbasid caliph al-Qādir bi-'llāh (d. 1031),
- al-ʿAqīda an-niẓāmīya from al-Juwainī (d. 1085), an Ashʿari creed,
- the māturīditic confessional ʿAqāʾid by Nadschm ad-Dīn Abū Hafs an-Nasafī (d. 1142). To her was Abu l-Barakat to-Nasafī (d. 1310) under the title 'Umdat'Aqīdat ahl as-sunna wa'l-ǧamā'a written a defense. The two works were edited ( digitized ) by William Cureton in 1843 under the title "Pillar of the Creed of the Sunnites" . Abū l-Barakāt an-Nasafī later published his defense again in a revised and commented form under the title al-Iʿtimād fī l-iʿtiqād . The text is also known as Šarḥ al-ʿUmda ( digitized version ).
- the Ibaditic confession of Abū Sahl Yahyā ibn Ibrāhīm (12th century),
- Al-ʿAqīda al-Wāsitīya by Ibn Taimīya (1263-1328).
Also in today's Salafi circles it is customary to summarize one's own beliefs in ʿAqīda scriptures. These writings show the religious and ideological orientation of the people and circles concerned. For example, in October 1997, Abū Muhammad al-Maqdisī wrote a pamphlet entitled “This is our Creed” ( Hāḏihī ʿaqīdatu-nā ), in which he also set out his position on takfīr and jihad .
literature
- Pierre Cuperly: "L'Ibâdisme au XII
esiècle: La ʿAqîda de Abû Sahl Yaḥyâ" in the Revue des l'Institut des Belles Lettres Arabes, Tunis (IBLA) 143 (1979). - Pierre Cuperly: Introduction a l'étude de l'Ibāḍisme et de sa theologie . Office des publications universitaires, Alger, 1984.
- RM Frank: “Al-Ustādh Abū Isḥāḳ: an ʿaḳīda together with selected fragments” in MIDÉO: Mélanges de l'Institut dominicain d'études orientales du Caire 19 (1989) 129-202. Digitized
- Henri Laoust : "Les premières professions de foi hanbalites" in Mélanges Louis Massignon . Institut Français de Damas, Damascus, 1957. pp. 7-35.
- W. Montgomery Watt : Art. "ʿAḳīda" The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. I, pp. 332b-336a.
- William Montgomery Watt: Islamic creeds: a selection . Edinburgh Univ. Press, Edinburgh, 1994.
- Arent Jan Wensinck : The Muslim Creed. Its Genesis and Historical Development . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1932. Digitized
supporting documents
-
↑ Cf. Cuperly: "L'Ibâdisme au XII
esiècle" 1979 and Cuperly: Introduction a l'étude de l'Ibāḍisme et de sa theologie . 1984, pp. 93-119. - ↑ See Joas Wagemakers: A quietist Jihadi: the ideology and influence of Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi . Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge [and a.], 2012. pp. 8-10.
- ↑ Cf. Nelly Lahoud: “In Search of Philosopher-Jihadis: Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi's Jihadi Philosophy” in Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 10 (2009) 205-220. Here pp. 213, 218.