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

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

• Concluding the long passage on al-qaḍāʾ wal-qadar

• aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (raḥimahullāh): "We believe in the Tablet and the Pen and in everything written in it"

• The commentary of Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān (hafidhahullāh) on this statement

• The ḥadīth "The first thing Allāh created was the Pen", and the two ways it can be read

• Reconciling it with the ḥadīth "and His Throne was over the water", in line with the belief of Ahl as-Sunnah in Allāh's attributes

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

• Before the next lengthy passage of aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī on al-qadar, a summary of about ten points covered so far

• Linguistically, qadar implies four things: knowledge, action, will and wisdom, like a tailor measuring his cloth

• In the Sharīʿah, belief in al-qadar has four levels from the Qurʾān and Sunnah

• The Qadariyyah claimed man creates his own actions, to free Allāh from evil

• In this they followed the reasoning of the Magians, who believed in a god of good and a god of evil

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

• Allāh's justice: He gave His creation the fiṭrah, reason and the ability to act, then sent books and messengers

• Beyond this, He grants additional help and success (tawfīq) to whom He wills out of His bounty, and leaves others with what He has already given them

• Taking the means is commanded, even though everything is in Allāh's knowledge

• Closing the discussion of al-qadar; next, aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī's summary stressing the importance of this issue

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

• Recap of al-kasb: a term invented to reconcile the claim of compulsion with the Qurʾān's affirmation of human will, and its correct meaning in the Book and Sunnah

• How Allāh is the Creator of the servants' actions: as with water and soil producing plants, He created the means

• Man has been given will, choice, reason and limbs he has power over, yet Allāh created all of these and so created his actions

• Allāh's name al-Ḥakīm affirms the attribute of wisdom, which the Jahmiyyah and Ashʿarīs deny

• The Qurʾān is full of Allāh's actions being tied to His wisdom, justice and mercy, with example sentences to make the principle clear

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

• Resuming the topic of al-qaḍāʾ wal-qadar after a break of about two months

• Recap of the passage of aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (raḥimahullāh) on the decree

• Man has a will and a choice, refuting the sects who deny it

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

• Recap of the causes of error in al-qadar, common to the Qadariyyah and the Jabriyyah

• Judging Allāh's justice and injustice by what is just or unjust among the creation led some to deny that Allāh guides, misguides and creates the servants' actions

• The Jabriyyah saw a conflict between the Sharīʿah and al-qadar, whereas Ahl as-Sunnah hold that they agree because Allāh acts with wisdom

• Questions and answers, including how extreme Ṣūfī belief in compulsion leads to claiming all religions are one and dropping the Sharīʿah

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

• Aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī treats al-qadar here in much more detail, now with the explanation of Shaykh Ṣāliḥ Āl ash-Shaykh (hafidhahullāh)

• Recap: the meanings of al-qaḍāʾ and al-qadar, the difference between them, and the levels of al-qadar

• The origins of misguidance in al-qadar go back to several causes, shared by the Qadariyyah who denied it and the Jabriyyah who exaggerated in it

• The first and central cause: analogising Allāh's actions with the actions of His servants

• An example of tribesmen bewildered by a helicopter: the limits of human perception, and our inability to grasp the full wisdom in Allāh's actions

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

• Completing aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī's statements: each person is eased towards what he was created for, and deeds are judged by their endings

• aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (raḥimahullāh): "The happy one is made happy by the decree of Allāh, and the wretched one is made wretched by the decree of Allāh"

• aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī: "The foundation of al-qadar is the secret of Allāh in His creation"

• The four levels of al-qadar, and the difference between al-qaḍāʾ and al-qadar

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

• Recap: aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī returns to al-qadar, with Allāh's prior knowledge as its general theme

• The first Qadariyyah, in the time of Ibn ʿUmar, denied Allāh's prior knowledge, an idea taken from a Christian named Sawsan, and this is kufr

• Prior knowledge is the first level of al-qadar and its foundation

• Aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī: "The foundation of al-qadar is Allāh's secret in His creation; no close angel nor sent prophet has been informed of it"

• "Delving and speculating into it is a means to being forsaken, a ladder to deprivation and a step to transgression, so beware"

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

• Recap: aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (raḥimahullāh): "Allāh knew from eternity the number of those who would enter Paradise and the number who would enter the Fire, all at once"

• Allāh's knowledge as the first level of al-qadar

• The verses on this subject, which even the commentator notes can be difficult to grasp