creed

67

with the support of Oumarou Kanazo,

the Burkinab state achieved the reconciliation between the members of the
Mouvement Sunnite in 2005. Oumarou
Kanazos death in 2011 led to speculation about the fate and leadership of the
association.
Bibliography

Issa Ciss, Les associations islamiques au

Burkina Faso, de la Rvolution daot 1983
lavnement de la ive Rpublique, Cahiers du
CERLESHS, 28 (2007), 5173; Ousman M.
Kobo, Unveiling modernity in twentieth-century
West African Islamic reforms, Leiden 2012;
Assimi Kouanda, Les conflits au sein de la
Communaut musulmane du Burkina. 1962
1986, in Ousmane Kane and Jean-Louis
Triaud (eds.), Islam et islamismes au sud du
Sahara (Paris 1998), 83100; Assimi Kouanda,
La lutte pour loccupation et le contrle des
espaces rservs aux cultes Ouagadougou,
in Ren Otayek, Filiga Michel Sawadogo,
and Jean-Pierre Guingan (eds.), Le Burkina
entre rvolution et dmocratie, 19831993 (Paris
1996), 919; Ren Otayek, La crise de la
communaut musulmane de Haute-Volta.
Lislam voltaque entre rformisme et tradition, autonomie et subordination, Cahiers
dtudes africaines, 24/95 (1984), 299320;
Ren Otayek, Lislam et la rvolution au
Burkina Faso. Mobilisation politique et
reconstruction identitaire, Social Compass
43/2 (1996), 23347.
Frdrick Madore and
Muriel Gomez-Perez

Creed
The creed (aqda, itiqd) refers both
to the fundamental doctrines of Islam
and to texts specifying these doctrines.
These documents vary in length from
short compendiums to extensive doctrinal
outlines supported by rational and textual
proofs. Apart from the Confession of Faith
(shahda), There is no god but God, and

Muammad is the messenger of God,

there is no universally accepted Islamic
creed. However, political and theological
conflicts over matters such as leadership
of the Muslim community, the definition
of a Muslim believer, the nature of the
Qurn, and the character of Gods attributes called upon the competing factions
to clarify their doctrinal boundaries. Individuals and groups of scholars thus produced creeds to advance their respective
visions of correct belief, condemn opposing views, and teach their doctrines to the
next generation. Some creeds have been
the subject of extensive commentaries and
have helped define longstanding traditions
of Islamic identity and doctrine.
The Qurn and the traditions (adth)
of the prophet Muammad do not contain formal creeds, but they do establish
the basic framework for Muslim doctrine.
Qurn 2:255 and 112:14 provide familiar
statements of Gods unity; Q 7:158 adds
affirmation of Muammads prophethood
but without the exact form of the Confession of Faith. Q 2:177 provides a brief
summary of essential beliefs: God, the
Last Day, angels, the book, and prophets
(cf. Q 2:285, 4:136). The Qurn also
indicates numerous names and attributes
of God (e.g., Q 4:26, 5:54, 42:11, 57:16,
59:24), Gods justice and all-encompassing power and will (e.g., Q 2:6, 3:18, 189,
4:789, 81:289, 98:78), the prophet
Muammad and earlier messengers (e.g.,
Q 2:4, 3:67, 33:40, 61:6), and the Resurrection and the Day of Judgement (e.g.,
Q 56:156, 69:1337, 84:114). The
adth literature greatly elaborates on belief
(mn), predetermination (qadar), intercession (shafa), and eschatological events.
The well-known adth of Gabriel (Muslim, al-a, Kitb al-mn, Bb bayn
al-mn) includes two basic expressions of

68

Islamic doctrine in their classical Sunn

forms: the Confession of Faith and a list
of six essential beliefs: God, angels, books,
messengers, the Last Day, and Gods predetermination of good and evil.
Beyond the Qurn and the adth literature, some of the oldest extant Islamic
creedal affirmations are found in inscriptions. Inscriptions on the interior of the
Dome of the Rock, built by the Umayyad
caliph Abd al-Mlik (d. 86/705) in Jerusalem, include the confession There is no
god but God alone; He has no associate.
Muammad is the messenger of God
along with Qurnic verses affirming
Gods unity and condemning Christian
doctrines (including Q 112; see Kessler).
An Egyptian tombstone dating to 71/691
affirms that God is one without associate
and that Muammad is Gods messenger;
a later Egyptian epitaph, from 179/795,
adds an allusion to the punishment of
the tomb (adhb al-qabr), which occurs
between death and the final judgement,
and affirmations of the reality of Paradise
and the Fire, Gods predetermination of
good and evil, and the resurrection of the
dead (Halevi, 2032). An inscription on the
Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, dating to
86/705, reads, Our Lord is God alone;
our religion is Islam; and our prophet is
Muammad (cf. Q 41:30, 46:13), and
confessions of this form are also found in
early theological epistles (Crone and Zimmermann, 2548).
The theological tradition of the anaf
legal school within Sunnism preserves
what may be part of a very early creedal
document. Wensinck (1034) extracted
ten short statements attributed to Ab
anfa (d. 150/767) from a fourth/tenth
century commentary Shar al-Fiqh al-akbar
(Commentary on The greater knowledge) spuriously attributed to al-Mturd

creed
(d. 333/944) and drew them together into
a creed that he called al-Fiqh al-akbar I
(The greater knowledge I). The Shar
al-Fiqh al-akbar has been ascribed to Ab
l-Layth al-Samarqand (d. 373/983; Daiber, 710), but its authorship remains disputed (Rudolph, 3605; Cook, 310, n22);
it is a commentary on al-Fiqh al-absa
(The more extensive knowledge) by
Ab anfas student Ab Mu al-Balkh
(d. 199/814; Rudolph 5777). Al-Fiqh
al-absa itself contains nine of the ten
statements in Wensincks al-Fiqh al-akbar I,
including the first five, which are listed
together at the beginning of the treatise.
While al-Fiqh al-akbar I is clearly Wensincks
modern construction (van Ess, 1:20711),
its first five articles may have been part
of a creed that circulated in Ab anfas
circle and were included in al-Fiqh al-absa
(Cook, 8, n25). These articles do not follow
a logical doctrinal progression but instead
reflect sectarian polemic. For example,
the early anafs sided with more lenient
Murji views on inclusion into the Muslim
community over the views of the rigorist
Khrijs, and this is reflected in the first
and fifth articles, which state that sin does
not render a Muslim an unbeliever and
that judgement is suspended concerning
the justice or injustice of the murder of the
caliph Uthmn.
The much fuller and better structured alFiqh al-akbar (The greater knowledge)
or al-Fiqh al-akbar II, as Wensinck calls
ithas also been attributed to Ab anfa
through his son ammd. However, its
contents suggest a later date, perhaps the
early fourth/tenth century (Wensinck,
18897, 2467). After an opening summary, the creed elaborates on Gods unity
and attributesincluding a long affirmation that Gods speech is uncreated, implicitly attacking the Mutazil view that it was

creed
createdGods creation of living beings,
human responsibility, prophetic miracles,
the character of belief, and eschatological
matters. This anaf creed has received
many commentaries, among them the
concise Shar al-Fiqh al-akbar (Commentary on The greater knowledge) of Ab
l-Muntah l-Maghnsw (d. 1000/1592)
and the lengthy Mina al-raw al-azhar
f shar al-Fiqh al-akbar (The gifts of the
most radiant gardens in commentary on
The greater knowledge) by Al al-Qr
(d. 1014/1605).
One of the most influential anaf
creeds is the Aqid (Articles of the creed)
of the Mturd theologian Najm al-Dn
al-Nasaf (d. 537/1142). This creed differs
from earlier creeds in that it begins with
epistemological and metaphysical claims
typical of kalm theology before going
on to the usual topics of God, prophecy,
and eschatology. This interest in philosophical preliminaries becomes even more
pronounced in later mediaeval creeds.
Al-Nasafs creed has received numerous commentaries, including the Shar
(Commentary) of Sad al-Dn al-Taftazn
(d. 793/1390), which became a standard
textbook in the late mediaeval and modern Mturd-Ashar kalm tradition and
received in turn many super-commentaries.
The earlier and less well-structured Aqda
of the anaf jurist al-aw (d. 321/
933) provides a full presentation of doctrine and has proved enduringly popular. It has been the subject of more than
fifteen commentaries from the mediaeval
period to modern times, among them the
Shar of Isml b. Ibrhm al-Shaybn
(d. 629/12312) and the much larger
Shar of the anaf scholar Ibn Ab l-Izz
(d. 792/138990). The latter commentary
draws heavily on the theologies of anbal
scholars Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328)

69

and his student Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

(d. 751/1350) in its interpretation, and it
is in wide use among modern Salafs.
The anbal school was the smallest
of the Sunn law schools but the most
consistently opposed to kalm theology, a
stance which contributed to its traditionalist doctrines gaining currency among
traditionalists in other law schools. Six
creeds found in the anbal biographical dictionary abaqt al-anbila (Generations of the anbals) of Ibn Ab
Yal (d. 526/1133) are attributed to
the schools eponym Amad b. anbal
(d. 241/855) (see Laoust for bibliographical details, and Watt 2940 for translation
of three of the creeds). It has been argued
that these creeds are not authentic but go
back to diverse traditionalist sources in
the third/ninth and fourth/tenth centuries. It nonetheless appears that Amad
b. anbal was instrumental in solidifying the orthodox Sunn doctrine that the
first four caliphs were Ab Bakr, Umar,
Uthmn, and Al, in that order, against
the Sh claim that Al came first (Al Sarhan 2954, 11121).
Two anbal creeds from the fourth/
tenth century are Shar al-Sunna (Commentary on the Way) of al-Barbahr
(d. 329/941) and al-Ibna al-ughr (The
smaller elucidation) of Ibn Baa (d. 387/
997). These creeds do not have a clear
structure, but they cover the full range of
doctrines, among them the uncreatedness
of the Qurn (against the Mutazils), the
notion that belief increases and decreases
(against the Murjis), Gods predetermination of all things (against the Qadars, who
upheld human creation of acts), and that
all of Gods names and attributes in the
Qurn and the Sunna should be affirmed
equally without metaphorical reinterpretation (tawl) and without specifying their

70

modality (bil kayf, against the kalm theologians, referred to here as Jahms).
Later anbal statements of doctrine
include the f Abd al-Qdir al-Jlns
(d. 561/1166) detailed overview in his
manual on the religious life al-Ghunya
li-lib arq al-aqq (Sufficient provision
for seekers of the path of truth; 1:151
217; trans. Holland, 1:171294), and the
Aqda of the eminent jurist Ibn Qudma
al-Maqdis (d. 620/1223), which draws
heavily on Ibn Baas al-Ibna al-ughr
and creeds attributed to Ibn anbal in
Ibn Ab Yals abaqt. Ibn Taymiyya
composed his al-Aqda al-Wsiiyya (The
Wsi creed) in 698/1298, apparently
in response to a request from the town
of Wsi, in lower Iraq, to provide a systematic presentation of traditionalist doctrine suited to teaching the masses. This
creed was subjected to close scrutiny by
Ashar theologians during Ibn Taymiyyas
Damascus trials for doctrinal error in
705/1306 and subsequently became
popular with the Wahhb movement
in the twelfth/eighteenth century and in
modern Salafism. Among several commentaries on Ibn Taymiyyas creed is the
Shar of the Saudi scholar Muammad b.
li al-Uthaymn (d. 2001).
The Ashar tradition of kalm theology, which found its primary home in
the Mlik and Shfi law schools within
Sunnism, has produced a number of
creeds. Al-Ashar (d. 324/935) himself
composed a strongly traditionalist creed
that explicitly rejects Mutazil views
on Gods attributes; the creed is found
in al-Ashars heresiography Maqlt
al-Islmiyyn (The teachings of the Muslims; 2907, trans. Watt, 417) and in
a slightly different form in his theological treatise al-Ibna (The elucidation;
813: trans. Klein, 4955). The famous

creed
Iy ulm al-dn (The revivification of
the religious sciences) of al-Ghazl (d.
505/1111) contains a catechetical creed
(1:15461, at the beginning of the second book, Kitb qawid al-aqid, trans.
Watt, 739) that is based on the two parts
of the Confession of Faith. The first part
on God treats Gods essence, attributes,
and acts, while the second part affirms
what is known through the messengership of Muammad, especially matters of
eschatology. Al-Ghazl explains that this
creed should be given to young boys to
memorise; they will understand its meaning little by little and come to believe in it
firmly as they grow up.
Later creeds in the Ashar tradition are
permeated with philosophical terminology. The North African scholar al-Sans
(d. 895/1490) produced a creed, often
called al-Sansiyya, which sets out the
modal categories of necessity, impossibility, and possibility, and then outlines the
attributes falling under each mode with
respect to God and the messengers. After
brief proofs for some of these attributes,
the creed reframes the essential beliefs
under the two headings of the Confession
of Faith. Al-Sanss creed became popular throughout North and West Africa
and was the subject of many commentaries, among them the shiya (Gloss) of
al-Bjr (d. 1276/1860).
The Mutazil kalm theologians did not
write creeds in the same fashion as traditionalist Sunns, but they did produce
short overviews of their doctrines and
arguments. In the Mutazil tradition of
Ab Hshim al-Jubb (d. 321/933) is
Abd al-Jabbrs (d. 415/1024) short Kitb
al-ul al-khamsa (The book of the five
principles), which is structured around
the five Mutazil principles of (1) Gods
unity, (2) Gods justice, (3) the promise

creed
and the threat guaranteeing that human
deeds will be recompensed justly, (4) the
intermediate position of an egregious
sinnersomeone who commits a major
sin such as adulterybetween the status
of believer and unbeliever, and (5) commanding the right and forbidding the
wrong. Abd al-Jabbr also wrote a commentary on this work, which the Zayd
Sh Mutazil scholar Mnkdm (d. 425/
1034) in turn commented upon in his
Talq Shar al-Ul al-khamsa (Annotation
of the Commentary on The five principles). In the rival Mutazil tradition
of Ab l-usayn al-Bar (d. 436/1044),
the Qurn commentator al-Zamakhshar
(d. 538/1144) produced a creed with supporting argument called al-Minhj f ul
al-dn (The way in the principles of religion). Mutazil theology died out among
Sunns in the seventh/thirteenth century,
but it continued to be strong among Zayd
and Imm/Twelver Shs.
One of the early scholars of Imm/
Twelver Shism, Ibn Bbawayh (d. 381/
991), also known as al-Shaykh al-adq,
composed a creed, Rislat al-itiqd (The
epistle of belief), which relies heavily
on traditions from the Sh Imms. Ibn
Bbawayhs views on predetermination
are similar to those found in traditionalist Sunn creeds, but he takes a specifically Sh view of religious authority and
also interprets Gods anthropomorphic
attributes, such as His hands and His
shin, metaphorically, much in the fashion
of Mutazil kalm. Traditionalist Sunn
creeds of the same era, such as those of
al-Barbahr and al-Ashar, affirm the
existence of Gods anthropomorphic
attributes but reject inquiring into their
modality (bil kayf).
Following in the Mutazil tradition
of Ab l-usayn al-Bar, Allma Ibn

71

Muahhar al-ill (d. 726/1325) composed the creed al-Bb al-d ashar (The
eleventh chapter) and appended it to his
ten-chapter book Minhj al-al f khtir
al-Mib (The way of practicability in
abridging The lamp), an abridgement of
Ab Jafar al-ss (d. 459 or 460/10667)
book on Imm piety, Mib al-mutahajjid
(The lamp of the vigilant). Al-ills
creed, along with its commentary al-Nfi
yawm al-ashr (The profitable on the Day
of Resurrection) by al-Fil Miqdd b.
Abdallh al-Suyr (d. 826/1423), has
been used widely through the modern
period as a textbook in Imm Sh doctrine and theology. The creed is framed in
the philosophical modal categories of the
necessary, the possible, and the impossible,
and it discusses in succession Gods existence, attributes, and unity; Gods justice;
prophecy and the immate; eschatology;
and commanding the right and forbidding
the wrong. The commentary of Miqdd
al-Suyr includes proofs from kalm, philosophy, the Qurn, and the adth.
Many of the traditional Muslim creeds
noted above continue to be taught and
commented upon into the present. New
creeds are also being written to delineate new doctrinal boundaries in view of
modern circumstances. An example is the
Salaf-inspired creed of the radical Islamist group al-Qida, which condemns
secularism and democracy (trans. Haykal,
516).
Bibliography
Sources
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Gimaret, Les Ul al-khamsa du Q Abd
abbr et leurs commentaires, AI 15
al-G
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Atmaja, Defenders of reason in Islam. Mutazilism

72
from medieval school to modern symbol (Oxford
1997), 90115; Abd al-Qdir al-Jln, alGhunya li-lib arq al-aqq, ed. Im Fris
al-aristn, 2 vols., Beirut 1999, trans.
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genesis and historical development (Cambridge
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al-diyna, Cairo 1348/1929, trans. Walter C.
Klein, al-Ahars al-Ibnah an ul ad-diynah
(The elucidation of Islms foundation), New
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wa-khtilf al-mualln, ed. Helmut Ritter,
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al-anbila, ed. Muammad mid al-Fiq
(Cairo 1952), 2:1845, trans. Abu Talhah
Daawood ibn Ronald Burbank, Explanation
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al-Nfi yawm al-ashr, Beirut 1406/1989,
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al-Arnat, Beirut 1988, trans. Muhammad
Abdul-Haqq Ansari, Commentary on the creed of
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of the anbalite Ibn Qudma al-Maqdis,
in Wadd al-Q (ed.), Studia Arabica et
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creed
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custody, child

73

1421/20006, trans. Commentary on Shaikh alIslm Ibn Taymiyyas al-Aqdah al-Wsitiyyah,

Riyadh 2008; al-Zamakhshar, al-Minhj f
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Jon Hoover

Custody, child
In Islamic law, ana or ina is the
Arabic term for child custody, referring
to the custody of children who have been
weaned. The word is not found in the
Qurn, where only the care of infants is
discussed. Verses 2:233 and 65:6 set out
rules for the treatment of infants from
birth to two years of age. Infants are to
be nursed for two full years, and if the

parents are divorced, the domestic and

financial arrangements making this feasible are incumbent upon the father. If a
mother wishes to wean an infant before
two full years have passed, the father is
charged with hiring a wet nurse. The
Qurn commentator al-Kiy al-Harrs
(d. 504/111011) notes that even if a
mother is not actually breastfeeding, she
has the right to custody for the first two
years of her childs life, and that this is a
right both for her and for the child. The
reason for this, he says, is that a mother
cares the most for her children.
In pre-modern legal texts, problems
concerning child custody are treated as
a sequel to problems of divorce and are
usually discussed in a separate chapter. In general, a child two years of age
who has been weaned is referred to as
young (aghr) and still considered to
be in need of maternal care. Thus virtually all jurists award physical custody of
young children, both boys and girls, to
their mother. Thereafterwhen the child
is no longer deemed young, according
to criteria that vary by school of law and
various other factorstheir father takes
custody. Regardless of where they reside,
children are considered members of their
agnatic family and their father remains
their guardian, responsible for their maintenance and support, as well as for management of any wealth that may accrue
to them, until a boy is grown and a girl
marries. If the father dies, these responsibilities are taken over by his wa, his
executor, who becomes the guardian of
the child or children.
Pre-modern jurists differ as to the age
at which a father takes custody of his
children. For example, the anaf jurists,
according to al-Marghnn (d. 593/
1197), say that at seven years of age a
boy is capable of taking care of himself