Creed of Imam al-Tahawi - Part 1

The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi - Part 1

Introduction and Welcome

As-salamu alaykum and welcome to an exclusive interview with Islam Channel's Sheikh Hamza Yusuf. He was in the UK recently on the launch of his new book called The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi, which is a book that is recently available in the UK. And the Islam Channel was able to catch up with him for an exclusive interview.

As-salamu alaykum Sheikh Hamza. Wa alaykum as-salam. How are you doing? I'm doing well. Thank you very much for taking time out for your very busy schedule. I know it's not easy to get hold of you sometimes. But you're here in the UK specifically to launch your new book, as I mentioned, The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi.

Understanding the Concept of Creed (Aqidah)

Now, the word creed is an unusual word. It's not a word that is usually used in common language. In Arabic, I believe it means aqidah. Aqidah. So could you explain what is aqidah and why is it so significant for a book to come out?

Creed, it's from a Latin word credo, which is what somebody believes. Credo, I believe. So the creed is what you believe. Aqidah is also, it comes from an Arabic word (عَقَدَ - aqada), which actually means to bind something. So it's the idea of, it's what you're bound to.

And, in fact, in Jewish tradition, the aqidah in Hebrew is the binding of Isaac or Ishmael, depending on the position that Abraham (عليه السلام - alayhis-salam), did. So aqidah is a technical term that came, obviously, later. Like, the Sahaba did not use that word.

But the Arabs use that word (أعتقد - ataqidu) I believe something. It's what I'm bound to. And so aqidah became a technical term for creed, basically.

The Christian Parallel and Islamic Creedal Development

And the Christians also use the term creed in the same manner. And so an aqidah is basically a formulaic set of belief statements. And in the early period of Islam, obviously, the Prophet (عليه الصلاة والسلام - alayhis-salam), when he was asked in the famous hadith of Jibril (عليه السلام - alayhis-salam), the Prophet (عليه الصلاة والسلام - alayhis-salam), was asked, what is iman?

And he gave the six. He didn't really tell us what iman was as an explanation of the word itself, but rather he told us what the objects of faith were. So instead of identifying faith, because faith was something, the Arabs knew what iman was. So he said, iman is to believe, (أن تؤمن بالله وملائكته وكتبه ورسله - an tu'mina billahi wa mala'ikatihi wa kutubihi wa rusulihi), that you believe in these six articles of faith. [Sahih Muslim 8]

Historical Context: Early Islamic Theology

So historically, the Muslims understood iman to be these objects of faith. But as Islam spread and moved in, particularly into the Levant, Sham, the Byzantine world, they were confronted with Greek and Jewish theologians. And suddenly there were questions arising that hadn't arisen before.

One of the earliest fundamental questions actually had to do with the Qur'an and the nature of the Qur'an as the speech of God (كلام الله - kalamullah), and was the Qur'an eternal? Was it a created speech, as the Mu'tazilite and others claimed? And then also about the logos and the nature of Christ, because Christ is called in the Qur'an (كلمة الله - kalimatullah). And so the Christians wanted to know, is that the logos that's mentioned in the Gospel of John, eternal, coexistent with God?

And so as these questions arose, Muslims began to think more deeply about these things, and they realized a necessity for articulating very clearly what they believed. And so you had some early creedal formulas, and Imam Tahawi is one of the earliest.

The Codification of Islamic Beliefs

So would you say that, for example, what I'm understanding from what you're saying is pretty much the early Muslims were living by things that were later codified as a response to the Muslim ummah enlarging itself, because new Muslims were coming in, they're bringing their own doctrinal understandings. So formulaic texts such as the creed were put together.

Well, if you look at Iman, faith, however we define it, faith is ultimately about experience, especially in its initial stages. When a revelation comes, when a group of people believe in something, that belief is usually a result of experience.

The Prophet's Experience of Revelation

So the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) had an experience. He experienced something in Ghar Hira. Gabriel came to him, and he experienced a phenomena. He saw an angel. The angel spoke to him. The angel told him to read something.

And initially, he, in attempting to understand, he didn't know initially what was happening to him. I mean, we couldn't even imagine that experience, but he did not know initially what was happening to him. He was trying to understand it.

Understanding Divine Experiences: Christian Discernment

And what's interesting in Christianity, they have a tradition of what's called discernment. And one of the things in the Catholic tradition is the difference between a true divine experience and a demonic experience.

And the way they discern the two is that with divine experiences, there's always an initial contraction, and expansion comes later. With a demonic experience, there's an expansion, and then contraction comes later. So

that's actually the Christians, pre-Islamic Christians, understood that experience that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) went through, why he had that initial contraction, because that was actually a divine experience.

I mean, that's in the pre-Islamic Christian understanding of supernatural experiences. Because when a demon comes, when some kind of demonic experience, people feel initially very elated. And the Prophet felt the opposite. He felt very constricted.

Waraqah ibn Nawfal's Recognition

And then in realizing that this was indeed as Waraqah ibn Nawfal told him, Khadija's cousin, when they went to him and said, this is the Namus, which is the Nomos. In Greek, it's the law, it's the sacred law that's come down, that came to Moses before you.

The Shahada: Witnessing Divine Unity

So he had this experience. And then if you look at the essential statement of creed in Islam, it's (أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وأشهد أن محمداً رسول الله - ash-hadu alla ilaha illallah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah), that I witness.

Now, just the fact that Mushahada is how we articulate our belief, that I'm witnessing. Now you can say it's a testimony, like you have a testimony in court. But the reality of it is, it's actually a recognition of something about the world.

And that is that behind the world is unity. That everything that we see in the phenomenal world, everything that we see outwardly, is actually the result of (الواحد - al-Wahid), the One, which is Allah, God.

Articulating Divine Unity

So that experience and recognition of the essential unity that is behind creation, that creation comes from a unified source, and that unified source is God. How do we articulate that? How do we express that in language? That's where all the problems begin.

Because language is problematic. Language, revelation, when we use words, like if I say to you, I believe in God, God in the West automatically conjures up a lot of different images. Many people in the West think of God the way Michelangelo depicted God in the Sistine Chapel. An old man with a beard.

I mean, these are major problems, because the words already have connotations. They connote things. But what does God mean? I mean, what does it really mean? And that's where creed comes in, is to express it.

The Theological Definition of God

So, for instance, the Muslim theologians define God very specifically. God is (المستغني عن الكل، والكل مفتقر إليه - al-mustaghni anil-kul, wal-kullun muftaqirun ilayhi). That's the definition of God. The one that is completely

independent of all things, and all things are dependent on that one. That's the definition of God.

So that right there is a definition. And then there's attributes of God, that God has that are essential attributes. In order for God to be God, these are the essential attributes. So these are ways of expressing what that word God means, so that you don't have confused understandings of God.

The Importance of Clear Definitions

I'm not sure who said it, but they mentioned that a lot of the problems that occur in the world is because of poorly defined terms that are used. And if only you define the terms before you enter into dialogue. Aristotle. Aristotle has a clear understanding.

A point I want to mention, you mentioned two really interesting points. One about Christianity and the early creedal statements. And the Archbishop of Canterbury has made a remarkable blurb that actually took me by surprise as well. The endorsement. Absolutely.

The Archbishop's Endorsement

I was more looking at it from a Muslim, how to understand my Lord and the attributes. And he was also saying from a Christian perspective, it's very good. One hundred and thirty statements of understanding. I was very... I had asked... I did some interviews with him. We actually were on a... He had me as a guest on a program that he did.

And so I requested... I wrote a letter. I sent the book. And I was very pleased because he read it. I know he read it. He read it and he sent a very nice endorsement.

Shared Theological Understanding Across Traditions

And in that endorsement, what struck me... Because he's a theologian. Dr. Rowan Williams is a very formidable theologian in the Christian tradition. And as a theologian, what's interesting about theologians is irrespective of their tradition, whether they're Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, they're going to have a lot of shared terms and similarities. And so he was able to appreciate the theological precision and depth of Imam Al-Tahawi's creedal statement.