al-ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwiyyah – Shaykh Abu Iyaad Amjad Rafiq

al-ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwiyyah, taught by Shaykh Abu Iyaad Amjad Rafiq (hafidhahullāh)

Islam Teesside

• Recap: a Muslim is not expelled from Islām by a major sin unless he holds it to be lawful, yet sins do harm īmān

• aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (raḥimahullāh): "We hope for the doers of good among the believers that Allāh pardons them… and we do not testify that they are in Paradise"

• Shaykh Ibn Bāz (raḥimahullāh): no one is said to be in Paradise unless the Messenger ﷺ testified to it

• Kufr, like īmān, occurs by belief, speech and action

• Next: the detailed explanation of Shaykh Ṣāliḥ Āl ash-Shaykh (hafidhahullāh)

al-ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwiyyah, taught by Shaykh Abu Iyaad Amjad Rafiq (hafidhahullāh)

• aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (raḥimahullāh): "We do not declare any of the people of the Qiblah disbelievers for a sin so long as they do not hold it lawful, nor do we say that sin does not harm the one who has īmān"

• Refuting the Khawārij on one side and the Murjiʾah on the other

• Why "a sin" here is a generalisation that needs qualification

• Establishing the proof (iqāmat al-ḥujjah) and whether understanding the proof is required

• How we treat the sinful of this Ummah: seeking forgiveness for them, fearing for them and hoping for them

al-ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwiyyah, taught by Shaykh Abu Iyaad Amjad Rafiq (hafidhahullāh)

• Aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī's creed is accepted across the Ummah, even by sects who reinterpret it, and many scholars have explained it

• Continuing the topic of īmān, kufr and takfīr: "We do not declare anyone of the people of the qiblah a disbeliever for a sin, so long as he does not declare it lawful"

• "Nor do we say that sin does not harm a person who has īmān": the two statements contrast two extremes

• The four main barriers to takfīr: ignorance, compulsion, faulty interpretation and error

• The proofs: "We never punish until We send a messenger" (al-Isrāʾ 17:15), and "except one who is compelled while his heart is at rest with faith" (an-Naḥl 16:106)

al-ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwiyyah, taught by Shaykh Abu Iyaad Amjad Rafiq (hafidhahullāh)

• Resuming after a two-month break: the Qurʾān is the uncreated speech of Allāh, as were the original Tawrāh and Injīl

• The clear (muḥkam) and ambiguous (mutashābih) verses, and the wisdom of testing who follows desires and who submits to the meaning shown by other verses

• Deviant sects argue from the ambiguous verses

• Aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī's "we do not oppose the body of the Muslims": not departing from the creed of the Companions, and not rebelling and causing schisms in the land

• The saying that seventy years under a tyrant are better than a single night of chaos, since tribulation can cost thousands of lives

al-ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwiyyah, taught by Shaykh Abu Iyaad Amjad Rafiq (hafidhahullāh)

• Recap of aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī's second passage on the Qurʾān, then five or six issues from the explanation of Shaykh Ṣāliḥ Āl ash-Shaykh (hafidhahullāh)

• "We do not dispute about the Qurʾān": blameworthy disputation is arguing to support oneself or a saying rather than seeking the truth, even when one is correct

• The Qurʾān is written in the Preserved Tablet, "which none touch except the purified" (al-Wāqiʿah 56:75–79)

• Jibrīl took the Qurʾān by hearing it from Allāh, not from the Preserved Tablet as some of the Ashʿarīs and Māturīdīs claim

• Their claimed affirmation of speech is in reality a denial of the speech that is understood in the language

al-ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwiyyah, taught by Shaykh Abu Iyaad Amjad Rafiq (hafidhahullāh)

• Aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī returns to the Qurʾān: "We do not dispute about the Qurʾān, and we testify that it is the speech of the Lord of the worlds, brought down by the Trustworthy Spirit"

• "Nothing of the speech of creatures equals it, we do not say it is created, and we do not oppose the body of the Muslims"

• The controversy arose because the Jahmiyyah and Muʿtazilah denied Allāh's attributes, an idea taken from Greek philosophy, and so called the Qurʾān created

• The meaning of tanzīl: Allāh spoke it, Jibrīl heard it and conveyed it to Muḥammad ﷺ, who conveyed it without error to the Companions

• It does not resemble the speech of the creation, and it is uncreated

al-ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwiyyah, taught by Shaykh Abu Iyaad Amjad Rafiq (hafidhahullāh)

• Recap: the people of the Qiblah, to whom the names Islām and īmān are applied

• aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (raḥimahullāh): "We do not delve into speculation about Allāh, nor dispute about the religion of Allāh"

• The claim of kashf, divine knowledge revealed in an instant, as a basis for speaking about Allāh, and why it is false

• aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī's second mention of the Qurʾān in his creed, to be taken up in the next lesson

al-ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwiyyah, taught by Shaykh Abu Iyaad Amjad Rafiq (hafidhahullāh)

• Continuing aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī's statement: "We call the people of our Qiblah Muslims and believers so long as they acknowledge what the Prophet ﷺ brought"

• The many methods of daʿwah people invent, from entertainment to other ways, and the need to follow the Prophetic way

• The principles in the Book and the Sunnah upon which true Muslim unity is built

al-ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwiyyah, taught by Shaykh Abu Iyaad Amjad Rafiq (hafidhahullāh)

• Recap: belief in the angels, the prophets and the revealed books, three of the six pillars of īmān

• aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (raḥimahullāh): "We call the people of our Qiblah Muslims and believers…"

• Those from the Qiblah who fall into major shirk: the stronger view is that the proof is established upon them first

• The foundation is that a person is judged a Muslim until shown otherwise

al-ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwiyyah, taught by Shaykh Abu Iyaad Amjad Rafiq (hafidhahullāh)

• Aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī's statement "and the books revealed to the messengers", linking the books to those who received them

• Allāh revealed many books, some known to us and some not, and we believe in all of them: "Say, I believe in whatever book Allāh has revealed" (ash-Shūrā 42:15)

• Whoever disbelieves in the books generally, or in any specific book, has invalidated his īmān

• Points on the books of Allāh, beginning with the ways revelation came about

• For Ahl as-Sunnah the uṣūl ad-dīn are the six pillars of īmān, while other sects use the same terms, such as tawḥīd, with very different meanings