My Creed and Methodology

In the name of Allah, all praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.

I believe that Allah is One, there is no deity but Him. He is established above His Throne, exalted over His creation, described with the attributes He has ascribed to Himself and those described by His Prophets. Nothing is comparable to Him. He is All-Knowing, All-Wise, Beautiful, Magnificent, and free from all deficiencies and imperfections. He neither begets nor is begotten, and there is none comparable to Him. He is the First, the Last, the Manifest, and the Hidden. Not even the weight of an atom escapes His knowledge in the heavens or the earth, nor anything smaller or greater except that it is in a clear record. In His Hand is the dominion of all things. He is the Creator of all things, their essences, and their actions. He manages the affairs of His servants, and none can repel His decree.

I believe in the angels, the scriptures—including the Scrolls of Abraham and Moses, the Torah, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Quran. Allah revealed them as truth and guidance, though the hands of disbelievers altered and corrupted them, except for the Quran. The Quran is the final scripture, guardian over previous scriptures, and preserved by Allah from any distortion or alteration. It is His uncreated speech, contrary to what the heretics claim. Allah spoke it in reality, with a sound that He made audible to whomever He willed. The ten recurrent readings of the Quran are authentic, and the Muslim community sins by neglecting any of them, concealing them, or failing to give due care to the Quran and conveying it.

I do not delve into the decree beyond what is mentioned in the texts, for it is Allah’s secret in His creation. I affirm that everything is predestined, even capability and incapability.

I believe that whoever worships Allah, affirms His Oneness, fears Him, and believes in His angels, scriptures, messengers, the Last Day, Paradise, Hellfire, and predestination, without committing an act of disbelief that nullifies their faith, will enter Paradise by Allah’s grace and mercy. Those who disobey Him among them are subject to His punishment. He may forgive or punish them, and those He punishes in Hell from the monotheists will be removed by His grace, His mercy, and through the intercession of the Prophet ﷺ and the intercessors whom He approves after approving the one interceded for.

As for the disbelievers, they will abide in Hell eternally without end, just as the monotheists will abide in Paradise eternally without end.

It may be said about a group of people that they are from the inhabitants of Paradise or Hellfire, as the Prophet ﷺ said, “My nation will split into seventy-three sects, all in Hell except one.” However, it is not said about a specific individual that they are in Paradise or Hell, except for those specified by evidence. This is contrary to the polytheists, for wherever a polytheist’s grave is passed, it is permissible to give them the tidings of Hell.

I believe that disbelief is of two types: major and minor. Whoever disbelieves in one of the six pillars of faith or denies what is necessarily known from religion is a major disbeliever whose deeds will not benefit them. As for denying details, it depends on their clarity or obscurity and the state of the denier. Mockery of Allah, His recited verses, His religion, His messengers, or the manifest rituals of Islam, such as prayer and fasting, is major disbelief, whether done in jest or earnestness.

I do not declare takfir (excommunication) based on suspicion, ambiguity, or extrapolation, nor for actions not proven to be disbelief by evidence. I also do not excommunicate someone for actions where it is not established that the doer intended them.

I affirm for Allah what He has affirmed for Himself in His Book and through the tongue of His Prophet ﷺ regarding His names and attributes, without distortion, negation, likening, or how-ness. I do not engage in matters of creed that the Companions and their followers avoided unless necessity calls for it to refute the distortions of extremists, the fabrications of falsifiers, and the misinterpretations of the ignorant.

I uphold belief in the unseen, the pre-eternal covenant, the life of the grave with its bliss or torment, the Basin, the Bridge, the jinn, sorcery, the Antichrist, the Beast, and the descent of Jesus ﷺ at the end of times upon the religion of Muhammad ﷺ.

I believe the best of those who followed the religion of Muhammad ﷺ after him were the rightly-guided caliphs: Abu Bakr, then Umar, then Uthman, then Ali, followed by the rest of the ten promised Paradise, then the rest of the Companions according to their faith. The best after them are those who follow them in goodness through the generations. I pray to Allah that I, my mother, and my family are among them.

There is no difference between an Arab and a non-Arab, nor between red and black, except by piety. I do not deny the virtue of the Arabs, and I say, “O Lord, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in faith and do not place in our hearts any malice toward those who have believed.”

May Allah guide us to His straight path and grant us His mercy and His pleasure. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.