Aqā'īd Al-Nasafi PDF

ʿAqāʾid Al-Nasafī Najm al-Dīn al-Nasafī (1068-1142) belonged to the school of al-Māturīdī, and may have lived mostly in Samarqand. This short creed became very popular, and there were many commentaries and supercommentaries. The translation has been made from the text contained in The Pillar of the...

ʿAqāʾid Al-Nasafī Najm al-Dīn al-Nasafī (1068-1142) belonged to the school of al-Māturīdī, and may have lived mostly in Samarqand. This short creed became very popular, and there were many commentaries and supercommentaries. The translation has been made from the text contained in The Pillar of the Creed…, edited by W. Cureton, London, 1843, in conjunction with that contained in a Cairo edition of the commentary by al-Taftazānī (d.c.1389), dated 1358/1936. Some slight differences between the two texts have been neglected. The creed was translated by D.B. Macdonald in his Development, pp. 308-15, and there is a translation of al- Taftazānī’s commentary by E. E. Elder, A Commentary on the Creed of Islam, Columbia University Press, New York, 1950. 1. The People of Truth say that the real natures of things are established (or fixed), and that knowledge of them is really (knowledge). (This is) contrary to the view of the Sophists. 2. The causes of knowledge for created beings are three: the sound senses, true report and reason. The senses are 5: hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch; by each sense, information is given about (the class of objects) for which it is appointed. True report is of 2 kinds. One of these is a widely-transmitted report, that is, a report established by the tongues of (many) people, whose agreement on a falsehood is inconceivable. This is bound to give a necessary knowledge, such as the knowledge of former kings in past times and of distant lands. The second kind is the report of the messenger (who has been attested) by an evidentiary miracle (about what has come to him by revelation). This is bound to give deductive knowledge. The knowledge established (by such a report) resembles in certainty and fixity knowledge necessarily established (such as sense-knowledge and that from wide widely transmitted reports). Reason, again, is also a cause for knowledge. What is established by immediate intuition is necessary, such as the knowledge that everything is greater than its part. What is established by inference is acquired knowledge. Inspiration is not one of the causes of the knowing of the soundness (or truth) of a thing in the view of the People of Truth. 3. The world with all its parts is originated, since it (consists of) substances (or individuals) and accidents. Substances are what is self-subsistent. A substance is either a composite, that is, a body, or non-composite, such as the atom, which is the part which cannot be further divided. The accident is what is not self- subsistent but is originated in the bodies and atoms, such as colours, physical states, tastes and smells. 4. The Originator of the world is God. He is the One, the Pre-eternal, the Living, the Powerful, the knowing, the Wishing, (or the Willing). He is neither accident nor body nor atom. He is neither formed nor limited nor multiple. He has neither portions nor parts, and he is not a composite. He is not finite. He is not characterized by quiddity nor by quality. He is not located in a place, nor does time pass over (or affect) Him. Nothing resembles Him. Nothing is outwith His knowledge and power. 5. God has pre-eternal attributes subsisting in His essence. God has pre-eternal attributes subsisting in His essence. They are not He and not other than He. They are: Knowledge, Power, Life, Strength, Hearing, Sight, Will, Volition, Activity, Creativity, Provision of sustenance (for creatures) and Speech. 6. God is speaking with a Speech which is pre-eternal attribute for Him, and which is not of the class of letters and sounds. It is an attribute which excludes silence and defect. God speaks with this (attribute), commanding, prohibiting and making statements (or reporting). 7. The Qurʾān is the Speech of God, uncreated. It is written in the copies, remembered in the hearts, recited by the tongues, heard by the ears, but it does not inhere in these. 8. Causing to be is a pre-eternal attribute of god. It is His causing to be of the world and all its parts, not from eternity but at the time of its coming into existence in accordance with His knowledge and His Will. (The attribute of causing to be) is other than what has been caused to be in our view. 9. Will is a pre-eternal attribute of God subsisting in His essence. 10. By reason, the vision of God (in Paradise) is possible, and by transmitted (reports) it is necessary that He should be seen. A proof based on oral (material) has been handed down showing that it is necessary that the believers should see God in the world to come. He is not seen in a place, nor in any direction (from the person) facing Him, nor by the coming together of light rays, nor with a fixed distance between the person seeing and God. 11. God is the creator of all the acts of human beings, whether (acts) of unbelief or faith, of obedience or disobedience. All these acts are by His will and volition, by His judgement, His decreeing and His determining. Human beings (perform) acts of choice for which they are rewarded or punished. The good in them is with God’s pleasure, and the bad in them is not with His good pleasure 12. The acting-power (in people) exists along with the act (not before it). It is the reality of the power by which the act comes to be. This name (acting-power) is used where the causes, instruments and limbs (involved in the act) are sound. (A person’s) being genuinely liable (to obey the law) depends on this acting-power, a person is not liable for (carrying out) what is not within his capacity. 13. The pain existing in a (person) beaten as a result of human beating, and the broken (condition) of a glass after a human (act of) breaking, and similar things, are all created by God. The person has no function in the creating of these. 14. The one killed dies at his appointed term. The appointed term is one. 15. Unlawful (food) is (nevertheless) sustenance from God. Everyone receives in full his own sustenance, whether lawful or unlawful. It is inconceivable that a person should not eat his sustenance, or that his sustenance should be eaten by someone else. 16. God leads astray whom He wills, and guide whom He wills. It is not obligatory for God to do the best for a human being. 17. The punishment in the tomb for unbelievers and for some sinful believers, and the bliss in the tomb of the obedient people, are in accordance with God’s knowledge and will. The interrogation by Munkar and Nakir is established by proofs of oral (reports). The raising of the dead is a reality. The Balance is a reality. The Book (recording to a person’s deeds) is a reality. The interrogation (by God) is a reality. The Basin is a reality. The Bridge is a reality. Paradise is a reality and Hell is a reality, and they are already created and existent. They are everlasting and will not pass away. 18. A great sin does not exclude the believing person from faith and place him in unbelief (that is, does not make him an unbeliever) god does not forgive one who assigns partners to Him, but He forgives to whom He wills what is less than that of small and great sins. The punishing of a small sin is possible (for God) and also the forgiving of a great sin, provided this is not the considering lawful (of what is forbidden), for such considering lawful is unbelief. 19. The intercession of the messengers and of the elite is established for the case of those committing great sins. Those believers who commit great sins do not remain everlastingly in Hell. 20. Faith is the counting true of what (a messenger) has brought from God (as revelation) and the confessing of it. Works increase in themselves, but faith neither increases nor decreases. Faith and Islam are one (or the same). Where a person counts true and confesses, it is proper for him to say ‘I am truly a believer’, and he does not have to say ‘I am a believer, if God wills.’ 21. The happy one sometimes becomes miserable and the miserable one happy, but the change is in (the human experience) of happiness and misery, not in the making happy and the making miserable, for these are the attributes of God, and there is no change in God or in His attributes. 22. In the sending of messengers (by God), there is wisdom. God has sent to humanity messengers who are human to bring good news, to warn and to make clear to people what they need (to know) about the affairs of the secular world and of religion. He confirmed (their genuineness) as messengers by evidentiary miracles, (that is, happenings) which are contrary to the natural order. The first of the prophets is Adam and the last of them is Muhammad. A statement of their number has been handed down in some hadith; but it is preferable that there should be no limit of number in naming (them). God has said (referring to previous messengers): ‘Of some of them We have told you the stories, and of some We have not told you the stories’ (40:78). When the number (of prophets and messengers) is stated, there is no security against some of them being included among them who are not of them, and some being excluded from them who are of them. All were reporting and conveying messages from God, and were truthful and sincere. The most excellent of the prophets is Muhammad. 23. The angels are servants of God fulfilling His command. They are not characterized by masculinity or femininity. 24. God has books which He has sent down to His prophets. In them He has made clear His commands and His prohibitions, His promise and His threat. 25. The Ascension of the Messenger of God is a reality, (that is), when, While awake, he 9was taken0 bodily to heaven and then to what (place) on high God willed. 26. The wonder-miracles of the saints are a reality. The wonder-miracle appears for the saint as something contrary to the natural order, such as travelling a great distance in a short time, the appearance of food, drink and clothing when they are needed, walking on water or in the air, the speaking of inanimate objects and of animals, the warding-off of threatened injury, the guarding of an anxious person from his enemies, and other (similar) things. Such (an occurrence) is (at the same time) an evidentiary-miracle supporting the messenger, to one of whose community the wonder-miracle has occurred; for it shows that he is (truly) a saint, since (a person) will not become a saint unless he counts true his religion, and his religion is the confession that his messenger is (indeed) a messenger. 27. The most excellent of humanity after our prophet is Abu Bakr al-Sidiq, then Umar al-Faruq, then `Uthman Dhu’l-nurayn, then `Ali al-Murtada. The caliphate was in this order, and (lasted) thirty years. After that, the form of rule was kingly and princely. 28. The Muslims must have an imam (leader), who will see to the enforcing of their judgements, the carrying out of their punishments, the defence of their frontiers, the equipping of their armies, the receiving of their alms, the controlling of violent men, thieves and highway men, the maintaining (of worship) on Fridays and festivals, the settling of disputes which occur between people, the receiving of evidence regarding legal rights, the arranging of marriages for male and female minors who have no guardians, and the dividing the spoils (of war). Further, the imam must be seen (publicly and recognized as imam), not hidden nor (merely) expected. He must be of the tribe of Quraysh and not of any other; but he is not restricted to the clan of Banu Hashim or the descendants of `Ali. It is not a condition (of his imamate) that he be preserved from error, nor that he be the most excellent of the people of his time; but it is a condition that he should be of those who have full and complete authority, and an administrator with power to enforce the judgements, to preserve the frontiers of the sphere of Islam, and to ensure justice for the one wronged against the one wronging him. He is not to be removed from the imamate because of transgressing (the divine law) or acting unjustly. 29. Formal worship is permitted behind any (leader), upright or sinful, and there may be formal worship on behalf of anyone, upright or sinful. 30. Only good should be spoken of the Companions (of Muhammad). 31. We bear witness that Paradise is (promised) to the ten to whom the Prophet announced this. 32. We approve of the moistening of the sandals both when on a journey and when at home. 33. We do not prohibit wine made from dates. 34. The saint does not reach the level of the prophets. The (ordinary) person does not come to a position where (God’s) commands and prohibitions and the scriptural texts in their external sense are no longer applicable to him. To turn from these to the interpretations of the people of internal meanings is heresy. To reject the scriptural texts is unbelief, and contempt for the law is unbelief. 35. To despair of God is unbelief, and to feel secure from God’s (punishment) is unbelief. To count true what a diviner reports about the unseen is unbelief. 36. The non-existent is not a thing. 37. In the prayer of the living for the dead, and in almsgiving for them, there is benefit for the dead. God answers prayers and supplies needs. 38. What the Prophet reported of the signs of the Hour, such as the appearance of the Dajjal and of the beast of the earth and of Ya`juj and Ma’juj and the coming down of `Isa from heaven, and the rising of the sun in the west—all this is reality. 39. The interpreter (of texts) may sometimes be mistaken and sometimes be correct (in his interpretations). 40. The messengers of the human race are more excellent than the messengers of the angels, the messengers of the angels are more excellent than the generality of the human race, and the generality of the human race are more excellent than the generality of the angels.