Welcome to the Dīn

Essentials Course
Session One

Expectations

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Rules
• This is not a madrassa
• Questions
• No formal dress code
• What to do when you miss a session
• Mobile Phones allowed
• How do I learn?
• You can talk
• LMS
• Food/Water
• Is there homework?
• Toilet breaks
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What to expect from me?
• Answer any Question
• Participation
• Two-way learning
• Weekly Notes and lecture slides
• Audio Recordings
• LMS Messaging
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Weekly Schedule
Session 1 Session 2
Day (6-7pm) (7-8pm)

Thursday ʿAqīdah Fiqh

Friday Sīrah Ādāb

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Register on Edmodo

• Download the app on your mobile or tablet or use your

computer/laptop.

• Input the class code: zybymu

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 ʿAqīdah
Introduction to ʿAqīdah

What is ʿAqīdah?
• ʿAqīdah (or islamic theology) is the discipline that deals with provisions regarding the beliefs of a
muslim.
• The discipline of ʿaqīdah studies the issues of the existence, oneness, attributes and actions of
Allah. The field also covers the belief in Angels [malā’ikah], Prophets, Divine Scriptures. Finally,
the subject of the Afterlife [ākhirah] and the matters pertaining to the Afterlife like the belief of
Fate [taqdīr] constitute the other subjects.
• ʿAqīdah linguistically formed with three root letters, ‫ع ق د‬, which when used together form to
mean a contract or the verb, to tie a knot.
• The compilers of this subject started with Imām Abū Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī and Imām Abū Manṣūr
al-Māturīdy.

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Purpose of ʿAqīdah
• The purpose of ʿaqīdah is to teach all the tenets of faith in Islam and the truths
pertaining to those tenets.
• To prove, explain, and interpret the tenets of belief.
• To show the manner of strengthening faith based on imitation of ṣāliḥūn.
• To guide those who are in search for the right and true belief.
• To refute the false beliefs and the objections directed towards Islam.
• To place in the hearts of believers that there is no god but Allah and to help believers
understand the true essence of consciousness [mʿarifah ]. 1

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 From where do get our ʿAqīdah?

• In teaching people and helping them internalise the tenets of faith, the discipline of
ʿaqīdah not only relies on the verses [āyāt] of the Holy Qur’an but also upon ḥadīth
mutawātir.
• The discipline of ʿaqīdah is considered the most important discipline and the one that
holds the highest value among the Islamic disciplines.

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Īmān

• The word īmān means “to confirm and verify”, or perhaps more appropriately, “to
accept and willingly internalise [taṣdīq] by heart.”
• In terminology, the word īmān means to believe all the provisions that are certain
and necessary to be known were brought by the Prophet from Allah, and to believe
wholeheartedly that those notions are true and correct. The very provisions
informed in the Holy Qur’an and mutawātir ḥadīth.

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How does taṣdīq bring Īmān?

• Faith is conviction in one’s heart - it means to be convinced in all of what the Prophet
came with combined with submission.
• Allah says:
.َ‫الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ يَعْرِفُونَهُ كَمَا يَعْرِفُونَ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ وَإِنَّ فَرِيقًا مِنْهُمْ لَيَكْتُمُونَ احلَْقَّ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُون‬
Those to whom We have given the Book recognise it as they recognise their own children. But some of them conceal the truth while they know. 

(Holy Qur’an, 2:146)

• Faith is not a tangible object that can be held in the hands or seen with the eyes.

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 • The following prayer that the Prophet used to say constantly also shows the importance
of the heart in terms of faith:
َ‫يَا مُقَلِّبَ الْقُلُوبِ ثَبِّتْ قَلْبِي عَلَى دِينِك‬
“O’ Changer of the Hearts! Strengthen my heart upon Your Religion and obedience to You!”

• As it cannot be seen, the essence of faith is the heart’s confirmation of the things that
should be believed. Even if people verbally say that they believe, they cannot be true
believers until they confirm it by his/her heart.
• However, in Islamic Law [fiqh] one’s calculations are based upon the apparent [ẓāhir],
hence why if someone makes a claim (of following certain beliefs) then it is accepted.

• Upon an incident involving Sayyidunā ʿAmmār, the following verse was revealed:
ٌ‫مَنْ كَفَرَ بِاهللِ مِنْ بَعْدِ اِميَانِهِ اِالَّ مَنْ اُكْرِهَ وَقَلْبُهُ مُطْمَئِنٌّ بِاْالِميَانِ وَلَكِنْ مَنْ شَرَحَ بِالْكُفْرِ صَدْرًا فَعَلَيْهِمْ غَضَبٌ مِنَ اهللِ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيم‬
“Whoever disbelieves in Allah after believing in Him; except for one who is forced [to renounce his religion] while his heart is
secure in faith, but those who [willingly] open their breasts to disbelief, upon them is wrath from Allah, and for them is a
great punishment.”

Are actions connected to

whether a person is a
Muslim or not?
• Although in concept faith and deeds are separate, they are
closely bonded to each other.
• Not fulfilling some of the compulsory acts of worship and
moral behaviours will not lead a believer to convert out of
Islam as long as he does not deny the rulings of such actions
to be established in the religion for example.

Does our Īmān decrease

and increase?

• The increase and decrease in faith can be viewed from two

points of view:
• Firstly, faith does not increase or decrease in respect to
matters to those which must be believed.
• Secondly, faith may manifest an increase or decrease in
quality.

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For example, the Prophet Ibrāhīm asked Allah to show him

how He resurrected the dead. To Allah Almighty’s question
“Have you no faith?” Abraham replied “Yes, but I want to see
just to reassure my heart…” This verse expresses that after
seeing how Allah resurrected the dead Prophet Abraham’s
faith became much stronger than it had been before.
The way we reconcile this apparent disagreement is by understand in effect the
points of view being depicted. The first group outline that faith does not increase or
decrease in its certainty however, the second argue that faith does increase and
decrease by the manifestation of its qualities. We take both views and understand
that in terms of the matters which require faith by necessity, it is black and white.
On the other hand, the manifestation of faith can decrease or increase for example,
having tawakkul [reliance] upon the Lord at all times. There comes a time in a
persons life where he wavers in his belief in terms of its quality. However, he never
(as a muslim) wavers in his certainty of Islam. And this is also the position of Imām
Abū Ḥanīfah.