Itiqad Aimmat al-Hadith
- Author died
- 371 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-ʿĀṣimah
Itiqad Aimmat al-Hadith (The Creed of the Imams of Hadith) is a concise theological treatise by the Shafi'i jurist and hadith scholar Abu Bakr al-Ismaili (277–371 AH / 891–981 CE), outlining the foundational creed of the traditionists (Ahl al-Hadith) .
Title and Transmission
The work does not carry an explicit title in surviving manuscript headings due to missing text at the beginning, but its standard title derives from the author's closing declaration that the text represents the foundation of religion and the creed of the imams of the people of hadith (Iʿtiqād Aʾimmat Ahl al-Ḥadīth) . Classical scholars also cited it under alternate designations: Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi referred to it as Iʿtiqād al-Sunnah, while Abu Uthman al-Sabuni cited it as al-Isma'ili's epistle to the people of Gilan (Risālah ilā Ahl Jīlān), and Ibn Rajab referred to it as his epistle to the people of the mountain (Ahl al-Jabal) .
The text was transmitted on the authority of al-Isma'ili by his student Hamza ibn Yusuf al-Sahmi, from whom it was narrated by Ali ibn Muhammad al-Jurjani, Sa'id ibn Sayyar al-Harawi, and Mas'ud ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Hashimi, down to Ibn Qudama .
Structure and Contents
Despite its brevity, the treatise summarizes the essential tenets of the traditionalist creed . It opens by establishing that the method of the people of hadith and the Sunnah is total submission to what is stated in the Quran and verified in authentic prophetic reports without rejection or turning away .
The work covers several theological and ethical subjects:
- Divine Names and Attributes: Affirming God's names and attributes as He described Himself and as His Prophet ﷺ described Him, including God's creation of Adam with His Hand, His two outstretched Hands, His establishment over the Throne (istiwaʾ), His descent (nuzūl) to the lowest heaven, and His coming (majīʾ), all affirmed without conceiving or inquiring into modality (bilā kayf) .
- The Quran: Affirming that the Quran is the uncreated speech of God—whether recited by tongues, preserved in hearts, or written in manuscripts—and stating that whoever claims that one's pronunciation (lafẓ) of the Quran is created intending thereby the Quran has effectively declared the Quran created .
- Faith and Eschatology: Outlining the reality of faith (īmān) and its increase and decrease, the status of perpetrators of major sins, the affirmation of the resurrection, the reckoning (ḥisāb), intercession (shafāʿah) for sinners, the Basin (al-ḥawḍ), the Kawthar, Paradise and Hellfire, and the believers' seeing of their Lord in the Hereafter .
- The Companions and Caliphate: Affection and goodwill toward the Companions, recognizing the legitimacy and chronological merit of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and refraining from delving into their disputes .
- Conduct and Religious Ethics: Adhering to the community, enjoining good and forbidding evil, abstaining from religious innovation (bidʿah), pride, treachery, and slander, except against overt innovators who actively preach their heterodox views .
Reception and Scholarly Impact
The treatise has been widely utilized and cited as an authoritative summary of early traditionalist belief . Key theological passages—particularly regarding divine attributes and the Quran—were quoted by subsequent authors, including Abu Uthman al-Sabuni in ʿAqīdat al-Salaf Aṣḥāb al-Ḥadīth, Ibn Qudama in Dhamm al-Taʾwīl, Ibn Taymiyyah in al-Fatāwā al-Ḥamawiyyah, and al-Dhahabi in al-ʿUluww . Modern scholars have commented on the treatise, including Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Khumayyis and Ibn Jibreen .
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