Islamic Theology

Imam ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Alawi al-Haddad [r]

1132 AH

In The Name of Allah, The All-Compassionate, The All-Merciful

Imam ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Alawi al-Haddad [r] said;

All praise if for Allah alone, and prayers and peace of Allah upon our master
Muhammad, his Family and Companions. To proceed;

Truly we know, believe1, have firm conviction, certainty and testify2 that ‘there is no deity
except Allah, 3alone, with no partner’. A Sublime God, a Great Lord; there is no Lord other
than Him, and none is worshiped other than Him4.

[He is] the Ancient5, Sempiternal6, Everlasting7, Endless. There is no beginning to His
firstness nor end to His lastness. The One8, Everlasting-Refuge9, who has not begotten, and
has not been begotten, and equal to Him is none.’10 There is none [neither] similar to Him nor
comparable [to Him] and ‘There is nothing like Him and He is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing’11

He is transcendent beyond time or space12 and beyond any resemblance to creation13. He

is not encircled by direction14 nor do human needs apply to Him.15 [He is] ascent above
His throne in the manner in which He stated and in the meaning in which He intended;
an ascension befitting His magnificence, exalted glory and grandeur.16

He - Most High - is near to all existent things17 and He is closer to mankind than his jugular
vein18, observant and a witness over all things. Alive19, Self-Subsistent20 ‘slumber seizes Him
not, nor sleep,’21 ‘The Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a matter He only says
to it; ‘Be!’ and it is.’22 ‘God is the Creator of all things and He is the Disposer of all things.’ 23 And
He - Most High - is All-Powerful [Qadir] over all affairs and All-Knowing of everything;
‘And God encompasses everything in knowledge.’ 24 ‘He has enumerated all things in numbers’ 25 ‘And

1 Believe here is the chosen word translation for the Arabic ‘Itiqad i.e. ‘Aqida. Aqida lexically is taken from
‘binding a thing’. Technically it means ‘[the existence of] an established affair in the heart that doubt does
not enter into the [the heart] of the believer.
2 Imam al-Haddad [r] commences his text with re-iteration emphasising incumbency to believe in the

following.
3 Allah is
4
5 Qadim
6 Azali
7 Da’im
8 Ahad
9 Samad
10 Quran; 112:3-4
11 Quran; 42:11
12
13 Mukhala lil Hawadith
14 i.e. Above, below etc does not apply to Him.
15
16 Explain isitiwa
17 By His knowledge
18 Quran Ayah
19
20
21 Quran Baqara: 256
22 Quran Baqara: 117
23 Quran; Zumar: 62
24 Quran; Talaq: 12
25 Quran; Jinn: 28
not so much as the weight of an atom in earth or heaven escapes from thy Lord,’ 1 ‘He knows what
penetrates into the earth, and what comes forth from it; what comes down from heaven and what goes up
unto it. He is with you wherever you are; and God sees the things you do.’ 2 ‘He knows the secret and
that which is more concealed’ 3‘He knows what resides in the earth and the sea; not a leaf falls but that
He knows it. There is not a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor anything fresh or dry, but is written
in a clear record’ 4 And He - Most High - is the One who wills [into existence] all possible
actualities (al-ka’inat) and orders transitory entities (al-hadithat).

Also there is nothing exists, good or evil, beneficial nor harmful, except by His decree
and will. What He wills ‘is’ and what He wills not ‘is not’. And if all of creation gathered
in order to move an atom in the cosmos, or to make it still, they would find themselves
utterly powerless, other than by His will.

And He - Most High - is All-Seeing, All-Hearing; He speaks in ancient speech that in no

way resembles the speech of creation.5

And the Majestic Quran is His ancient speech, and His revealed book to His Prophet and
His Messenger, peace and blessings upon Him.

And He – Most High – is the Creator of all things, the Sustainer [al-Razzaq] and the
Disposer [al-Mudabbir] of them; He governs all things as He pleases. In His dominion
He has no disputer (munazi‘) nor one to resist (mudafi‘). He bestows to whosoever He
pleases and withholds from whom He pleases; He pardons whom He wills and punishes
whom He wills, ‘He is not questioned as to His actions and they are questioned.’6

And He– Most High – is wise in His actions and just in His decree. Oppression and
injustice (jaur) are inconceivable from Him and none possess any right over Him. If He
– Transcendent is He – annihilated all of creation in the blink of an eye, this would not
make Him unjust unto them nor oppressive over them. For verily they are His
possessions and are His servants, and He does as He wills in His dominion, and ‘your
Lord in not an oppressor to [His] servants’7. He recompenses His servants for acts of
obedience, out of grace and bounty, and He punishes His servants for transgressions,
from wisdom and justice.

Obedience to Him is obligatory upon His servants by virtue of Him making this
incumbent [as stated] on the tongues of His Prophets and Messengers – upon them be
peace and blessings.

We believe in all books that Allah revealed and every Messenger He sent, and in Allah’s –
Most High – Angels.

And [we believe] in destiny [qadr] the good and bad of it. And we testify that
Muhammad [s] is His servant and Messenger [who] He sent to jinn and mankind, Arab

1 Quran; Yunus: 61
2 Quran; Hadid: 4
3 Quran; Taha: 7
4 Quran; al-Ana‘m: 59
5
6 Quran; al-Anbiya: 23
7 Quran; Fussilat; 46
and non-Arab, with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest over all religions even if the
polytheists are averse.’1

And truly he [Allah’s Messenger] conveyed the message, fulfilled the trust [conferred
upon Him], counselled the umma, removed ignorance and unconditionally strived in the
path of Allah. He [s] is the bearer of truth, the trustworthy, aided by clear proofs, and
miracles defying all norms. Allah has made belief in him, obedience to Him, and
adhering to him incumbent upon His servants.

He [Allah] does not accept the belief of a servant until he believes in the message of
Muhammad [s] and that all which he came with, and informed of from affairs of this
world, the afterlife and the barzakh, even were they to believe in Him [God] – Most
High. From this stems our belief in the questioning of the dead by Munkar and Nakir,
and about tawhid, religion and prophecy.

And we believe in the bliss of the grave for the obedient, and its chastisement for the
sinful. And we believe in the resurrection after death, in the assembly of the bodies and
souls unto Allah, the summoning before Allah, and the reckoning. Truly servants will
vary therein, thus there will be those pardoned, [those] interrogated and those who enter
Paradise without reckoning.

We believe in the Scales upon which good and bad deeds are weighed. And in the
Traverse; and this is a crossing outstretched over the back of the Hellfire. And [we
believe] in the Pool of our Prophet Muhammad [s] ‘from which the believers are quenched before
entering Paradise, its water emanating from Paradise.’

And [we] believe in the intercession of the Prophets followed by the truthful (siddiqin) the
martyrs, scholars, righteous and [then] the believers. And that the greatest intercession is
quintessentially for Muhammad [s].

And we believe that the people of tawhid, who enter the Hellfire, will be pulled out, to the
extent that one who has a mere atoms weight of faith will not eternally reside therein.
[But] indeed the disbelievers and polytheists will reside therein eternally forever, ‘The
punishment is not lightened upon them nor will they be reprieved.’2

And the believers are eternal residents of Paradise forever, ‘fatigue touches them not, nor are
they expelled.’ 3 The believers see their Lord in Paradise with their sight, in a manner
befitting His majesty and His divine perfection.

We believe in the excellence of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah [s] and their
rank, and that they are just, eminent and trustworthy. Slandering them is impermissible
as is detracting/disparaging them. And the true Caliph after the Messenger of Allah [s]
is Abu Bakr al-Siddiq [r] then ‘Umar al-Faruq [r] then ‘Uthman the Martyr [r] then ‘Ali [r]
al-Murtada. May God’s pleasure be upon them all, and upon all the Companions of the
Messenger of God [s] and the Tabi‘in who follow with ihsan till the Day of Resurrection,
and upon us with them by Your mercy O Allah O Most Merciful.

1 Quran; Tauba: 33
2 Quran; Baqara:162
3 Quran; Al-Hijr:15