Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya - Damin "Athar al-Muallimi

Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiyya (The Ease of Islamic Creed) is a treatise on Islamic theology by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (1312–1386 AH / 1894–1966 CE), intended to present foundational Islamic beliefs with clarity and accessible proofs Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya…+1.

Title and Purpose

At the top of the first page of the manuscript, al-Mu'allimi wrote the title as Din al-Aja'iz aw Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiyya (The Religion of the Elderly Women, or the Ease of Islamic Creed), without decisively settling on one of the two names Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya…+1. Modern editors adopted the title Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiyya as the clearer description of the work's objective Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya…+1.

Al-Mu'allimi stated in his opening remarks that theological disagreement had divided people into factions, while the existing literature on creed fell into three tiers:

• Concise primers (mukhtasarat), which list ancestral dogmas and demand strict adherence without providing arguments or proofs Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya…+1.
• Intermediate works (mutawassitat), which present sectarian claims alongside limited arguments that scarcely yield probable conjecture, let alone certainty Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya…+1.
• Exhaustive treatises (mutawwalat) Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya…+1.

Observing that reading such works generally leaves the student in pure imitation (taqlid), perplexity (hayrah), or skepticism (shakk), al-Mu'allimi aimed to compose a treatise that would present arguments clearly, establish satisfying proof for the seeker, and dispel doubt and uncritical conformity Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya…+1. He did not complete the treatise during his lifetime, leaving behind only the extant draft Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya…+1.

Structure and Contents

The surviving text consists of three introductory sections followed by the first chapter:

• Introductory Premises (al-Muqaddimat):

  • The first premise lays out five essential principles Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya….
  • The second discusses imitation versus critical investigation (al-Taqlid wa-l-tahqiq), emphasizing adherence to the Quran and the Sunna Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya….
  • The third addresses the division of knowable matters into what the sacred law obligates seeking and what it does not, alongside the categories of legal responsibility Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya….

• First Chapter on Necessary Beliefs (al-Bab al-Awwal fi al-Daruriyyat):

  • Principle 1: The existence of the Lord of the Worlds (Wujud Rabb al-Alamin): Al-Mu'allimi asserts that earlier and later nations universally acknowledged God's existence (referencing his own treatise al-Ibadah), analyzes the Dahriyya (materialists), examines inferential arguments from effect to cause, discusses the psychological assurance within the human soul, and explores creation, cosmic harmony, answered prayers, and the expedited punishment of oppressors as proofs of the Creator Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya…+1. He also critiques the reasoning of atheists in a dedicated passage titled Mablagh Ilm al-Mulhidin Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya….
  • Principle 2: The oneness of God (Annahu Wahid): Discusses and refutes three divergent groups, and addresses three theological questions frequently encountered by contemporary students ("What is He?", "How?", and "Where?"), dedicating substantial analysis to answering the arguments of scholastic theologians (mutakallimun) Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya…+1.
  • Discussions on Resemblance (al-Mumathala): Outlines the categories and negation of resemblance between entities, where the extant text concludes Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya….

The editor appended a short separate manuscript fragment that al-Mu'allimi had earmarked for an intended section on the oneness of worship (Tawhid al-Uluhiyya) Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya….

Manuscripts and Publication

The work survives in a single draft manuscript preserved in the Library of the Holy Mosque in Mecca (Maktabat al-Haram al-Makki al-Sharif) under shelfmark no. 4666, comprising 62 folios in a ruled notebook in the author's hand, containing cross-outs and margin additions Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya….

The text was edited by Ali ibn Muhammad al-Imran and published within the collected works project Athar al-Mu'allimi (Volume 5), spanning 137 pages alongside al-Mu'allimi's treatise Imarat al-Qubur fi al-Islam Yusr al-Aqida al-Islamiya…+1.