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

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

• Continuing aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī's "We believe in the angels, the prophets and the books", now focusing on the prophets

• "The prophets" here includes the messengers, since every messenger is a prophet according to many scholars

• The definitions of nabī and rasūl, and the difference between them

• The testimony that Muḥammad ﷺ is the Messenger of Allāh requires four things: believing all he informed of, such as the punishment of the grave and the Dajjāl

• Obeying his commands, refraining from his prohibitions, and worshipping Allāh only by what he legislated

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

• Recap: the proofs for the angels, the meaning of malak, and their ranks and functions

• Jibrīl, Mīkāʾīl and Isrāfīl are each connected to life: of hearts by revelation, of bodies by rain and provision, and of resurrection by the trumpet

• Chief angels have others under them, such as the helpers of the angel of death, and groups of angels are mentioned in al-Mursalāt and aṣ-Ṣāffāt

• Why aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī joined the angels, prophets and books in one sentence: each pillar points to the others

• Belief in the angels also leads to belief in the Last Day, through the angels of death and the trumpet

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

• A new topic in aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī: "We believe in the angels, the prophets and the books revealed to the messengers, and we testify that they were upon the clear truth"

• The brief commentary of Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān (hafidhahullāh): belief in the angels is the second pillar of īmān

• The angels are a world of the unseen whose reality only Allāh knows, just as there is the world of men and of jinn

• We do not see the actions of the angels, only their effects, such as death and rain

• Materialists describe only the outward causes, such as pressure, winds and gravity, while the angels act behind them by Allāh's command

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

• After the ʿArsh and the Kursī, aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī says: "We say that Allāh took Ibrāhīm as a khalīl and spoke to Mūsā directly, with faith, affirmation and submission"

• The messengers are the best of creation, and some of them are superior to others

• Khullah (an-Nisāʾ 4:125) is the highest and most special degree of love, above the love Allāh has for the believers, the pious and those who repent

• Allāh speaking to Mūsā with real speech, which the people of kalām deny

• The theology of the early deniers of the attributes resembled that of Plato and Aristotle, and the kalām proof for Allāh's existence came from the philosophers, a fact concealed from their followers

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

• Continuing aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (raḥimahullāh): "He is free of need of the Throne and what is beneath it; He encompasses everything and is above it"

• Recap of the proofs for Allāh's ʿuluww from the Qurʾān, the Sunnah, consensus and the fiṭrah

• The theorising of philosophers and theologians compared with what everyone knows from daily experience

• An Ashʿarī imām (d. 478H) who acknowledged the force of the fiṭrah

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

• Recap: the Throne and the Kursī as among the greatest created things, and how belief in them brings humility and reliance upon Allāh

• Allāh being above His creation

• The well-known account of a theologian confounded by the natural inclination to turn upwards when calling upon Allāh

• No one built upon ʿilm al-kalām can truly deny the fiṭrah

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

• aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (raḥimahullāh): "The Throne and the Kursī are true… He is free of need of the Throne and what is beneath it; He encompasses everything and is above it"

• Why aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī added these statements straight after affirming the Throne

• Why he added "and above it" after "encompasses everything", guarding against a mistaken understanding of al-iḥāṭah

• Five aspects of this belief, each of which makes a Muslim realise his insignificance and need of Allāh

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

• Continuing the discussion of the Throne (al-ʿArsh) and the Kursī

• The Throne described in the Qurʾān as glorious: "Owner of the Throne, the Glorious" (al-Burūj 85:15)

• The ḥadīth of Mūsā (ʿalayhis-salām) holding on to one of the pillars of the Throne, showing that it has pillars

• Refuting the claim that the Kursī means Allāh's knowledge, which would limit His knowledge to the heavens and the earth

• Next: Allāh is free of need of the Throne, encompasses everything and is above it

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

• After completing al-qaḍāʾ wal-qadar, aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (raḥimahullāh) begins a new subject: "The Throne and the Kursī are true"

• "He is free of need of the Throne and what is beneath it; He encompasses everything and is above it, and He has made His creation incapable of encompassing Him"

• What is meant by "true" (ḥaqq) when affirming matters of the unseen

• An outline of what is to come: the Throne, the Kursī, Allāh being above His Throne, and the doubts raised about it

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

• Rounding off al-qaḍāʾ and al-qadar, mainly with the commentary of Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān (hafidhahullāh)

• Aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī: "If all the creation gathered to make something Allāh has written not occur, they could not; and if they gathered to make occur what He has not written, they could not"

• No one can change what is written in al-Lawḥ al-Maḥfūẓ

• Many of aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī's sentences are taken almost word for word from the Prophet ﷺ, here from the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās

• His warning against delving into al-qadar with doubts: it is disputing with Allāh, ends only in confusion, and corrupts one's belief