Sheikh Ahmed Bermejo’s Complete Introductory Seminar to Aqidah

What is ‘aqeedah?
What is the importance of ‘aqeedah?
Why are we devoting this entire seminar to talking about ‘aqeedah?
And in fact, we are not going to talk about ‘aqeedah, but what we are going to do is going to be an introduction to it, so that we understand the importance it has; and someone may ask at this point: But is ‘aqeedah really that important?
The answer is yes, because ‘aqeedah is the science that the Imam studies.
We all know that our Deen, that Islam is divided into three parts, and these three parts are taken from the famous hadith of Jibreel, the hadith in which the Messenger of Allah was with his companions, a man came, sat before him and asked him about Islam, the Imam and the Ishan, hence Islam, our Din, the way of life of the Muslims, is based on these three aspects, Islam, Iman and Ihsan.
Each of these three aspects has a science that studies it and deals with it, the science that studies, that settles and deals with everything that pertains to Islam, is the science of Fiqh, of jurisprudence, it is the law, it is that which a person is obliged to do and that which a person is forbidden to do. And we talked about this at length in the last seminar.
The science that studies Ihsan, excellence, is the science of Tasawwuf, the science of behavior, the science of character qualities, the science also known as the science of purification, the science of attaining the highest, the science of refinement, both internal and external, the science that makes you improve yourself in your character and behavior in order to imitate and resemble as much as possible the best human being that ever existed and who will be on the face of the earth, the Messenger Muhammad, salla allaahu alayhi wa sallam.
And the third aspect, the Imam, is the one we are dealing with, the science that studies it is the science of ‘aquida, and it is that which we must believe and know, concerning Allah, concerning the Messengers, the world of the Unseen, etc.
To the angel Jibreel’s question of what the Imam is, the Prophet replies by saying: “Believe in Allah, in his angels, in his books, in his messengers, in the Last Day and in the decree, both the good and the bad of him.”
Now, and this is an important point, it is not only theory, they are not dogmas of faith and that’s it, and this is what perhaps many people who study the ‘aquida do not fully understand, or there are also people who compare it in many cases with philosophy, but it is not entirely comparable since the ‘aquida is a practical knowledge, it is a knowledge that leads you to act, that is why some authors some of the great ‘ulamas of Islam, when they define the ‘aquida they do so by saying: It is that which the heart believes, the tongue pronounces and the members of the body confirm or certify, that is, it has a practical implication, it is not only dogmas of faith, No, it’s something you believe and that belief leads you to put it into practice.
There are many people who know the truth, who have the knowledge, but who do not live according to it, do not act according to what they know, and this is a serious mistake, for them ‘aqeedah does not penetrate their armor, it does not reach their heart and it does not have any kind of external manifestation.
Others, and these are even worse, resist the truth they know, such as Iblis, who even though he had access to the great truths, knew Allah and knew the truthfulness of the Messengers and the Books, even though he lived with the angels and was shown many of the secrets of existence. he condemned himself by opposing it. He knew the truth, but he rejected it, denied it.
We also find for example Fiar’aun, Pharaoh in the story with Sayiduna Musa, in which we see how when Musa performs miracles, Firaun, realizes that they come from Allah, recognizes the truth, enters that belief in his heart, but his actions do not go according to it, and not only that, but he denies that truth, and Allah tells us as He does in the Qur’an, when in verse 14 of the Surah of Ants it says: “But they denied them, contrary to the certainty that their souls had over them, out of injustice and arrogance. Look how the corrupters ended up.” Another example is the case of the uncle of the Messenger of Allah, salla allaahu alaihi wa sallam, Abu Talib; a man who protected and defended his nephew, and who at the last moment, in the last moments of his life, after being begged by the Messenger of Allah to accept Islam, said to him: “O Muhammad, I recognize what you tell me, I even know that what you tell me is true, but if it were not for the fact that I am afraid that the women of Quraish say of me that I became a Muslim only for fear of the death, then I would.”
He was able to recognize the truth, but he did not put it into practice.
And here we would enter into a very interesting field, among which there is disagreement among the ‘ulamas as to whether the utterance of the shahada is a condition for the validity or the fullness of the Imam. We will not go into it, but by way of summary, I want to say that for the majority of ‘ulamas among the asha’ira and the maturidiyas (we will talk about what this means later) the pronouncing of the shahada is a condition for the validity of the Imam, i.e., that the one who pronounces it is treated as a Muslim. What does this mean? That salat is done for him, he is buried as a Muslim, he is inherited from him, he is responsible for doing salat, paying zakat, etc. We link the presence of the Imam in the heart with the pronunciation of the tongue. Then there is the case of the one who is a believer with his heart but because of an impediment due to an imposition, he cannot recognize it with his tongue. He is not treated as a Muslim, i.e. he is not buried as a Muslim nor are the laws of the Muslims applied to him, but he is a believer before Allah and his affair is in the hands of Allah. The one who is asked to pronounce the shahada and renounces it (as may be the case with Abu Talib mentioned above) is treated as a disbeliever and so also before Allah, and Allah knows best. And finally we have the case of the one who pronounces it with his tongue but that belief has not reached his heart; in this case he is treated as a Muslim and the laws of the Muslims apply to him, but he is not a believer before Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala.
But as I say, it is a subject on which there is disagreement and although it is very interesting, at least it is for me, we are not going to go into it any more.
And it is that Imam, faith, belief, has two essential conditions: the belief deeply rooted in the heart, that belief of the heart, which is a belief that brings real and certain knowledge, and then the facts that manifest it, the acts that you do.
If either of these two essential components were not present, then there would be a deficiency or imbalance in the Magnet.
That is why it is often said that the Imam is like a kind, strong tree, firmly rooted in the earth, with strong branches that rise to the sky, laden with abundant fruits.
The Imam is the tree, its roots are ‘aqidah, belief, deeply rooted in the earth, or in the heart, and everything else, everything that is seen, its trunk, branches and fruits are the works and actions.
Undoubtedly, if the roots are uprooted, the tree will die.
In the same way the Imam (as a complete image) will cease to exist if the ‘aqeedah is removed.
If the trunk and branches are cut, the tree will weaken, and may even die, because the presence of branches and leaves is essential to the existence of the tree.
In the same way, if the works are totally or partially abandoned, the magnet will diminish or disappear, because as we also know, the Magnet is something that grows and decreases. And here we see, how the three basic pillars of our Deen, which are Islam, the Imam and Ihsan, are totally related to each other, they are connected rather, if there is no right belief, the actions lose their value, if there is a right belief, but the actions do not go according to that belief, then the belief wanes or is incomplete, and if both aspects are not clothed in Ihsan, in excellence in character and behavior, they are missing something, they are missing that icing on the cake, that culmination that is Ihsan.
Before going into describing what the Imam is and the science that studies him, which as we already know is ‘aqidah, there is one aspect that I would like to mention and that is linked to something that we will talk about later, which is the intellect.
One of the great gifts that Allah has given to human beings and that differentiates him from the rest of creatures is the intellect, the ‘aql, which he uses and uses to think; he uses it to, with Allah’s permission, recognize and differentiate right from wrong.
And thought or ideology is what really moves human beings, and if that ideology, or thought, or belief, call it what you will, is based on right, then it will undoubtedly lead you to right.
If it is based on firm foundations, on certain knowledge that he accepts and puts into practice, remember, believe and put into practice, that ideology, that knowledge, that belief, will lead him to happiness both in this life and in the next.
And the fact is that the human being, unlike many other creatures, is not guided with a rope, with reins and a bit as horses are guided, although well, today it is like this in many cases, in the case of the sheep that follow the herd.
But really the human being has an intellect with which he creates an ideology that is the one that really guides his steps.
I will try to explain this in a simple way with an example that we all know.
Does money have value in itself, does it have power in itself, especially the money we know today of paper money?
No, it does not have it, it has value and power, because we, our ideology and belief leads us to give it that power, it leads us to give it that reality.
That is, that money power because the person believes it, or what the nations or the leaders of the nations believe, and then that is what ends up moving people.
If you don’t have that in your heart and in your belief, then it won’t be that which will move you, that will determine all your steps.
In the end, the intellect, or rather, the belief, is, and here we have a computer scientist who understands this, it is the motherboard, it is what makes everything work; Without that motherboard, no matter how good components you put on it, it can’t work.
And the clearest proof of this is found, as it could not be otherwise, in the Koran.
The Qur’an as we all know is revealed over 23 years about the Messenger Muhammad, salla allaahu alaihi wa sallam.
Of those 23 years, 13 are in Mecca and the remaining 10 in Medina.
For if we take the thirteen years of Makkah we see that there are very few laws revealed at that time, practically none compared to the 10 of Medina.
What is the message then of the 13 years of Mecca?
It is the belief, it is the correction of the belief, purifying it and cleansing it of everything that had perceived it. And all by providing clear proofs, and Allah did so so that these pillars would be established in the hearts and minds of the Muslims.
And once this was established, the magnificent edifice of Islam was completed with all its relevant laws and judgments.
And this is key, prior preparation is necessary to be able to comply with the obligations and prohibitions of Islam.
It is necessary first to acknowledge Allah, to know His power, His punishment, His reward, His essence, His attributes, His deeds; knowing His Mercy and His Forgiveness, and all this is part of ‘aqeedah and once you have known and recognized this, once your heart and therefore your intellect has been imbued with it, you can already enter into fiqh, into the laws, into the prohibitions and obligations.
Hence Sayiduna ‘Aishah, the mother of the believers, may Allah be pleased with her, said: “Verily, among the first things that was revealed was the mention of the Garden and the Fire, and when the people became established in Islam the halal and the haram descended, for if the first to descend would have been: “Do not drink wine (when we say wine we mean any intoxicant)” the people would have said: “By Allah we will never give up wine”: and if they had descended: “Do not fornicate, do not have sexual relations outside marriage”, they would have said: “We will never give up fornication”.
We have used the word Iman, which we usually translate as faith, but we are going to delve a little into it, since at this level we are entering it is necessary to be clear about the concepts.
Imam, kinguistically speaking, means At-Tasdiq, to confirm, attest or truthfully to something.
And Allah says in the Qur’an using this meaning in Yusuf’s Surat: “Although you will not believe us (although you will not give truth to what we say), we tell the truth.” Now, what does it mean in the Istilah, what is its technical definition?
It is, and this is one of the most widely accepted classical definitions: “To attest, to confirm that which Muhammad, salla allahu alihi wa sallam, carried of what is widely known in the Deen based on clear and conclusive proofs and evidence.”
That is, not the details, but what is recognized. What is ‘aquida? It is a science that has numerous names, it is called ‘aquida, which is the most common name, but it is also usually called Usul al Din, the foundations or bases of the Din; and this is clear when in almost all, if not all, verses in which Allah speaks to us of doing good deeds, He always precedes Him from the Imam, from belief, since the basis is always belief.
It is also called ‘ilmu tawhid; The science of unity or oneness, there are those who also translate it as unification and it is so called because “at-tawhid” is the most important part about which this science is about, which is the unity of Allah subhana wa ta’ala, how Allah is One in His essence, in His attributes and in His actions. Although it is not everything, it also covers different aspects as we will see later.
Another name also used by the ulamas is the science of Kalam, which could be translated as speech.
Why is it called Kalam? Well, because in its time, the debate on the word of Allah was quite important and gave rise to conflicts of a theological nature, which is why this name was adopted: the science of Kalam.
It is also said to be called Kalam because it is the science of how to speak correctly about Allah and His attributes.
It is also known as the Fiqh al Akbar, the greatest, or most important, or most necessary jurisprudence.
Remember the importance of Fiqh, which we saw in the last seminar, well, ‘aqeedah is known as the Great Fiqh, the greatest fiqh.
(ABU HANIFA HAS A BOOK DEDICATED TO THE BELIEF CALLED AL FIQH AL AKBAR)
Those are the various names by which this science is known, and the fact that it has numerous names is but an indication of the importance of that matter.
And here I always say the same thing, when something is very important to a people, it addresses them with numerous names, in this Spanish culture of ours, the pig for example, they have an infinite number of names and as they say in Arabic, when you give something many names it is because of the importance it has.

4 MAJOR BLOCKS OF THE ‘AQIDAH ‘Aqidah, is a word that comes from the root ‘aqada which means to bind, bind or even bind. The term ‘aqeedah, linguistically speaking, is that which a person believes in his heart and that has its manifestations in inner ideas or beliefs that are then put into practice by oneself and are what make up one’s acts, beliefs and behavior. There is a very curious thing or maybe not so much and that is that the word religion, which we so often use to describe Islam, we should really use it to describe ‘aqeedah. Because, where does religion come from? It comes from the Latin religio, formed by the prefix RE which indicates intensity, and the verb ligare, which means to bind or tie or bind and the suffix ION, which means action or effect. And then religion would mean something like the action or effect of binding tightly. In other words, it is what one believes, it is one’s set of beliefs that are affirmed in one’s heart, that is, although religion translates it as Deen, we should really translate it as ‘aqeedah. From this definition that we have just given we can see that ‘aqidah, in its linguistic use, can be very different, it can differ from mine from so-and-so, it is that which I believe and that leads me to act, and therefore it can be good/right or bad/incorrect. But it doesn’t have to have a label, everyone, even the most staunch atheists have a belief and therefore, if we go to the origin of the word, to its etymology, they have a religion. And what is the definition of ‘aqeedah according to the science we are dealing with: What we have said before: It is that which the heart believes, the tongue pronounces, and the members of the body confirm or certify, although if we want to give it a more precise definition in contrast to that of the language we have just seen, we should add something like: “That which the heart believes, the tongue pronounces, the members of the body confirm (manifest), based on clear and evident proofs that do not have the slightest hint of doubt.” And those proofs and how those proofs are adopted, what procedure is used to certify whether they are qati’ wurud, i.e. clear and firm proofs, or whether they are danhi, plausible and cannot be taken as a basis for belief, is the key and the key to everything, and it is what differentiates the schools of ‘aqeedah, and those of you who were in the Fiqh seminar will realize that in this respect it is very similar to the differences that exist between the schools of Fiqh. So those clear and evident proofs qati’ al wurud, which yuffud yaqin, are the Book of Allah, and the Sunnah of the Messenger, and one more is added, which is the so-called Ahkam ‘Aqliyah, that is, the laws of logic, in fact this science, al mantiq or logic is the necessary and basic science For ‘Aqeedah. This is very important to know, since the ‘aquida, as we are going to see, arises at a historical moment in which Islam is going through a very dangerous process and many of the bases that had not even been questioned before begin to appear, and then the two main references of the ‘aquida of Ahlu Sunna wal Jama’ah, Imam Abul Hasan al-‘Ashari and Imam Abul Mansur al-Maturidi, who both live at the same time, between the end of the year 200 and the beginning of the 300 of the Hijra, that is, practically 300 years after the arrival of Islam, are dedicated to protecting it, rather than protecting it, to defending it always based on the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and by tests of the intellect, or rather, by rational arguments, they answer all doubts and defend belief from the attacks to which it is subjected in their time. And it is often said when talking about this subject, that the sharia’, that is, the Qur’an and the Sunnah are the sun, and the intellect or reason, is the eye, and the vision is not complete, if these two aspects, the eye and the sun, are not brought together, so that if there is a shining sun that illuminates everything, but there is not an eye that sees him, that sun is of no use, and if there is an eye that sees very well, but there is no sun, a light that illuminates him, he will live in darkness. This same reasoning is applicable to aqida, the truth cannot be known only with the intellect, or with reason, as the mu’atazilas, of whom we will talk later, the rationalists, maintained, nor can you stay only with the Qur’an and the Sunna, because if not, you become a Dhahiri, a textualist, of which we will also talk later. And why have we mentioned this? Because it is the key to everything, and to understand it we must know that the Qur’an is not a “Book” addressed to everyone, just like the hadith or the sunna, it is addressed to people who have intellect, i.e., people who can understand it with the help of their intellect. Therefore, the science of ‘aqidah, based on these two men that we have mentioned and their teachings, is structured in an apologetic way, that is to say that it is an ‘aqidah that defends something, it is an ‘aqidah that knows how to defend itself, they not only enumerate the dogmas of faith, which is another of the translations that he usually gives to this science, but they also defend it. And they do it, because they are in a time when it is necessary to do so, before it was not necessary, because that knowledge, the knowledge of Allah mainly was present, there was no need to write not to speak about the ‘aquida; but there comes a time in the history of Islam, 300 years after its birth, when that knowledge begins to be lost, there begins to be a mixture of issues; Islam spreads rapidly, comes into contact with different thoughts, comes into contact with other forms of life, -and we will talk about it a little later- comes into contact with Greek philosophy, and they begin to raise questions that had not been raised before, and it is just at that moment, when these two men, arise to defend the correct knowledge of Allah, based always, always, on the Qur’an and the Sunna. And this way of proceeding is something that is repeated in the history of Islam, when something is being lost, it is when it is written about, it is when it is protected. When does ‘Umar advise Abu Bakr to collect the Qur’aan? When it starts to get lost and many of the Messenger of Allah’s companions who knew it by heart die or start traveling and settling in other places, he sees the need to gather the entire Qur’an in one place. The same is true of the science of the Arabic language, when it comes into contact with other civilizations and other languages and the danger that such a mixture can entail, the foundations of the grammar of the language are established, the same is established with the science of Usul al-Fiqh, in the time of Imam Ashafii’. the same with Usul al-Hadith, and even the same with the science of Tasawwuf. In this regard, Ibn Khaldun makes a very good analysis in the sixth book of the Muqaddimah, a book devoted mainly to the different sciences of Islam, which I recommend to all those who are interested in learning about this subject, in which he analyzes how the different sciences arise and how they develop and how most of them, it has its beginning at that moment in which knowledge about that particular science is in danger, and if you are interested, I advise you to read it, especially Chapter X, which is the one dedicated to the science of ‘aquida, or as the translator translates it: Scholastic Theology. I recommend that you read it, it is very interesting, a bit cumbersome, and only the translation of ‘aqidah shows us, but if you arm yourselves with patience and unravel it little by little, you will understand a little better what the science of ‘aqidah represents; or the one who does not want to arm himself with patience to read the chapter and is not in the mood to get into the complex language that the translator uses, can pay a little attention to this course and with the permission of Allah, he will also have a very clear idea of what it is, what it represents and the importance that ‘aqeedah has in our Deen. We have said that this science is also known as the science of Tawhid, the science of oneness, that is, the science that studies everything necessary to declare and affirm that Allah is the only god, the true god and that the rest of beings are nothing more than servants of Allah. This knowledge, which is what we are studying, is a knowledge that all the Prophets and Messengers carried, all of them called the Tawheed of Allah, there is no difference in this with respect to the Messengers, nothing, all the same, Allah is One and He is Unique in His essence, in His acts and in His attributes; What happens is that their teachings were lost, changed or forgotten. When the Messenger of Allah comes, that teaching has been practically completely lost, the people were either idol worshippers, as were practically all his quraysh people, or they were Christians or Jews who had corrupted much of those Tawheed teachings; the Jews said Uzair is the son of Allah, the Christians said: Isa is the son of Allah, or even said that he was part of the divinity. Islam comes to remove all that, to return to the Oneness of Allah, and this is really the ‘aqeedah, this is the knowledge of the ‘aqeedah, the knowledge of Allah, the knowledge of the Oneness of Allah. ‘Aqeedah is therefore what gives us the necessary tools to be able to access the knowledge of Allah, so without ‘aqeedah, or rather if there is no correct, healthy ‘aqeedah, one cannot come to know the attributes, just as one cannot access the knowledge of the Prophets and Messenger, nor the knowledge of the Unseen. And now we return to the question that the angel Jibreel, in the event that we have mentioned above, asked the Messenger of Allah: What is the Imam, what is belief? He replied by saying: ‘It is to believe in Allah, in His angels, His Books, in His Messengers, in the Last Day, and to believe in the Decree, whether it is good or bad.’ Now we have been able to understand that this is the ‘aqeedah, it is the Imam, the Tawhid, the Kalam, all names that revolve around this same meaning, because the Imam, is to believe in Allah yes, but what does it imply, what does it mean, how do you believe in Allah; To answer these questions, people of knowledge establish this science, which is what we are studying in this seminar, the science of ‘aqeedah. RISE OF THE ‘AQEEDAH Having all this in mind, someone may ask himself the following question, which would be a question something like: “But let’s see, since when does one begin to consider all this a science of Islam, and what was the need to consider this a science of the Deen on the same level as Tafseer, Hadith, Fiqh, etc…? Well, this is a good question, a very interesting question, but one that really if we have paid attention to the last ten minutes should not even be asked. But well, let’s try to answer it in the best possible way, since all this would fall under the heading of the emergence, establishment or expansion of ‘aqeedah. It is clear that in the early years of Islam there is no science called ‘aqeedah, or tawheed or Kalam. Because at that time there was no need for it. A verse was revealed that had to do with belief and they believed in it, without asking questions, without philosophizing about it, without debating or opening questions to understand the deepest core of it. No, they listened to a verse of the Qur’an that speaks of the hand of Allah and that’s it, they did not give it any more thought, they did not write tracts of the hand of Allah, or when they heard the Prophet speak of the descent of Allah in the last third of the night to answer the supplication of the one who asks him, the question was not how he descended or if that descent implied going from A to B, which implies that it has space and place and is therefore linked to the laws of time and space; No, no, no. What that meant for them was, to get up in the last third of the night to ask their Lord. And they believed in it so, without giving it any further thought, none of them asked the Prophet: “O Messenger of Allah, does this descent then imply that Allah takes place?”
On the other hand, if he was asked: “O Messenger of Allah, and if I reach that moment, if I am awake at that time, what, or how, do I have to ask Allah?” There was no time for it, they were not dedicated to it, their desire, their intention and their occupation was to follow the example of the Messenger of Allah, after his death it is to remain united around that rope and that light that they had received to transmit it, to pass it on to others, it is the time of the expansion of Islam. In addition, there are three other points that must be taken into account and that may help us understand why, in these first three generations, this type of debate is not entered. The first is that they were simple people, what do I mean by simple, who did not approach issues from a philosophical perspective or view, going round and round until they reached the point in question. The second is what we have said, that they were people of action, they cared about action, in fact it is known that Imam Malik said: “I do not like to be asked about matters that do not involve action”; by this he refers to long debates about the hand and face of Allah. And the third point is the wide and vast knowledge they possessed about the Arabic language. And it is true that there are many ahadith in which the sahaba would ask the Messenger of Allah about halal and haram, they would ask him how they should act, how they should do such a thing, they would ask him about the states of yaum al-qiyamah, about the Garden and the Fire, about the fitnas and what is to come, but about the hand of Allah, about his descent or his face, they did not do it, because it was not, I do not mean that it was not important, but it was not an issue for them as it would be said in English. They accepted him as he was and understood him as he was. All this is maintained in this way in the time of the Sahaba, in the time of the Tabi’in as well, it is even preserved in the time of the Tabi’tabiin; then comes the time of the Umayyads, who as we have said before are half preserved a little, they are very proud people of the Arab and their origins; and then, with the Abbasids, is when the matter gets completely out of hand. TALK ABOUT IT But we must be fair as well and that phrase “the matter gets completely out of hand” is necessary for us to understand, because it is really very interesting because it is what determines us when this science of ‘aqeedah takes shape, takes shape and begins to be written about, which is what we are supposed to deal with here.
There are several reasons that originate this “conflict” and there is an Egyptian author from around 1900, Ahmad Amin, who has a series of books called, Fayru Islam, Duha al Islam and Duhru al Islam in which he deals with the birth, expansion and establishment of Islam; in the second, that of expansion, it speaks of this period and this conflict and mentions a series of reasons, some internal and others external, which are the ones that make it necessary to structure the science of ‘Aqidah. INTERNAL REASONS:

The answers of the Qur’an.
What does this mean?
Let’s see, much of the Qur’an is a response to cases and situations that occur in the time and time of the Prophet; even when he speaks of Tawhid, of the Imam in Allah, in the angels, etc… He does so as a counterposition to what is there at that time; he answers the questions that the people of Quraysh ask themselves, he answers the tests to which he is subjected by the Jews, he answers the questions of people who deny the unity of Allah, who deny the messengers, who deny divinity.

We find that he deals with people who worship the stars as is the case with Sayiduna Ibrahim and how to deal with it.
It is also addressed to people who deified Sayiduna ‘Isa, and shows them how clear and evident their error is.
He also deals with people who worship idols, believing that these idols can benefit and harm them, offer sacrifices to them, entrust themselves to them, etc, etc.
It also speaks of a people who deny the Prophets and Messengers in general and Muhammad, salla allaahu alayhi wa sallam in particular, and in the Qur’an we find the answers given to them and how this matter is to be dealt with.
There are also numerous verses that speak of people who deny life after death, who say that Allah is unable to give life to something that is dead.
People who deny the responsibility that we have for each of our actions, who deny the Day of Accountability.
That is to say that in the Qur’an, we already find an embryo of what ‘aqeedah is.
“FATANA” MESSENGER ATTRIBUTES.
To put an end to intellectual resistance.

The second of the internal reasons is the philosophy in the Deen.
What does this mean?
In the beginning, as we have said, Muslims are busy spreading the word of Allah, they do not give importance to the goods of this world, their most important mission is to transmit and spread the light they have received from the Messenger Muhammad, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam.

But after this period, they begin to settle in, acquire wealth, have time and begin to ask questions that had never been asked before, which is a source of discrepancies and disputes among them, which require answers of course, and then people of knowledge begin to consider how to give answers to those questions.

Another reason is that they are faced with political situations that had never been dealt with or confronted before, or rather, that had been treated in an organic way, now because of the expansion that Islam had had it was necessary to establish a basis for the future, and the discussions revolve around the caliphate among other things.
And about this Imam al-Laqqani, the author of the jauharatu at-tawheed, says:

“It is obligatory to have a righteous Imam (caliph) who is based on Sharia’ not on the judgments of the intellect.”
And Imam al-Bayuri, commenting on this verse, says: “One of the aspects that indicate the necessity of it being based on sharia’ is that sharia’ contemplates common matters such as the establishment of borders, the enforcement of penalties, military affairs, and all this is not possible without an Imam (caliph) to turn to in his affairs, and this is what the Sahaba understood and did after the Messenger of Allah left this world.”
Among the external reasons that make it necessary to establish the science of ‘aqeedah there are several, but I am only going to mention one, which is the most important and the one that I hope will give us the necessary keys to finish understanding why the science of ‘aqeedah is established.

The large number of people who come into contact with Islam and become Muslims who held beliefs other than Islam.
There were Jews, Christians, fire worshippers, Sabians, Hindus, etc.
Among them there were those with a lot of knowledge of their previous Deen and they raised questions that had never been raised before.

And this is what is known as the second great revolution of Islam or the Arabs, they are faced with intellectual dilemmas that they do not have the necessary tools to resolve, contact with Greek philosophy, with Aristotelian logic mainly, leads them to have to give answers to questions regarding Allah and belief that they had not even been raised before.
REVOLUTIONS – CONVULSIONS Before moving on to the next point I would like to talk about something that I personally like a lot and that I think is very important to understand all this that we are talking about the evolution of Islam, not really the evolution, but the growth and development that Islam has, and these are known as the two great convulsions that the Arab world suffers.
The first of these two great revolutions is the coming of revelation, when the Messenger Muhammad, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam, receives revelation for the first time and calls people to Islam is something totally new, it is a great convulsion, people were stunned by what they heard, and it is even through revelation that the Arabs begin to be known in the world. Before they were a tribe of unknown people, who all they did were very beautiful poems and trade, and it is because of the revelation that they begin to place themselves on the map and that is what launches them into the world.
The second great upheaval is the encounter of the Islamic world with the West, the encounter of culture and tradition, and above all the encounter with Greek philosophy.
And the most curious thing about this meeting is that they were so amazed with what philosophy was, that despite the fact that the Arabs, or rather the Muslims, were the ones who had the strength and the military and economic power, they were the conquerors, they did not sweep away the previous culture, they did not destroy everything as other conquering armies implanted their culture and their thought. And they didn’t do it because of how amazed they were with that philosophy.
Since they realized that it was a very high intellectual tradition, they began to translate books from Greek philosophy into Arabic and it was a real intellectual revolution, and that in spite of this, and this may be the most curious thing, despite the fact that that world, the world of Greek philosophy, Aristotle, Plato, etc, it was already over, but the heritage remained alive and when the Muslims collected it it affected a lot mainly the ‘Aquida, and be careful, which is that anything that is touched or changed in the ‘Aquida has many repercussions later.
Keep in mind that we are talking about this happening with the end of the Umayyad dynasty and the beginning of the Abbasid dynasty, which is when this issue has its maximum strength, and it does not have it with the Umayyads, because the Umayyads were still an Arab dynasty, and they were tied and linked to Arab thought and tradition.
And although the Abbasids were also an Arab dynasty, their main strength, or their main support, came from the Persians, so they were much more cosmopolitan, and for them that Arab tradition was not so important.
This second convulsion gives rise to something that had not been done until that moment, which is to try to adapt the Qur’an and the Sunna to what is known as Aristotelian logic, and so they said: No no, it is that Islam is rational, so for them, the Qur’an and the Sunna, had a lower value than logic, to reason, and they sought a way to interpret the Qur’an so that it would be accepted by that Aristotelian logic, by that reasoning, or said today in today’s words: To the “politically correct”.
And why did they do it? To be said that Islam was in accordance with the rational, and this attitude, established by the Mu’tazilas, is the same as that followed today by the modernists, although I would dare to say that the latter is even worse.
But what we can never, ever forget, and what is the basis for affirming the role and value of the Qur’an and the Sunna, is that the Qur’an and the Sunnah are ma’sum, protected from all error or evil, and reason, the intellect, gairu ma’sum, is not.
At the other extreme, there were the literalists, just Qur’an and Sunna, and the intellect is unimportant, worthless, useless.
And that which existed more than 1000 years ago, is what we unfortunately see today, at one extreme the “modernists” who want to adapt the Qur’an and the Sunna to the politically correct by making their own interpretation, and at the other there are the literalists who, rigid, hard and extremist, follow the Qur’an and the Sunna to the letter, following their own understanding of them.
And both of them, those who do not follow his thought and belief, accuse him of being an incredulous with astonishing speed and sharp firmness. And to these, to those who have this behavior that is unfortunately so common in our days, and to those who like hadith so much, they very often forget the magnificent hadith, in which the Messenger, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam, said: “If a man says to his brother, O Kafir, you are a kafir, One of the two is, or else it is as he says (that the other person is a kafir), but if not, it turns against him (and he is the kafir). In the midst of this field of cultivation, of all this controversy, of these theological debates, the figure of Imam al-ash’ari emerges, of whom we are going to talk a little about his life, about how he went from being for 40 years the great defender of the ‘aquidah mu’tazillah to then return to the right path, the path of the Messenger of Allah and the Sahaba, And we will look at some of the foundations on which his ‘aqidah is built and which for more than 10 centuries has been studied in the east and west of the earth. Who was this man so important to us? This man who we can consider almost as a hero, or without him, was a true hero because he was able to protect Islam, if it had not been for him, and for others like him, we could not say what Islam would be today, we do not know what he would have become, although well, we can glimpse something with people who do not follow the belief of Imam Al-Ash’ari, that of Maturidi and that of other imams of Ahlu Sunna wal Jama’ah, and we see that they are turning Islam into a religion, not a way of life, when we know that Islam is a way, a way of life; and not a normal religion, but they are turning it on the one hand, into something that is totally private and personal, and that consists only of saying five prayers throughout the day and night, without that having any kind of implication in your life, that is, that you are exactly the same as others, you are “progressive”, you are fashionable, you do what everyone else does, you accept that women are imams in men’s mosques, you start to give in to one thing and another, and in the end Islam becomes that… in a series of prayers throughout the day and night. These on the one hand, but on the other, we have the opposite extreme, those who because they do not follow a correct ‘aqeedah, do not know what it is to implant Islam in their lives, do not know the Qur’an, do not know who the Messenger of Allah was, nor what his character and behavior was like nor what it means to follow his sunnah, and therefore, even though they claim to act in the name of Allah and His Messenger, even though they say that they follow the ‘aqeedah of the Qur’an, what they really are are literalist extremists, who have forgotten, or have never known what the intellect is, who have forgotten that Allah has given us tools to understand the Qur’aan and the Sunnah, and who have forgotten that the Qur’an is addressed to whom?: To people of intellect, to people endowed with reason, to people who are capable of reflection. Abul Hasan al-Al-ari, the full name of this great imam was: Abu Al-Hassan ‘Ali ibn Ismâ’îl Ibn Ishaq Ibn Sâlim Ibn Ismâ’îl Ibn ‘Abd-Allah Ibn Mûsa Ibn Bilâl Ibn Abî Burdah ibn Abî Mûsâ Al-Ash’arî one of the most notable companions of the Messenger Muhammad, salla allaahu alaihi wa sallam. Abul Hasan was born in 260 AH, in Basra, which at that time was one of the most important cities of Islam, and where many of the teachings of the people who had previously inhabited those lands remained. He lived his entire childhood in that city, where he learned the different sciences of Islam; Despite the fact that his father was one of the people of the “hadith”, that is, of the literalists, he wanted his son to be educated and learn Mu’tazilism, since it was the predominant school of thought at that time, and moreover, it was the school supported by the emirs, it was not the official one, because at that time an official doctrine had not yet been imposed. but it was the predominant one and the one followed by the emirs and their viziers, so it was the doctrine of power. Later if we have time we will analyze Mu’tazilism in a little more detail, but to get an idea of what it is, we can say that it is the doctrine of reason, which excludes almost, or puts the Qur’an and the Sunnah at a lower level than one’s intellect. It arises, as we have said before, when Islam comes into contact with Greek philosophy and Aristotelian logic, and then what it intends to do is to adapt Islam, or rather to adapt the Qur’an to everything that is conceivable with its own intellect, or to everything established in the methodology of logic. So they deny that Allah can be seen, they do not conceive of Him with their intellect, and so they deny Him, in other cases if they do not conceive of Him with their reason, what they do is to adapt the verses to fit within your parameters. Another important aspect of them is that for them the Qur’an is not the Word of Allah, because if it were their word Allah would have to have a mouth, vocal cords, etc., since the intellect is incapable of assimilating that someone without a mouth, or vocal cords or the necessary elements to speak can express words, so they consider that the Qur’an is not the word of Allah, but that he is a creature of Allah. The same can be said of the verses in which Allah mentions His hands, the hadiths in which the Messenger of Allah speaks of the descent of Allah, etc., etc. They try to interpret these verses in order to understand them with the intellect, while at the other extreme are the literalists who say: Yes, Allah has a hand, and in saying this they liken it to ours, so that Allah likens His creatures, being in the middle ground, we do not interpret this type of verses, we do not believe them literally either, but we believe in them, because we have a very restricted intellect; And a very important point of our ‘aqeedah, we do not inquire about this type of matter; It is a clean and easy ‘aqidah, who does not enter into discussing this type of matter, because it can end up falling into error and misdirection. Well, back to the subject, this is far above Mu’tazilism, very similar to modernism today, but the truth is that it was the predominant doctrine in the time of Abul Hasan. That is why his father, seeing his intellect, his oratorical skills, how firmly he had clung to the Deen, sent him to study with Abu ‘Ali al-Jubbai, who was the great Shaykh of the Mu’tzilahs. This man, al-Jubbai, who according to some broadcasts would become his father-in-law, although others say he would not, marks his personality in the young Abul Hasan. He was a very rigid man, but with great knowledge, and an oratory capacity that left everyone who listened to him totally fascinated, in a conversation he was able to convince you of something that at first was inconceivable to you. Abul Hasan spends a large part of his life with him, learning from him, accompanying him as a student to his dissertations, traveling together from one place to another, little by little, he begins to take charge of some of his teacher’s classes, he replaces him on other occasions, because the teacher sees that his student is a very perceptive man, which even surpassed him in knowledge and oratory, and ended up becoming one of the references of Mu’tazilism, as he is a master in the art of using reason to defend his doctrine. But there comes a time when I change in Abul Hasan, something is transformed inside him, he begins to have doubts, he was a man of great knowledge, not only in the science of ‘aqeedah, but also in Fiqh, in tafsir, in hadith, in language and in tasawwuf; Therefore, the deeper you go into these sciences, the more you begin to see that the pieces do not fit in the puzzle. What happens for Imam Abul Hasan al ‘Ashari, the great defender of the ‘aqida mu’tazila, the one who seemed to be the Imam par excellence of mu’tazilism, the one who for more than 40 years was its great follower and defender, what happens for this man to start with doubts, what is that click that makes him begin to rethink everything? Al-Jubbai, his teacher, taught what is known as the rational sense of suffering of Allah’s compensation. What this Mu’tazili thought stipulates is that Allah always does good (As-salâh), and must always do the best, which is a kind of obligation that Allah has to always do the best, a thought that we know is very Platonic, very much from the ancient Greek philosophy, which says that Being is always good; when in reality, we believe that it is not, that it is neither good nor bad, it is neutral; He can be good if he wants to, and he can be bad if he wants to, but he is not bound or predestined to be good. And well, we will talk about this later, because it is exciting and clarifies many things, what is good, what is evil, what you consider good is good, and then Allah has to do what you consider to be good, besides, what is good here, I may not be good in India, etc, etc… This is As-salah wal al-lah, which we will talk about later. This is one of the reasons, as we will see now, that Abul Hasan abandons Mu’ztazism, the other is a series of dreams in which he sees the Prophet Muhammad and that we will narrate later. So Abul Hassan is with his teacher, talking precisely about this matter, about good and evil, and Allah’s “obligation” to do good; and Abul Hasan was a man who had a great deal of respect for his master and found it difficult to raise doubts with him. But as we have said, he already had many doubts about those principles of the ‘aqidah muztali, so on one occasion, plucking up courage and with exquisite respect, he says: “Master, I am going to ask you a series of questions: what about the case of three brothers, one of them dies as an adult having obeyed Allah, another dies as an adult having disobeyed Allah, and the other dies as a child, who is not yet judged or taken into account.” The teacher, al-Jubbai, said: “The first (the one who died in obedience) will be rewarded with the Garden because he fulfilled what his Lord had commanded him, the second (the one who died in disobedience) will be punished with Fire because he was not able to fulfill what his Lord had commanded him, and the third will be neither punished nor rewarded. for there is no opportunity to obey or disobey their Lord.” (This is also a Mu’tazila thought, that there is the Garden, the Fire, and an abode between the two, to which for example children and other categories go, which we will talk about on another occasion.) And Imam al-Ash’ari says to him: “Okay, okay, but if the third (the child) says to him: “O lord, why didn’t you make me grow up so that I would obey you and enter the Garden. What would the Lord (Allah) say to this?” Al-Jubbai said: “The Lord would say: ‘I knew that if you had grown up, you would have disobeyed me and therefore you would have had to go to the Fire; Then it is best for you (al-Aslah) that you should die small, so I have decreed it.” “Very well,” says Al-Ash’ari, “but if the second (the kafir who has died in disobedience) were to say: ‘O Lord, why did you not make me die small so that I would not enter the Fire?’ And the Jubbai was left with his mouth open, unable to answer, for if Allah had done what was best for the servant, which is what he was bound to do according to his doctrine, he would not have let him grow. And so Imam al-ash’ari dismantled the whole theory of the Mu’tazilas that Allah is obligated to do good. In addition to this, in those times of doubts, Abul Hasan, during a month of Ramadan, has a series of dreams, which confirm to him how wrong the Mu’tazila school was and that he should stop defending those theories. He himself narrates these dreams saying: “I was sleeping on one of the first nights of Ramadan, when I saw the Prophet Muhammad, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam, in my dreams, it was as if he was chained to my foot. He said to me, “Abul Hasan, do you write hadiths?” Yes, I answered. He said to me: “Have you not written, that I have said that in the Next Life, Allah will be seen with the eyes?” Yes, I answered. “Then why don’t you say it? Why don’t you announce and proclaim it? If you have that knowledge, why are you occupying it?” I excused myself by saying: “The proofs of intelligence, reason, intellect, establish that beyond time (that in the Next Life) it will be impossible to see Allah with the eyes; I have taken this tradition as an interpretation of your words and I have not interpreted it literally.” He said to me: “But you can’t find any logical proof that you can’t see him with your eyes, right?” “No,” I answered, “I really do not find any evidence to confirm it, but that is the doctrine I have learned from my teachers.” Then he said to me: “Search then, and you will find differences with that which you believe” (i.e., you will find evidence that goes against your aquida, the Aquida Mu’tazila). When I woke up in the morning, I felt a great sorrow inside me, I didn’t know what to think or what to do, was it a real dream, or had it all been the fruit of imagination, so I put aside the science of Kalam (aquida) and dedicated myself to writing and studying about Hadith. the Qur’an and the Tafsir, since about that, there was no doubt. On the second ten nights, I saw the Messenger of Allah in my dreams again, and he said to me: “Abul Hasan, what conclusion have you come to regarding the questions I put to you?” I replied by saying, “O Messenger of Allah, I have removed the Kalam from my studies and I am devoting myself to Hadith, the Qur’an and Tafseer.” He was very angry and he said to me: “Do I tell you to do something and you do something else? Who has instructed you to do what you are doing? Who has commanded you to leave the Kalam? I have told you, inquire about the science of Kalam and seek an answer to the matter of Allah’s Vision, but I have not told you at any time to abandon Kalam!!.” When I woke up, I was even more grieving than the first time. I said to myself, ‘By Allah, I don’t know what to do. How can I leave schools confirmed by what I have seen in dreams? On the other hand, woe to me if I believe differently from what I have followed from Allah Almighty! But what will be the response and condemnation of the Mu’tazilas upon me if I make public what I have seen and what has been indicated to me in my dreams! “I was left pondering what I should do without enjoying food and drink until the night of the 27th of Ramadan came. ” On that night, the inhabitants of Basra gathered as was their custom to perform Tahajjud prayers in the mosque until morning, to ask Allah for forgiveness and to make duas. That’s what I went for. When I began the prayer, a dream like death took hold of me, I could not do anything to fight it, I woke up crying, regretting what I had lost because of it. I went home, when I entered the room, I went to sleep. As soon as I fell asleep, I saw the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He asked me, ‘What have you done about what I told you?’ I replied, “O Messenger of Allah, how can I leave a school that I have helped and supported for so many years, a way of thinking that I have learned in detail and that I have written about and confirmed, indeed, right now I am one of the great defenders of it. People will say of me, ‘This is a haunted man who leaves the right schools for dreams.'” “He got very angry with me and told me: “This is what was said about me, that I was crazy, possessed, bewitched. Do not neglect the rights of Allah because of the words of the people. Do you think that what is happening to you are just dreams? I have come to you three times throughout this month, and you dare to say that they are dreams. All these excuses are worthless, stop them once and for all! Leave people, forget what they say about you, don’t think about them. Inquire and search on these issues, the Vision of Allah, the uncreated Qur’an, the Decree, the Resurrection, and if you do, Allah has power over all things. Allah will give you the clear proofs you need. Be careful not to write insufficiently on this matter. Look for the proofs of what I have told you in the Qur’an and Sunnah, and when you do, you will find proofs of the intellect that certify and corroborate it. This is the right thing to do. I’m not going back to you later with this matter.”
Then,” says Imam ‘Ashari, “I understood it clearly, these words of the Messenger of Allah, salla allaahu alaihi wa sallam, finally made me see the matter clearly, and from that day on, I dedicated myself to establishing this path, this belief.”
And it is because of these dreams, because of these visions that Imam Abul Hasan Al Ash’ari, separated from the Mu’tazilah and wrote about the ‘aqeed of the Messenger of Allah and the first generations, the correct aqidada of Ahlu Sunna wal Jama’ah. After this series of dreams and the questions he asked the Jubbai, he definitively separated himself from his teacher and from the doctrine he had defended for so many years and publicly announced his break with Mu’tazilism.
One Friday, before a people gathered in the central mosque of Basra, he stood up after prayer and said in a loud voice: ‘O people, (…) I have held anciently that the Qur’an was created, that it was a creature of Allah, that the eyes of the believers would never see Allah, that we were the creators of our deeds, that Allah is obliged to do good, that our intellect dictates what is right and what is not. Now, I turn to the truth. I renounce these theses and resolve to refute the Mu’tazili doctrines and to expose their infamy and falsehood! It is said that at the moment when he did this, to show that he had definitely departed from his old belief, he took off the clothes he was wearing and threw away all his Mu’tazili books that he had written in the past. Thus the former disciple of Al-Jubbâ’i turned against his former companions, and his deep knowledge of the Mu’tazili theses made him a fearsome adversary. From that moment on, Imam al-Ash’ari devoted himself body and soul to defending the correct ‘aqeedah and dismantling one by one all the foundations of the ‘aqeedah mu’tazilah. To achieve this, the methodology of the Imam followed a logic articulated around
6 axes: The first axis is that of the inventory of all the Islamic theses and doctrines that are treated in the context of theological controversy.
It is in his masterpiece (Maqâlât Al-Islâmiyyîn Wakhtilâfât Al-Musallîn = Islamic Doctrines and their Divergences), really this work is a true encyclopedia of Islamic sects, to which Imam Abû Al-Hasan Al-Ash’arî devoted this first descriptive stage.
He explained, among others, how the question of the succession of the Prophet (salla Allahu ‘aleyhi wa sallam) gave birth to various Muslim sects, such as the
Khariji, who came from the deserts of Iraqi lands, affirm that sin, the act of transgression, whatever it may be (others less extreme say that only great evil deeds), makes Islam leave, or like the
Shi’i who defend the doctrine of the
imâmat, of the
Murji’i who, contrary to the Khâridji, claim that sin does not alter the faith, and that acts of transgression have no connection with the Imam, of the yabriyyah who maintain that man has no margin of free will and that he is entirely predestined, so that his actions have little value, or the qadariyyah who completely reject the idea of the Decree (qadar)) and who claim that man is a self-determining being, and that he is the sole creator of his acts, in which “destiny” or decree plays no role.
The second axis is that of the methodical classification of all these deviant doctrines.
These are considered in the historical context and studied in such a way that we can draw from them the great doctrinal families. Imam al-Ash’ari thus divided the Islamic sects into ten broad categories: the Shi’i, the Khariji, the Muryi’i, the Mu’tazili, the Jahmi, the Dirâri, the Husayni, the Bakri, the Sunni and the Kilabi. The third axis
It is the study of the implications of each doctrine, and know that anything you change in the ‘Aqeedah has a great repercussion, both internally and externally, both at the individual level and at the social and political level, this was done from its postulates of principle, from its bases, on the different issues that they had dealt with. Imam al-Ash’ari thus quoted the opinions of each of these ten sects or doctrines, also mentioning the divergences that could exist within the same current. He dwelt particularly on the Mu’tazili sect, to which he devoted most of his work, since, as we know, he was one of the men who possessed the most knowledge of that doctrine.
The fourth axis is that of the rational evaluation of the accuracy and consistency of these different doctrines. The fifth axis, which is probably the most important, is that of the response to their errors.
That is, one by one, it lists all the answers to its deviations. The sixth and final axis is that of the establishment by Imam Abû Al-Hasan Al-Ash’arî of his own doctrine, which is a synthesis of Sunni doctrine.
So, what Imam al-Ashari does is:

Citing all the deviant doctrines existing in his time makes an inventory.
Classify all of them, according to the historical context and the place of birth and propagation.
Study the implications of each of these doctrines.
Rationally evaluate the accuracy and error of such doctrines.
To respond, point by point, to each of these deviations.
Having done all this, he writes his own doctrine, which really, if we speak properly, is not his doctrine, but is the ‘aqeedah of the Messenger of Allah and the first three generations of Muslims.

Really this is one of the periods, or one of the most important events in the history of Islam, for the first time everything was clarified, the i’s were dotted and questions were answered that for some years now, were misleading Muslims and were impoverishing the understanding and comprehension of Islam.
An intellectual war had almost begun, if we want to call it that, but it was not really intellectual, but it was vital, on one side of the ring was Imam al-Ash-‘ari, on the other those who until very recently had been his teachers and fellows of doctrine, and this was perhaps one of the great advantages of Imam al-Ash’ari, He knew perfectly each and every one of the strengths and weaknesses of his enemies and was therefore able to face them and defeat them.
Let us now turn to some of the essential points on which the noble Imam Abul Hasan al-‘ari opposes the ‘aqeedah muztazili and thus we will know a little better the basis on which this ‘aqeedah considered deviant is based:

Knowledge, words, sight… they are attributes of Allâh, according to Al-Ash’ari, i.e., they are part of the attributes of Allah.
The Mu’tazili, on the other hand, stated that Allah had no attributes other than His essence, that He had an essence, but apart from that He did not possess attributes.
And we will deal with this in detail when we talk about the various attributes of Allah and their categories.
That it will be with Allah’s permission in future seminaries
The interpretation of the Qur’anic expressions: the hand, the face of Allah have the sense of “grace”, “essence”, according to the Mu’tazili.
Although Al-Ash’arî claims that there was no material, physical significance… but he maintained that these expressions were real attributes whose exact nature remains unknown, and about which it is not necessary to make further inquiries.
The opinions of the Mu’tazili and Al-Ash’arî also diverged regarding the creation of the Qur’an. (The Ash’ari believe that the Qur’an is the word of Allah and not a creature).
For the Mu’tazili, the Qur’an is a creation of Allah while for Al-Ash’ari, the Qur’an, an eternal attribute, cannot be the creation of Allah, i.e. it cannot be considered a creature of Allah: it is simply His word.
Contrary to the Mu’tazili who declared that Allah could not be seen in the literal sense of the term, or that perhaps one could, but that would imply that it was of a corporeal and limited nature; Al-Ash’ari held that the vision of Allah in the afterlife was a reality whose manifestation remains mysterious, and about which it is not necessary to make further inquiries.
The reality of choice in human acts, what human acts are, to what extent human acts are taken into account: The Mu’tazili attached great importance to free will, for them the human being has the full capacity to do whatever he wants.
As for al-Ash’ari, he insisted on the omnipotence of Allah.
According to him, events, good or bad, depend solely on the will of Allah.
He is both the creator of men’s actions and their power to act in all circumstances (this will later constitute the doctrine of “acquisition” (kasb) in the Ash’ariyya).
And this topic is also really interesting, the issue of the kasb, of the acquisition, of the shares, and when the time comes, we will also talk about it in detail.

Imam Abu Al-Hasan Al-Ash’arî responded in this way to the controversies provoked by one and the other, in this way he was able to argue point by point all the deviations that ‘aqeedah was suffering in those first centuries of Islam, in which, as we have already repeated on more than one occasion, when it comes into contact with other cultures and other forms of thought, the debates follow one another. Abul Hasan refuted the misguided theological schools with his own intellectual tools, i.e., he used the tools of the Mu’tazila to dismantle their arguments and showed that their positions were rationally and logically untenable. It was around him and around another of the great heroes of his time, Imam Abû Mansûr Al-Mâturîdî, that the vast majority of Muslims joined, who rightly nicknamed him the Imam of the Sunni. One of the great achievements of Imam Abul Hasan was precisely that, that he managed to unite the majority of Muslims, and the second great achievement was that he had the ability to unite the power and importance of reason and intellect with the authority of revelation; and this is really the ‘aqidah asha’ri: revelation and intellect, the Qur’an and the Sunnah and reason.
Many Muslim scholars throughout the writings have written biographies of Imam Al-Ash’arî, presenting him as the champion, or as the great defender of the authentic ‘aqeedah who dismantled by the force of reason all the deviant innovations that existed in his time.
Among these scholars, we can mention Imam Ibn ‘Asakir, Imam Ibn Kathir, Ibn Khaldun in his Muqaddimah, Imam Tayuddin As-Subki, Imam al-Khatib al-Baghdadi who in his famous book, The History of Baghdad, said: “The Mu’tazilah had raised their heads (i.e., their doctrine was expanded) until Allah made Abul Hasan Al-Ash’ari appear and relegated them to nothingness.”
Abu Al-Qâsim ‘Ali ibn Ismâ’îl Al-Quchayrî (died 465 H / 1072 BC) who stated: ‘[…] that Al-Ach’ari was an imam among the imâm of the people of hadith, and that his school was that of hadîth (when we speak of Hadith here we refer to those who follow the ‘aqeedah of the Messenger of Allah); and he expressed himself on the dogmatic foundations by way of the people of the Sunna, and refuted the heretics and the innovators, so that he was to the Mu’tazili, the Shi’i and the innovators a sharp saber drawn from its scabbard.’
Imam Adh-Dhahabî (died 748/1347 BC) said about Imam al-Ashaari: ‘He was a man who had exceptional intelligence and a fluency in understanding.’
He also adds: ‘His intelligence was prodigious, he excelled in the sciences, he did good works, he was sincere in his worship, he was not interested in the goods of this world, and most of his writings clearly show the breadth of his knowledge.’
The Qâdî Abu Bakr ibn Al-Bâqillânî (died 404 AH / 1013 CE) said of him: ‘My best moments are when I manage to understand the word, the writings of Abul Hassan.’
And As-Subkî (died 771 H / 1369 CE) said: ‘ […] After Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the most eminent of the people of the Sunnah is Abu Hasan al-Ach’arî, and his belief is the belief of Imam Ahmad, there is no doubt about this, which is what Imam al-Ach’ari clearly expressed in his writings […]’. This man, whom these great men of knowledge exalt and praise, is the one who has left us the legacy that protects us, a legacy that is based on protected revelation, but that does not leave aside at any time the enlightened intellect, it is the belief that brings the two things together, the belief that is at the same time literary and rational, the belief of the Messenger of Allah and his noble companions. The ‘aqeedah defended and extended by the noble Imam Abul Hasan al Ash’ari, whom we ask Allah to spread out his chest on his grave, to reward him for having protected Islam, and to allow him to meet the one who instructed him to make him, his beloved Prophet Muhammad, salla allaahu alaihi wa sallam, in the highest place of the Garden, and we ask You, O Allah, to make us be with them. AQIDATU SALAF ASLAM – AQIDATUL JALAF A’LAM We are now going to deal with a topic that is of vital importance and that is another of the bases of the ‘aqidah, which in the Spanish language would be epistemology, which is the part of philosophy or theology that studies how we can know, how we acquire knowledge and what are the ways of acquiring knowledge, not its mechanics, which would be more like psychology or something like that; it is the study of how we can know. The first thing we must be clear about in order to address this issue is the existence of two worlds, the world of the Unseen and the world of the Seen. The world in which we live, the world around us and the world we do not know do not have a single pattern, they do not have the same parameters. We will try to explain this, because as we have said, it is a key aspect in the science of ‘aqeedah. The universe is made up of many aspects, some of them are perceptible with the senses and others we cannot encompass or perceive with our senses. What we can perceive with our senses is what is known as the palpable or material aspects, or in a technical way, it is the empirical world or the sensory world. On the other hand we have the world of the Unseen, the world of the gaib, whose technical definition – and I’m sorry to be so “technical” but it’s the one that requires it – is that which we cannot perceive with our senses. There are many people who think that the gaib, the unseen, is a metaphysical world where the jinn and the angels dwell, an eschatological world, and it is true that it is true, but it is not everything. What is happening right now in the kitchen, which we are not seeing or perceiving or hearing, for us, who are sitting here, is gaib, it is unseen. In other words, the gaib is something very close to us. And anyone who has read Kant, especially his book Critique of Pure Reason, will see that he addresses and treats this subject, since it is a fascinating subject. Perhaps the clearest example of this is our own spirit that is inside our body, we do not hear it with our ears, we do not see it with our eyes, we do not taste it, we do not smell it or touch it, but we believe in it, that it is present within us. We believe in it by its action on ourselves and this is a primary, obvious and intuitive knowledge that does not require any proof. But what it is part of the unseen. Within this, forces and aspects such as gravity would also enter, the gravity of the moon that creates the tides, and that although I do not see it, even if I do not feel it, it has an effect on the environment. In other words, the gaib has an effect, a constant impact on the check. This is vital to understand, it is not only the angels the jin, the Garden and the Fire, it is tremendously close to us. And this, as we all know, is something that is mentioned in the Qur’an, the two worlds, the world of the seen and the world of the unseen. And Allah is the knower of both. HOW TO ACQUIRE THIS KNOWLEDGE? The acquisition of the knowledge of the gaib, a full, total, absolute and certain knowledge, in which there is no room for doubt, is through the revelation that Allah sent down upon His Messengers and that has come to us truthfully and reliably with a numerous chain of transmission. Although it is also true that the human being can acquire part of this knowledge, although it would never reach the degree of certainty, through reflection and experience. With advances in science, knowledge of gaib has been acquired that was previously unknown, such as seeing microbes with microscopes, etc. And well, the acquisition of the knowledge of the seen, is acquired through experience, reflection, observation, exact science, etc. MESSENGERS HAVE A GREATER CAPACITY FOR PERCEPTION – THE GAIB IS SHAHID AND VICE VERSA Now, at this point it is necessary to make a clarification and we are going to do it by answering a question, which would be: Where does the knowledge of ‘aqeedah come from? To answer this question, what we have to do is to see what are the categories of knowledge stipulated by the Sharia’, or rather, the categories of states through which a “thing” passes until it becomes knowledge. And there are five things: 1: ‘Ilm, accurate knowledge.
Which is the judgment that does not admit of change, with a firm proof either of revelation, of the senses, of the intellect or of the ‘adah, of habit, of repetition.
2: Dhan: Plausible, feasible, plausible.
It is the judgment that is not certain but that has a proof that makes it happen in most cases that way.
3: Shak, doubtful, uncertain.
when one considers that the options are fifty percent.
4: Wahm, implausibility.
Which would be the opposite of the second category.
And that’s when the issue at hand is unlikely.
5: Ignorance: which is divided into two:

A) (Yahl) There is no knowledge at all, that is, one does not know and is aware of one’s own ignorance.
B) (Jahl murakkab) Compound ignorance, which is the worst, which is one who does not know something and thinks he knows it, although in reality he does not know it.

We then have 4 sources from which knowledge is obtained.

Jabar Mutawatir: Knowledge through transmission or truthful information.
For example, our knowledge that the city of Madrid exists, that although we have not been there, there are so many people who have told us about it that we cannot consider it false.
Here would come of course, the Qur’an and the sunna.
Through intellect and reflection.
Such as that the world is “new” or such as that all the angles of a triangle form 180 degrees.
This would include, for example, the mathematical sciences.
Through repetition and experience.
For example, that aspirin cures headaches or that ice makes this water cool.
And the fourth and last is the ilham, what we usually call inspiration, which more than knowledge is a gift that someone has to do something.
Such as a healer, who without having studied medicine, is able to heal by a knowledge that he possesses and that Allah has inspired in him.

So the last one, that of inspiration, we are going to remove it from fear, because there is a great discrepancy regarding whether it can be taken as a basis or not; although there is no doubt that with respect to the Messenger Muhammad, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam, it is applicable.
We have 3 left, truthful transmission, intellect and experience.
So, and this is the key to everything and it is why I wanted to mention it even though it can be a bit cumbersome; To gain knowledge of ‘aqida only the first and second categories can be used. So for us, faith is not blind. Faith, belief must have a firm test, it must be categorical and cannot be changed. It is not valid to affirm anything about this science based on probabilities, doubts or uncertainties. Not even in experience. Once all this has been clear to us, what I would like to talk about now is, or rather, what I would like to answer is the following question: “What is it that a person responsible according to Shariah is obliged to believe? The first thing to be able to answer this question correctly is to know who is responsible, who is the mukallaf in Arabic. The mukallaf, the one responsible, according to the sharia’ of Islam and the ulamas is: “the person obliged to comply with the commandments of the sharia’ at the same time that he departs from its prohibitions”, and he is the one who will obtain reward if he complies with the obligatory and will expose himself to punishment if he does not do so, and this person is the one who meets three conditions: The Bulug (puberty), the intellect and that the call of Islam has come or has been received.
We are going to explain these three points, because it is important to know them well; but before that, we must say that there are some ‘ulamas that add a fourth condition which is: Salamatul Hawas, the healing of the senses, or being possessed of the senses. What are the senses of the human being? Taste, smell, touch, sight and hearing. Well, the first three, taste, smell and touch, are not taken into account in this sense, that is, if a person has no taste, or does not have smell, nothing happens, in the sense that he does not cease to be responsible according to Sharia’, while the other two, or rather, possess one of the other two, either sight or hearing, if necessary.
Therefore, if a person from birth is born without sight and hearing, or loses those two senses before reaching puberty, he is not considered liable according to Sharia’ when he meets the other three conditions, if he is born blind and deaf, then even though he has reached puberty, the call of Islam has come to him and he is sane, It is not considered a mukallaf.
The first of the qualities is Bulug, what we usually translate as puberty, although it is not really puberty, but what it really means is maturity, having reached physical and mental maturity; and this has some signs according to doctors, the most important of them are having nocturnal pollutions, which in Arabic is called Ihtilam, both in men and women, and in the case of women in particular, having reached their period.
Other ulamas, as in the case of Ibn ‘Ashir, also mention the birth of pubic hair, the parting of the ossicle of the nose, the change of voice, and if none of these signs are present, then when a person has reached 18 years of age, others say 15, others 16, others 17, that person is already considered Balig. And the moment a person is Balig (if he meets the other conditions of Islam, of sanity and of not being deaf or blind) then that person is already considered Mukallaf, responsible according to the Sharia’ of Islam.
And why is puberty borderline? Because before puberty neither the intellect nor the capacity for perception have been completed in the human being. This does not mean that until that moment children should be left free without teaching them anything, no, that is a mistake, it is good that even if they have not yet reached puberty, they are taught mainly three things, Salat, with all that this entails of purification, the times of salat, etc… The principles of ‘aqeedah, in a simple way, do not go into the detailed proofs of the existence of Allah, for example, that even at 40 years old is still difficult to understand, but if going little by little, teaching him some of the attributes of Allah and the Messengers, and finally, it is good too, that even if the child has not reached puberty, teach him what is halal and what is haram, for example teach him that pork is forbidden and that beef can be eaten, teach him that you cannot steal, that you cannot lie, and everything that has to do with his day to day. In this regard, there is a very beautiful paragraph from Imam al-Ghazali, from his work Yahya Ulum Ad-Din in which he tells us about this stage of the child, when he already has the ability to understand certain aspects, but who has not yet reached maturity or puberty, says al-Ghazali, may Allah be pleased with him: “You must know that the path in the education of children is one of the most important and transcendent matters. Children are something that has been entrusted to their parents and their pure heart is a precious and candid jewel, devoid of all inscription (or engraving) and form that admits everything that is engraved and inclines towards everything to which it is inclined, so that if it is accustomed to the good and knows it, he will be formed in it and will be happy in this world and in the next, and his father and all who have taught and educated him will share his reward, but if he becomes accustomed to evil and is neglected like beasts, he will be unhappy and lost, and the burden will be on the neck of the one responsible for him and his tutor.” The second condition we have said is sanity, reason, intellect, ‘aql in Arabic. The ‘aql is the ability to understand, the ability to understand the true meaning of words, not that the child tells you yes and that’s it, but that he has to really understand what you are saying, so that the one who has some kind of delay or disability of understanding and comprehension, he is not held responsible according to the Sharia’ of Islam; Even as in the case of a child who has not reached puberty, it is good to teach him the principles of salat, ‘aqeedah and behavior. And the third condition is very interesting, and that is to have received the call of Islam, to have received the message, bulug ad-da’wah. Bulug Ad-dawah is to have the knowledge that Allah has sent a Messenger to mankind whose name is Muhammad, salla allaahu alaihi wa sallam. A man who embodied in himself the noble qualities of character and behavior, a man to whom Allah gave a series of miracles and unusual events with which he certified that he was a messenger sent by Allah, a man who called people to believe in Allah, alone and without associates and who called them to obey his commands and turn away from his prohibitions. One who has not received this message is not asked, commanded, required to cling to the Imam and will not be punished in the next life. Among them are the Ahlul Fatrah, the people of the interim, i.e. people who died before Muhammad’s arrival and who did not receive the Message from a messenger before him, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam. Also the one who is born deaf and blind, since he cannot access the knowledge that Allah sent Muhammad and therefore, as we have said before, he is not considered mukallaf, because he has not received the call. And the proof, for those who demand proof, that having received the message is a condition for being considered mukallaf, is found in the surat al-Isra, when Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala says: “And We do not punish without first sending a Messenger.” So, based on this, we can affirm that whoever dies before he has reached puberty will not be punished. Whoever is born with an intellectual handicap will not be punished, whoever is born deaf and blind will not be punished, and whoever dies without having received the message will not be punished, and everyone who is not punished, by the favor and mercy of Allah, will enter the Garden. This responsible what he has to do, what is his first obligation, as Ibn ‘Ashir says: Awalu wayibin….or as the author of the Yauharu At-TawhidFa kullu man kallafa shar’an wayaba – ‘alaihi an ya’rifa ma qad wayaba; Lillahi wal yaiza wal mumtania’ – wa mizlu dha liruslihi fastamia’. The first obligatory knowledge that every responsible person must acquire is the knowledge of Allah and His Messengers, or rather of the attributes of Allah and His Messengers, as conveyed, or as stated in the adillat, and by adillat we always mean the Qur’an, the Sunnah and the Ijma’. TAHSIN AL ‘AQLI WA TAQBIH And before we go into talking about those obligatory attributes, possible or inconceivable, which will be a matter for another or other seminars, we are going to talk about an aspect that is of vital importance, which is the role of the intellect and the Sharia, to what extent we follow our reasoning or to what extent we cling to the law relieved by the Sharia, and as we have already mentioned before, this is the main aspect that separates the different doctrines of ‘aqeedah, it is the theme called as the “Tahsin al ‘Aqli wa Taqbih”; and it is certainly a very interesting topic. Well, this issue is the great division, it is the great battle horse between the different schools, the role of the intellect and the role of revelation, the ‘aql and the naql, what role does each one play, is above revelation, is above reason, judgment, intellect, it is a combination of both? And the truth is that the intellect has to play some kind of role, we cannot ignore the intellect since it is a condition to be responsible, to be a mukallaf, but what is that role? And from this, from the role of the intellect in the face of sharia’, if we pull the thread little by little, we see that it is from where all the “sects” of Islam arise, the modernists, the mu’tazila, the Wahhabis, Salafism, all of this has its origin at this point, some because they completely forget the intellect and others because they completely forget the sharia’ and as we have repeated so many times, the best path is the middle path, that is the path of Ahlu Sunna wal Jama’ah and it is the path of among others, the Ash’ari school. Therefore we affirm that the Sharia’ is the source of legal principles. This means that all the laws of our belief and our Deen are based on Sharia’ solely and exclusively. What our Sharia’ makes obligatory is obligatory, and what it forbids is forbidden. Before the advent of sharia’, acts were not categorized as forbidden, or permitted, or obligatory according to the parameters of sharia’; Yes, you could categorize acts with these attributes, but it was in a form or a social law, not a revealed law, which is what sharia really is, they were categorized by what was considered good because of the time and society you were in. And it is that the healthy intellect of the human being can sometimes make certain actions good, such as good treatment of parents and despise some actions such as mistreatment of parents; this is a healthy intellect; In the same way that this healthy intellect is capable of when it looks at the universe and reflects on it, it perceives that this wonderful order needs a creator, even if it does not know its attributes, but something that resides in its intellect and perception, tells it that there is a creator and that it is impossible for everything to have been created from nothing and by chance. Of this there is no doubt, and whatever our sound intellect calls us to do, is commendable, and if done, it will always be good. But the important thing to know is that when we say, “This is an obligation of Sharia,” what we are really saying is, “If a person does this deed he will be rewarded by Allah,” and when we say, “That action is forbidden in the Sharia’ of Islam,” what we are really saying is, “That person deserves to be punished for the forbidden act that he has committed.” and the same with the rest of the stocks and the rest of the categories. So if we affirm this, what we are really affirming is that all legal principles are based on Sharia’, and that everything that has been forbidden, is forbidden, everything that has been allowed, is permitted, what is undesirable is undesirable, and so on. Therefore, and this is what is really important, the intellect before Sharia’ ruling that an action is good, it can do it, but it has no connection with reward in the next life, and if the intellect before Sharia’ dictates that an action is wrong, I can do it and we can follow our intellect. but that has no connection with punishment in the next life. Notice how wonderful this is, what it is telling us or what we are saying is that, it is not that the intellects cannot understand and dictate what is right or wrong to do, or even what is right or wrong to believe; But even if we know that, that is, even if our own intellects lead us to that result, either in belief or in action, if it does not go according to what is established by Sharia’, we cannot speak of reward or punishment. This implies believing in the next life of course, a life in which the Garden and the Fire will be, it implies believing in the unseen and would imply a series of very interesting aspects to study, for example, and I say this only as an idea eh, as an exposition of what this would imply, that no one misinterprets my words now and says: “No, no, it’s that in Sharia’, this or that.” But for example, if we have just seen that the sharia’ is the one that establishes what our actions and beliefs should be, that is, the sharia’ tells you: if you do this you will be rewarded, if you do this you will be punished; What happens in the case that the “state” prevents you from doing something that the Sharia’ says is obligatory, or the other way around, what happens if the state says that such and such an aspect is obligatory but the Sharia’ tells you that it is forbidden, if the Sharia’ obliges you and the state allows it, no problem, If Sharia’ accepts it, puts it as valid, without it being an obligation and the State prohibits it, there would be no problem either, if the State obliges you and Sharia’ accepts it, there is no problem either, the problem is when there is one who obliges you and the other who forbids you. What to do in that case? What is above? Who is followed? This is the great conflict and the great problem, and it has been for years and that is why we Muslims do not quite fit into this society that wants to impose what should be done or what should not be done. And you know what the key to all this is, that we Muslims believe in the Unseen: “Alif, Lam, Mim.
That Book, no doubt, contains a guide for those who keep it.
Those who believe in the Unseen ”.
Because we believe in the Unseen and the next life, we act according to what will benefit us in the next life.
Returning then to the role of the intellect and revelation, I want to make it very clear because it is a very important issue and as we have said it is the great point of contention and separation among Muslims.
Our belief is that the intellect has a great role, in fact it is a condition required to reach the degree of responsible, of mukallaf, however, that intellect, which can show us right or wrong, cannot determine whether the action will be rewarded or punished.
The only thing that determines whether an action or a belief (in this whole subject it is always action and belief) is rewarded or punished is Sharia’, so as we have begun to say, Sharia’ is the source of judgments, it is the source of legal principles.
That does not mean that you have to put aside the intellect and say, no no, it is that since what is going to give me the reward is the sharia’ because I do not pay attention to my intellect; That is not correct, since when the intellect is used in this matter and this subject we are talking about.
It is used for example in the case of a situation presented to you, on that situation the sharia’ has left the door open and this is important, there are many things in which the sharia’ has not been pronounced as mercy for us and not out of forgetfulness; So in that situation act according to your intellect and your heart, because you will surely get some good from it.
But never, about which there is something clear established in the sharia’.
What we believe then is that things are not good or bad in themselves, that is, they do not have the essence of good and evil, since these, of good and evil, are attributes that the one who puts them in things is the creator of things, that is, Allah, who is at the same time the creator of good and evil. and it is their commands that make things good or bad.
GOOD AND EVIL We are going to try to explain this issue in a more plastic way and we are going to try to see what the differences are between the schools, because it is another of the great confrontations, which is really very connected to the previous one, good and evil, intellect and revelation: We have intellect and sharia’ (and here draw a picture on the blackboard) we have actions and beliefs and we have three schools:

Mu’ztazil
Maturidiya
Ashaari.

For the mu’ztazila, things (and from now on when we say things we will be referring to beliefs and actions) are divided into three:

Good things in themselves that it is inconceivable that Allah would deny them, i.e., Allah is obliged to command them.
Evil things in themselves that it is impossible for Allah to command or impose them, i.e., Allah is obliged to forbid them.
Things in between, which can be done or not done since they can be bad or they can be good.

This is in a very summarized way the basis of the position of the Mu’ztazilas, and it is all based on that good and evil for its own sake, on the essence of the thing, that is to say that the thing (whether action or belief) has the quality in itself of being good or bad.
So for them if a thing is good in itself, the person is obliged to do it, even if the Sharia’ has not ruled on it.
And what is bad in itself, a person is obliged to give it up, even if the Sharia’ has not ruled on it.
This leads us to a first question that arises very quickly and that is: What if sharia’ goes against it, what happens?
For them it is impossible for the sharia’ to go against it and if they find a proof that goes against it, they interpret it in such a way that it adapts to the established canons of good and evil, and remember that those canons what follows in truth, as we have already seen, is the well-known Aristotelian logic. Well, that was the parameter when this debate began to take shape.
This mu’ztazila thought, which is certainly the basis of the thought of the modernists, although with certain differences, since Aristotelian logic has bases that are firm and good, and modernist thought those bases change depending on how the wind blows, has three repercussions or consequences:

That the people of the Fitrah (those who go among messengers) or those who have not received the message, are obliged to do what is obligatory in itself and are forbidden to do what is evil for its own sake and will be judged for it.
That is, those parameters are the ones that take into account in ruling what is good and what is bad, and on Accountability Day, they will be judged based on that.
If there is no determinate on a matter, neither of the Sharia’ nor of those good in itself or bad in themselves, then what is dictated by one’s own intellect is what must be done and he will be judged accordingly.
That Allah cannot command something that is evil in itself, and He cannot forbid something that is good in itself.

Here then we see clearly, that of what we have already spoken of before of forcing Allah to do something, of setting limits to Allah, and how is it possible, I ask, that Allah is obliged to do something, if this were so, it would mean that someone or something imposes laws on Allah and that, as we will see when we talk about attributes, inconceivable to believe concerning Allah.
The second school is the Maturidiya school, which is quite similar in many respects to the Mu’tazili school just mentioned, but it does not go so far, it remains, as it were, within limits, although it also gives a lot of importance to the intellect.
For them, “things,” and remember that things are both belief and action, are also divided into three categories, good in themselves, bad in themselves, and those in between, which follow what is established by the Sharia’ of Allah.
The main difference for them with the mu’tazilis, is that for them the intellect cannot determine and establish what is right or wrong, what is good or bad, it can perceive it, but it cannot determine it, if on a matter it is not established what is good and what is bad in itself. the matter is not left to the intellect of each one, as the previous ones do, but what is done is to make qiyas, to make analogies, to look for the answer to this new case, and I do not know if you remember that this is the way of acting of the school of Iraq, the school of Abu Hanifa, and therefore, Almost all Hanafis follow the Aqidah Maturidiyah.
And finally we have the Ash’ari school, which is the one we follow, it is the one we have said before: that things (belief and action) are not good in themselves or bad in themselves, they do not have that intrinsic quality, the one who makes them good or bad, is Allah, because He is the creator of good and evil and is the creator of things.
His commands, His commands, what He makes obligatory is the good, without the intellect being able to decide anything about it, and with the prohibitions the same thing happens, since what is taken into consideration, when talking about accountability, and reward and punishment, is, as we have said before, what the Sharia dictates, not what the intellect dictates.
These are the three main divisions and differences in this matter of good and evil, and of the role of the intellect and the role of revelation; for be very clear that the sharia’, the revelation (and here would also come of course what was established by the Messenger Muhammad) is protected from all error and the intellect is not protected from error or mistake.
Therefore the sharia’ is the basis, but the intellect is also necessary, because as we said before: the Qur’an and the Sunna, that is, the sharia’ is the sun, and the intellect, is the eye, and the vision is not complete, if these two aspects, the eye and the sun, are not united, so that if there is a splendid sun that illuminates everything, But there is not an eye that sees him, that sun is not enough, and if there is an eye that sees very well, but there is no sun, a light that illuminates him, he will live in darkness.
BENEFITS OF A CORRECT ‘AQIDAH Once we have made this introduction to what ‘aqidah is, we are going to see what it brings us, the benefits that we obtain when our belief is healthy and correct.
What happens is that in order to savor and understand all these benefits, it will be necessary for us to do some seminars like this, but well, we are going to mention them so that we are left with a taste of what they are and thus encourage each other to do more seminars. And believe me that the benefits are very numerous, but since the time we have is restricted, we are going to focus on those that we consider may be most important to us both individually and collectively:

One of its benefits is that having a correct belief gives the person a real image of themselves, their role in this world, and their connection to creation and life.

That is, with a correct belief we recognize that our role in this world is to be the Khalifas, the representatives of Allah on this earth and then we act accordingly: “And it is He Who has made you successors on earth and has raised some above others in degrees to test you in what He has given you.” That is to say, that the human being is the lord of the earth, who obtains that degree of the true possessor of Lordship and Majesty, which is Allah, and with what has favored him above all things is with his intellect, so that he may use it in that which is of benefit to him, both for this life and for the next.
And the universe, all creation, everything we see and perceive counts, even what our senses are not able to perceive, has been created by Allah for that Khalifa of His, it has been created for us, in a perfect order and following rules established by Allah that help the human being to establish himself and develop until the time set for him; and this will continue until the Day when this world ends.
Knowing this as we do, and the science that gives us this knowledge is the science of ‘aqeedah, hence its importance, man has no choice but to use his intellect, to use his ability to think and reflect to reach the path where he can use all creation for his own benefit.
What is achieved with this?
Something very beautiful, to recognize that nature is a means and not a god or a divinity to worship.
And our stay in this life, we must understand, and this can never be forgotten, because it is the ABC of ‘aqeedah, which is temporary, it is nothing more than a bridge to the next, which is infinite.
Therefore our role is none other than to employ those means which Allah makes available to us in order to attain a good life in this world, but even more importantly, to attain as high a position as possible in the next life: “Say: Is that better, or is the Garden of immortality that has been promised to the fearful? It will be a reward for them and a place of return. In it they will have whatever they want and will be immortal. It is, for your Lord, an enforceable promise.”

Another benefit of ‘aqeedah, and this is one of the most important for me, is that it liberates a person.
What does this mean?
That frees him from worshipping, from giving power to someone other than Allah.
At the beginning of this seminar we said that one of the names by which this science is known is the name of Tawhid, of the Oneness of Allah.

That is to say, it teaches us that there is only one god, there is only one divinity, there is only one who has power, strength, will to do what he wants and when he wants.
It teaches us that the real actor is Allah, that we will be judged by our actions, by what we have done, but that our ability to do or undo is never above the decree and power of Allah.
This, when it is understood correctly, is a liberation, it is taking an enormous weight off your shoulders, that weight that we all carry with which we believe that we are the actors, that things depend on us.
That weight that leads us to regret when something has not happened as we wanted, that can lead us to anguish and depression.
That weight, which at the opposite extreme puts barriers when it comes to doing something by taking the form of an inner voice that tells you: “No, you are not able to do that, or no matter how hard you try, you will not succeed”, what silences that voice is the clear, deep and strongly rooted knowledge in the heart of the Power of Allah. of His Strength and Will, for if you have this knowledge strongly rooted in your heart and in your whole being, you will recognize that nothing is impossible for Allah, you will recognize that no matter how high your goals are, no matter how high your expectations are, if Allah wants them to be fulfilled they will be fulfilled, for He is the one who if He wants something to happen He says Se and is, just as He has willed, just as He has decreed.
And isn’t this an enormous liberation for man?

Another benefit of ‘aqeedah is that it makes the person feel responsible, that is, it makes him understand the degree of responsibility he has in his actions.

There are many people who put aside actions, who stop doing things because they do not feel the responsibility for the actions.
It’s those people who say—and remember that these are the jabariya—no matter what they do, it’s all written, whatever they do, whether it’s good or bad, it doesn’t matter.
But when you know ‘aqeedah, when you have the knowledge of the Next Life, of the Last Day and what will happen in it, of the scales, of reward and punishment… When you know all that, a light awakens inside you that leads you to what?
It leads you to act, it leads you to be responsible for your actions, it leads you to keep in mind that there is nothing that is hidden or escaped from Allah because His knowledge encompasses all things.
And here is a very important aspect, and I don’t know if you remember, that we said a couple of hours ago or more, that one of the classic definitions of ‘aqeedah is: that which the heart believes, the tongue pronounces and the members of the body confirm or certify.
Which means that if you believe in Allah, in the Hereafter, in the Garden and in the Fire, that our actions are recorded, that we will be held accountable for them, you believe it in your heart and you pronounce it with your tongue, it automatically leads you, as long as that belief is real and is based on truthful knowledge, it leads you to act accordingly, it leads you to have your members confirm and certify what your heart believes and your tongue pronounces.
In other words, that knowledge leads you to act accordingly to it and this is cataloged by the ‘ulamas as one of the main benefits that having a belief, a healthy and correct ‘aqidah brings to the person.

Another benefit of ‘aqeedah is that it marks us, teaches us a path, a path that leads to where?
It leads to happiness, a present and real happiness, both in this life and in the next.

Reflect with me, what are people looking for? What do people want? Many have no idea, we agree on that, but most people, what they are looking for in their lives is: Happiness, tranquility, tranquility; in current language: A good life. What can bring more tranquility, happiness and tranquility to a person than to be pleased and satisfied with what Allah has given him, whether it be much or little? And the way to attain that, which is what we all seek, – and here, as in so many other points, ‘aqeedah is intertwined with Ihsan, with Sufism, OCEAN – BEACH – the way to attain that is by knowing what Allah wants from you and fulfilling it. Because there is no better path that leads to happiness, there is no better path that leads to calm and calm than the one that Allah, through His Messenger Muhammad, has established, why? Because He is the One who has created us, He is the one who is closer to us than our own jugular vein, and He is the one who knows what is best for us. And since he knows what is best for us, he has told us: “Follow this path that I, who am Merciful and Compassionate, have established for you, and if you do it, fulfilling what I command you and turning away from what I forbid you, you will achieve happiness, tranquility and tranquility, both in this life and in the next”. ahmedbermejo.com

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