al-'Aqida allati Hakaha Abu al-Fadl al-Tamimi 'an al-Imam Ahmad - al-Matbu' bi-Akhir Tabaqat al-Hanabila
- Author died
- 410 AH
- Editions
- Matba'at al-Sunnah al-Muhammadiyyah
al-ʿAqīda allatī ḥakāhā Abū al-Faḍl al-Tamīmī ʿan al-Imām Aḥmad (The Creed Narrated by Abū al-Faḍl al-Tamīmī from Imam Aḥmad) is a theological treatise compiled by the Hanbali scholar Abū al-Faḍl ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Tamīmī (d. 410 AH / 1019 CE) summarizing the doctrinal positions of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (d. 241 AH / 855 CE) . It is notably printed as an appendix at the end of Ibn Abī Yaʿlā's biographical work Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābila (Generations of the Hanbalis) .
Transmission and Method
The work is transmitted on the authority of Abū al-Faḍl al-Tamīmī by his nephew, Abū Muḥammad Rizq Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Tamīmī, through whom it was received by Abū al-Faḍl Muḥammad ibn Nāṣir al-Baghdādī and subsequently by Abū Muḥammad al-Mubārak ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ṭabbākh al-Baghdādī .
In formulating the treatise, Abū al-Faḍl did not compile verbatim dictations from Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, but articulated the imam's creed using his own terminology according to what he understood and deduced of Aḥmad's theological doctrine, repeatedly framing statements with phrases such as "Abū ʿAbd Allāh held" or "the general creed of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was" .
Contents
The treatise outlines the core tenets of Islamic theology attributed to Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal:
- Divine Attributes and Tawḥīd: It affirms that God is One, indivisible, and described by what is necessitated by scriptural revelation and consensus . It affirms divine attributes such as the Face (al-Wajh) as a reality without metaphor (majāz), and the Two Hands (al-Yadayn) as attributes of His essence rather than physical limbs, bodily organs, or composite parts .
- Predestination and Human Actions: It asserts that God creates human actions, wills everything that occurs in existence, and decrees both guidance and misguidance, while rejecting the doctrine of generated acts (al-tawallud) maintained by theological opponents .
- Faith and Sin: It details positions on repentance (al-tawba), holding that committing major sins does not expel a believer from Islam, that repentance is valid for individual sins, and that declaring people disbelievers through doctrinal misinterpretation (al-taʾwīl) is withheld, while designating groups like the Qadariyya and Jahmiyya outside orthodoxy due to their denial of scriptural truths .
- Governance and Community: It touches on congregational prayers behind Muslim rulers, whether righteous or iniquitous, and the community's obligations toward political authority .
Reception and Scholarly Assessment
The treatise served as a recognized source for external scholars seeking to document Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal's theological positions. Notably, Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī (d. 458 AH / 1066 CE) relied on Abū al-Faḍl al-Tamīmī's creed when presenting Aḥmad's doctrine in his biographical compilation Manāqib al-Imām Aḥmad (Virtues of Imam Aḥmad) .
Later Hanbali scholars evaluated the text in the context of the historical closeness between the Tamīmī family of Hanbalis and early Ashʿarī theologians such as Abū Bakr al-Bāqillānī (d. 403 AH / 1013 CE) . Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 AH / 1328 CE) and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751 AH / 1350 CE) noted that Abū al-Faḍl's formulation reflected affinities with the methodology of Ibn Kullāb and differed in phrasing from other early Hanbali transmitters, such as Ibn Ḥāmid and Ibn Baṭṭa . Critics also noted that because Abū al-Faḍl conveyed the creed by meaning and lacked a continuous chain of direct audition from Aḥmad, specific isolated rulings in the text must be evaluated against the wider, well-known reports from the imam .
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