The Creed of Imam Bayhaqi

£9.50

Estimating delivery

The Creed of Imam Bayhaqi

Allah (swt) says in the Qurʾān ﴾Say: We believe in Allah and what has been sent down to us﴿ (2:136). Therefore it is understood by the scholars of Islam that the ‘first obligation’ for a responsible adult is to know Allah. Abū Dāwūd narrates, in his Sunan, that the Messenger of Allah (swt) said, ‘The Jews split into 71 or 72 sects; the Christians split into 71 or 72 sects, and my community will split into 73 sects.’ Consequently, the Muslim community has diligently strived to preserve the correct theology of Islam, and this translated work is one exposition of the Sunni creed.

The author describes this treatise as ‘a work on the subject of what the morally responsible needs to know concerning the foundations of knowledge and its derivatives… along with pointing out some of its evidence in a concise manner. So the work covers essential tenets of faith concerning Allah (swt), His Messenger (saw), the beatific vision of Allah in the Hereafter, predetermination, the natural predisposition to Islam, His angels and Books, the punishment in the grave, the Resurrection, Paradise and Hell, the law of obeying rulers, miracles of the saints, the Companions, the Prophet’s family and the caliphates of Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān and ʿAlī (rad)

Imam Bayhaqī (384-458 AH) was a great Hadith master and Shāfiʿī jurist, who was praised by Dhahabī as ‘Shaykh of Islam’ and ‘unequalled in his age’ (wāḥid zamānih). He authored monumental works on Hadith and Islamic law, as well as important books of theology (in which he represented an early Ashʿarī persuasion).

About The Authors

Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Husayin Al-Bayhaqi

Al-Bayhaqi's full name is أحمد بن الحسين بن علي بن موسى الخراساني البيهقي المشهور بالبيهقي.

Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Ḥusayn Ibn 'Alī ibn Mūsa al-Khosrojerdi al-Bayhaqī, البيهقي also known as Imām al-Bayhaqī was born c. 994 CE/384 AH in the small town of Khosrowjerd near Sabzevar, then known as Bayhaq, in Khurasan. During his lifetime, he became a famous Sunni hadith expert, following the Shafi'i school in fiqh and the Ash'ari school of Islamic Theology.

Al-Bayhaqi was a scholar of fiqh of the Shafi'i school of thought, as well as of that of hadith. He studied fiqh under Abū al-Fatḥ Nāṣir ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Naysaburi as well as Abul Hasan Hankari. He also studied hadith under Hakim al-Nishaburi, Abu Mansur Al-Baghdadi and others, and was al-Nishaburi's foremost pupil. He died in 1066 CE.

Al-Bayhaqi contributed to a significant reform in the traditionalist evaluation of hadith, emphasizing the use of reflective reasoning in evaluating which hadith material should be considered incompatible with Islamic theology. Often, Al-Bayhaqi would then understand such hadith as less reliable or allegorical. One focus of Al-Bayhaqi's was prophetic traditions which implied an anthropomorphic understanding of God. For Al-Bayhaqi, these characteristics, such as the "eye", do not represent real parts but rather attributes of God. Al-Bayhaqi also had a variety of views stating his understanding of cosmology. Al-Bayhaqi believed that God first created water, and subsequently used this water as a basis for his creation of everything else.

Some of the Books Written By Shaykh Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Husayin Al-Bayhaqi

Bayhaqi was a prominent author in his time, having authored more than one thousand volumes according to Al-Dhahabi. Among the most well-known books authored by him are:

Sunan al-Kubra lil Behaqi, commonly known as Sunan al-Bayhaqi
Shuab ul Iman (The Branches of Faith, see abridged translation in The Seventy Seven Branches of Faith, Quilliam Press 1990)
al-I'tiqad wa'l-Hidayah ila Sabil ar-Rashad (translated by Nasr Abdussalam, The Creed of Imam Bayhaqi, 2017)
Ma`arifa al-Sunan wa al-Athar (sometimes referred to as Al-Sunan al-Wusta)
Bayan Khata Man Akhta`a `Ala al-Shafi`i (The Exposition of the Error of Those who have Attributed Error to al-Shafi`i)
Al-Mabsut, a book on Shafi`i Law
Al-Asma' wa al-Sifat (The Divine Names and Attributes)
Al-I`tiqad `ala Madhhab al-Salaf Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama`a
Dala'il al-Nubuwwah (The Signs of Prophethood)
Al-Da`awat al-Kabir (The Major Book of Supplications)
Al-Zuhd al-Kabir (The Major Book of Asceticism)
Hayat ul Anbiya fi Quboor (The life of the prophets in graves)

About The Publisher

Turath Publications

Turath was founded in 1998 in South London. Their very first publication was the Muwatta Of Imam Mohammed which took over 5 years to get to print. There after by the grace of All -Mighty Allah they have formed a catalogue of over 60 titles.

Turath means Heritage, hence our primary objective is to publish high quality translated material on the Islamic faith. This will allow Turath to reconnect with our heritage. They commission translations and contemporary authored works by scholars from all over the world. They also have a keen interest in publishing unpublished manuscripts. In doing this they intend to Insha’Allah promote a deep understanding of the balance, depth and integrity of traditional Islamic Scholarship to the layperson as well as for academics and students of knowledge

The vast intellectual heritage is an ocean from which they may draw inspiration and solutions to many of the contemporary problems they face as Muslims. Turath Publishing is committed to ensuring the highest academic standards for its publications. They take immense pride in ensuring all our work is aesthetically pleasing to complement the vast amount of time and effort that has gone into each publication. The aim at Turath Publishing, is to keep the price reasonable as we strongly believe knowledge should be affordable and accessible to all.