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Aqidah (Arabic:عَقِيدَة,romanized: ʿaqīdah,IPA:[ʕɑˈqiːdæ], pl.عَقَائِد,ʿaqāʾid,[ʕɑˈqɑːʔɪd]) is anIslamic term ofArabic origin that means "creed".[1] It is also calledIslamic creed orIslamic theology.[2][3]
Aqidah goes beyond concise statements of faith and may not be part of an ordinary Muslim's religious instruction.[4] It has been distinguished fromiman in "taking the aspects of Iman and extending it to a detail level" often using "human interpretation or sources".[5] Also, in contrast withiman, the wordaqidah is not explicitly mentioned in theQuran.
Manyschools of Islamic theology expressing differentaqidah exist. However, this term has taken a significant technical usage in the Islamic theology, and is a branch ofIslamic studies describing the beliefs of Islam.
Aqidah comes from theSemitic rootʿ-q-d, which means "to tie; knot".[6] ("Aqidah" used not only as an expression of a school of Islamic theology or belief system, but as another word for "theology" in Islam, as in: "Theology (Aqidah) covers all beliefs and belief systems of Muslims, including sectarian differences and points of contention".)[7]
According to Muslim scholar Cyril Glasse, "systematic statements of belief became necessary, from early [on in the history of] Islam, initially to refute heresies, and later to distinguish points of view and to present them, as the divergences of schools of theology or opinion increased."[8]
The "first" creed written as "a short answer to the pressing heresies of the time" is known asFiqh Akbar and ascribed toAbu Hanifa.[8][9] Two creeds were theFiqh Akbar II[citation needed] "representative" of theAsh'ari, andFiqh Akbar III, "representative" of theShafi'i.[8]Al-Ghazali also had anaqidah.[8]
According to Malcolm Clark, while Islam "is not a creedal religion", it has produced some detailed creeds, "some containing 100 or more belief statements" that summarized "the theological position of a particular scholar or school."[10]
The six articles of faith or belief (Arkan al-Iman) derived from theQuran andSunnah,[11] are accepted by all Muslims. While there are differences betweenShia andSunni Islam and other schools or sects concerning issues such as the attributes of God and the purpose of angels, the six articles are not disputed.
The six Sunni articles of belief are:
The first five are based on several Qurʾanic beliefs:
The sixth point was included in the creed because of the first theological controversy in Islam. Although not connected with the Sunni-Shiʿi controversy about the succession, the majority of Twelver Shiʿites do not stress God's limitless power (qadar), but rather His boundless justice (ʿadl) as the sixth point of belief – this does not mean that Sunnis deny His justice, or Shiʿites negate His power, just that the emphasis is different.[citation needed]
In Sunni and Shia views, havingIman literally means believing in the six articles.[citation needed]
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Tawhid ("doctrine of Oneness") is the religion's most fundamental concept and holds thatAllah (the Arabic word for God) is one (aḥad), unique (wāḥid), and the only being worthy of worship. The Quran teaches the existence of a single, absolute truth that transcends the world—a unique, independent, and indivisible being, independent of the entire creation.[13] God, according to Islam, is auniversal God, rather than a local, tribal, or parochial one, and is an absolute who integrates all affirmative values.[14][15]
Iman, in Islamic theology, denotes a believer's faith in the metaphysical aspects ofIslam.[16][17] Its most simple definition is the belief inthe six articles of faith, known asarkān al-īmān.
TheHadith of Gabriel includes theFive Pillars of Islam (Tawhid,Salat,Sawm,Zakat,Hajj) in answer to the question, "O messenger of God, what is Islam?" This hadith is sometimes called the "truly first and most fundamental creed."[8]
Salat is an act of worship. Salat means to call to the Lord Who created and gives life to the worshipper in Islam. This call realizes one to surrender caller's will, obeying his God. It is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Islam gives concession conditionally if it is difficult to pray Salat in formal ways. People who find it physically difficult can perform Salat in a way suitable to them. To perform valid Salat, Muslims must be in a state of ritual purity, which is mainly achieved by ritual wash ups, (wuḍūʾ), as per prescribed procedures. Salat consists of "standing" (Qiyam) intending to call God, bow at knees (Ruku) meaning to ready to obey, prostrate (Sajda) willing to surrender worshipper's will to God's, then to sit (Tashhud) asserting evidence of the oneness of God and the finality of God's apostle (Nabi).
In the terminology ofIslamic law,sawm means to abstain from eating, drinking (including water) and sexual intercourse from dawn until dusk. The observance ofsawm during the holy month ofRamadan is one of theFive Pillars of Islam, but is not confined to that month.
Zakat is the practice of charitable giving by Muslims based on accumulated wealth and is obligatory for all who are able to do so. It is considered to be a personal responsibility for Muslims to ease economic hardship for others and eliminate inequality.
TheHajj is an Islamic pilgrimage toMecca and the largest gathering of Muslims in the world every year. It is one of the five pillars of Islam, and a religious duty which must be carried out by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so at least once in his or her lifetime.
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In addition, some Muslims include Jihad and Dawah as part ofaqidah.
Jihad (to struggle) and literally means to endeavor, strive, labor to apply oneself, to concentrate, to work hard, to accomplish. It could be used to refer to those who physically, mentally or militarily serve in the way of God.[18]In the religious context, it is the struggle against disbelief and non-muslim life to establish, propagate and spread the faith and its principles on individualistic and societal levels.
Da‘wah ("invitation") means the preaching of Islam. Da‘wah literally means "issuing a summon" or "making an invitation", being an active participle of a verb meaning variously "to summon" or "to invite." A Muslim who practices da‘wah, either as a religious worker or in a volunteer community effort, is called a dā‘ī (داعي plural du‘āh, gen: du‘āt دعاة).
A dā‘ī is thus a person who invites people to understand Islam through dialogue, not unlike the Islamic equivalent of a missionary inviting people to the faith, prayer and manner of Islamic life.
Eschatology is literally understood as the last things or ultimate things and in Muslim theology, eschatology refers to the end of this world and what will happen in the next world or hereafter. Eschatology covers the death of human beings, their souls after their bodily death, the total destruction of this world, the resurrection of humans, theLast Judgment of human deeds by God after the resurrection, and the rewards and punishments for the believers and non-believers respectively. The places for the believers in the hereafter are known asParadise and for the non-believers asHell.
The contents of Muslim theology can be divided into theology proper such astheodicy,eschatology,anthropology,apophatic theology, andcomparative religion. In the history of Sunni Muslim theology, there have been theological schools among Muslims displaying both similarities and differences with each other in regard to beliefs.[19]
Kalām is an "Islamic scholastic theology" of seeking theological principles throughdialectic. InArabic, the word literally means "speech/words." A scholar ofkalām is referred to as amutakallim (Muslim theologian; pluralmutakallimūn). There are many schools of Kalam, the main ones being theAsh'ari andMaturidi schools inSunni Islam, and theMu'tazilis (who are not Sunni).[20][21] Traditionalist theology rejects the use of kalam, regarding human reason as sinful in unseen matters.[22]
Usul al-din, "the principles of religion", is used by scholars in different meanings. In the ordinary sense, it represents the aqidah, articles of faith, "truths which must be believed". In this sense, the scientific discussion aboutusul al-din constitute theilm al-kalam.[23]
There is a difference in the use of the wordusul inusul al-din when compared withusul al-fiqh where the term refers to the sources underlying thesharia, asusul al-din represents not the sources, but the theological judgement itself.[23]
Usul al-din is frequently used in titles of many works by Islamic scholars, including the kalam ones.[23]
Western scholars, likeGeorge Makdisi, occasionally useusul al-din to designate thetraditionalist theology as opposed to therationalistkalam.[24]
Usul al-din can also designate a theological discipline ("principles of religion") that is studied at the Islamic universities. For example, from 1950, theal-Azhar University included three faculties: Islamic law (al-sharia),usul al-din, and Arabic language.[25]
In terms of the relationship between human beings and their creator, theMuʿtazila emphasize humanfree will over predestination. They also reduced the divine attributes to the divine essence. The Mu'tazilites are considered heretics by all the traditional Sunni Islamic schools of theology.[26]
Sunni Muslim theology is thetheology and interpretation of creed (aqidah) that derived from theQur'an andHadith.
The eponymous founder of this school isAbu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, one of the first to study under but then quit the Mu'tazilis. He then towards the end of his life became an Ashari.[27][28] It was the historic foe of the Mu'tazili school, the "rationalists" in terms of speculative theology.[29]
Ash'arism accepts reason as a witness to the evidence in the scripture.[30] What God does or commands—as revealed in the Quran and ahadith—is by definition just. What He prohibits is by definition unjust. Right and wrong are objective realities.[31] TheQuran is the uncreated word of God in essence, however, it is created when it takes on a form in letters or sound.[32]
Some scholars, especially those of the Hanbali school, such asIbn Qudamah spoke harshly against the Ash'aris, saying "It is obligatory to abandon the people of innovation and misguidance.",[33] going on to list deviant groups, in which he mentioned the Asha'ris. Other scholars outside of theHanbali madhhab such asShafi’i,Maliki, andHanafi scholars, and some of the later Hanbali scholars accepted them intoAhlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah and did not view them as deviants.
Maturidism is a Sunni theological school founded byAbu Mansur al-Maturidi, holding many positions in common with the Ash'aris but differing from them on others.[34][35][36][37] Much like the Ash'arite approach to Qur'anic verses that could yield ananthropomorphic concept of God, they affirmed His transcendence while understanding these expressions by the conventional figurative meanings they had garnered in Arabic.
Maturidism holds, that humans are creatures endowed with reason, that differentiates them from animals. Further, the relationship between people and God differs from that of nature and God; humans are endowed withfree will, but due to God's sovereignty, God creates the acts the humans choose, so humans can perform them.Ethics can be understood just by reason and do not need prophetic guidances. Maturidi also consideredhadiths as unreliable, when they are in odd with reason.[38] However, the human mind alone could not grasp the entire truth, thus it is in need of revelation in regard of mysterious affairs. Further, Maturidism opposes anthropomorphism and similitude, while simultaneously does not deny the divine attributes. They must be either interpreted in the light ofTawhid or be left out.[39]
For the Athari theology, the apparent meaning of the Qur'an and especially the prophetic traditions have ultimate precedence in matters of belief, as well as law, and to engage in rational disputation, without textual evidence, is absolutely forbidden.[40] Atharis engage in an amodal reading of the Qur'an, as opposed to one engaged inTa'wil (metaphorical interpretation). They do not attempt to rationally conceptualize the meanings of the Qur'an and believe that the real meanings should be consigned to God alone (tafwid).[41] This theology was taken from exegesis of the Qur'an and statements of the early Muslims and later codified by a number of scholars includingAhmad ibn Hanbal andIbn Qudamah.[42][43]
Shiʿi Muslims are different as they hold that there are five articles of belief. Similar to the Sunnis, the Shiʿis do not believe in complete predestination, or complete free will. They believe that in human life there is both free will and predestination.
The branch of Islam known asIsma'ilism is the second largest Shiʿi community. They observe the following extra pillars:
Many Muslim scholars have written Islamic creeds, or specific aspects of aaqidah. The following list contains some of the most well-known creeds.
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The differences between the Ash'arites and the Maturidites were simply marginal and limited to 30 to 40 issues of comparatively lesser importance.
Most Sunnis of the four madhahib follow the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools of doctrine and theology. Indeed, Ash'ari and Maturidi doctrines basically only differ on a few issues, most of which are arguably linguistic quibbles, so that these two schools of theology are essentially one tradition.
There, in a city noted for its religious diversity, he continued the old tradition of kalam as reasoned polemic: his writings contain refutations of Jews, Christians, and the dualist Manichaeans and Zoroastrians, as well as the Mu'tazila, the Shi'a, and other misguided Islamic sects. Against these various opponents, al-Maturidi argued for doctrines that were essentially close to those of al-Ash'ari.
الأشاعرة هم جمهور أهل السنة والجماعة من المالكية والشافعية، وأما الحنفية فهم ماتريدية يتبعون أبا منصور الماتريدي (333هـ)، والخلاف بينهم وبين الأشاعرة محدود
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