The Way of Sunni Islam
The Creed of Imām Al Haddād, the great Hadrami scholar.
Imām al-Haddād said (may Allāh bring us benefit from him):
“Praise belongs to Allāh alone. May Allāh bless our master Muhammad, and his Family, and Companions, and grant them peace. We know, assent, believe, confess with certainty, and testify, that there is no god but Allāh, Alone without partner. He is a Mighty God, a Great King. There is no lord beside Him, and we worship none than He. He is Ancient and Pre-Existent, Eternal and Everlasting. His firstness has no beginning, neither has His lastness any end. He is Solitary, Self-Subsistent, neither begetting nor begotten, matchless, without partner or peer. There is nothing that resembles Him, yet He is the Hearer, the Seer. [42:11]
“And we confess that His holiness (Exalted in He!) renders Him beyond time and space, beyond resembling anything in existence, so that He cannot be encompassed by directions, nor be subject to contingent events. And that He is Established on His Throne in the manner which He has described, and in the sense which He has intended, in a Establishment befitting the might of His Majesty, and the exaltation of His glory and magnificence. And that He (Exalted is He!) is Near to everything in existence, being closer to man than his jugular vein. [50:16] He is Watchful and Seeing over all things. He is the Living, the Self-Subsistent, slumber overtakes Him not, nor sleep; [2:255] He is the Originator of the heavens and earth; when He decrees a thing He only says to it Be! And it is. [2:117] Allāh is Creator of all things, and He is Guardian over everything. [39:62]
“And that He (Exalted is He!) is over all things Powerful, and of all things Knower; His knowledge is all-embracing and He keeps count of all things. Not an atom’s weight in the earth or in the sky escapes your Lord. [10:61] He knows what goes down into the earth and that which comes forth from it, and what descends from heaven and what ascends into it. He is with you wherever you may be, and Allāh is Seer of what you do. [57:4] He knows the secret thought, and what is even more concealed. [20:7] He knows what is in the land and the sea. A leaf cannot fall but that He knows it, nor is there a grain amid the darkness of the earth, nor a wet or dry thing, but that it is recorded in a clear Book. [6:59]
“And that He (Exalted is He!) wills existent things, and directs events. And that nothing may exist, whether good or evil, beneficial or harmful, except by His decree and will. Whatever He wills is, whatever He does not, is not. Should all creatures unite to move or halt a single atom in the universe, in the absence of His will, they would be unable to do so.
“And that He (Exalted is He!) is Hearer, Seer, Speaker of a Speech that is pre-existent and does not resemble the speech of creatures. And that the Mighty Qur’an is His ancient speech, His Book which He sent down upon His Messenger and Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
“And that He (Glorious is He!) is Creator of all things and their Provider, Who disposes them as He wills; neither rival nor opponent is there in His realm. He gives to whomsoever He wills and withholds from whomsoever He wills. He is not questioned about His actions, rather they are questioned. [21:23]
“And that He (Exalted is He!) is Wise in His acts, Just in His decrees, so that no injustice or tyranny can be imaginable on His part, and that no one has any rights over Him. Should He (Glorious is He!) destroy all His creatures in the blink of an eye, He would be neither unjust or tyrannous to them, for they are His dominion and His slaves. He has the right to do as He pleases in His dominion, and your Lord is not a tyrant to His slaves. [41:46] He rewards His slaves for obeying Him out of grace and generosity, and punishes them when they rebel out of His wisdom and justice.
“And that to obey Him is an obligation binding upon His bondsmen, as was made clear through the speech of His messengers (upon them be peace). We believe in every Book sent down by Allāh, and in all of His messengers, His angels, and in destiny, whether good or bad.
“And we testify that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger, whom He sent to jinn and to mankind, to the Arabs and the non-Arabs, with guidance and the religion of truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all religion, though the polytheists be averse. [9:33] And that he delivered the Message, was faithful to his trust, advised the Nation, did away with grief, and strove for God’s sake as is His due, being truthful and trustworthy, supported by authentic proofs and norm-breaking miracles. And that Allāh has made it incumbent upon His bondsmen to believe , obey, and follow him, and that a man’s faith is not acceptable – even should he believe in Him – until he believes in Muhammad ﷺ and in everything that he brought and informed us of, whether of the affairs of this world or the next. This includes faith in the questioning of the dead by Munkar and Nakīr about religion, tawhīd and Prophethood, and in the bliss which is in the grave for those who were obedient, and the torment which it contains for the rebellions.
“And that one should believe in the Resurrection after Death, the gathering of bodies and spirits to stand in the presence of Allāh the Exalted, and in the Reckoning; and that His slaves will be at that time in different states, some being called to account, some being exempted, while others shall enter the Garden without reckoning. One should believe in the Scales in which good and evil deeds will be weighed; and in the Sirat, which is a bridge stretched over the depths of Hell; and in the Pool [ hawd] of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the water of which is from the Garden, and from which the believers shall drink before entering the Garden. And in the Intercession of the Prophets, followed by the Truthful Saints [siddiqun], and then the ulema, the virtuous [salihun] and the other believers. And that the Greatest Intercession is the prerogative of Muhammad ﷺ. And that the people of tawhīd who have entered the Fire shall be taken out of it until not one person in whose heart there lies an atom’s weight of faith shall remain in it eternally. And that the people of polytheism and disbelief shall abide in the Fire eternally and for evermore, their suffering shall not be diminished; neither shall they be reprieved. [2:162] And that the believers shall abide in the Garden eternally without end , wherein no tiredness shall affect them, and from which they shall not be expelled. [15:48] And that the believers shall see their Lord with their eyes, in a way befitting His Majesty and the Holiness of His Perfection.
“And that the Companions of the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ were virtuous, that their status was of various ranks, and that they were just, good, and trustworthy. Is not lawful to insult or denigrate any of them. And that the rightful successor [ khalīfah] to the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ was Abū Bakr al-Siddīq, followed by ‘Umar al-Fārūq, then ‘Uthmān al-Shahīd, then ‘Alī al-Murtadā, may Allāh be pleased with them and with all his other Companions, and with those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgement, and with us also, by Thy Mercy, O Most Merciful of the Merciful!”
Such is the rightly-guided creed, which conforms to be the Book and the Sunnah. No male or female Muslim should be ignorant of it. Without affirming it one’s faith is not sound. It is not a condition that every person should be able to articulate it fluently; rather, what counts is what lies in the heart.
Source: Miftāh al-Jannah [The Key to The Garden] of Habīb Ahmad Mashhūr bin Tā-Hā al-Haddād. Translated by Dr. Mostafa al-Badawi
