AN IN-DEPTH STUDY OF ISLAMIC CREED &
THE MODERN DIMENSIONS OF CLASSICAL THEOLOGY

What is the DEEP AQīDAH course?

It would be a mistake to assume that the challenges facing the Islamic faith are primarily from forces antagonistic to Islam and its way of life. While external hostility is an increasingly visible concern, a superficial or, worst still, skewed understanding of what Muslims believe and why, is the cause of weakness and doubt for many Muslims.

The science of Aqīdah centres on understanding what Muslims believe, what the evidence bases for this is, and understanding and responding to obfuscations and doubts around faith.

We at iSyllabus have curated a special course that will give you depth and appreciation of the Islamic tradition, while granting awareness of the relevance of classical works to today’s context.

Core Content

The text of al-Fiqh al-Akbar has had a pivotal and lasting influence on the development of Islamic creed. Being one of the earliest works dealing with the problems of heterodoxy, the reality of faith and what makes a Muslim muslim, Abu Hanifah’s work sketches out the debates and discussions prevalent at the start of Islamic intellectual history, but more than that, it conceptualises the core issues in a manner that arguably remains unsurpassed in later scholarship.

As well as looking at the vital role of Fiqh al-Akbar in the development of Islamic creed, two exemplary commentaries of the text, each lending a distinct approach to the explanation of the text will form the core content of this course. The first, that of Imam Abū Muntaha al-Mighnisawī, is masterful and succinct, demonstrating the author’s mastery in unpacking terse passages of the text, while the other, Mulla al-Qārī extensive gloss, provides a breadth of knowledge of the sources of the Islamic tradition, weaving both the Quranic text and hadith literature into the body of his work, as well as frequently diverging into intriguing corollary issues of historical and legal relevance.

In total, the texts studied in the year long DEEP AQīDAH course provides a comprehensive training not only in the early and middle kalām tradition, but also in the vast literature produced to disseminate Islamic creed.

As well as an extensive study of these classical sources, this course includes SIX additional LIVE tutorials with SHAYKH RUZWAN, in which current-day development and implications of the classical material will be covered. Included in this are a review on current thinking of the evidences of God’s existence, The criteria for morality, Islamic salvific theory in relation to non-muslims; The question of Evil, as well as the rationale behind the commissioning of Prophets amongst others.

The course at a glance

  • 36 prerecorded premium lectures
  • 6 additional LIVE tutorials
  • 6 LIVE Q&A sessions
  • 6 end-of-module review quizzes to test comprehension
  • Certificate upon successful completion
  • Content divided into 6 course modules

Detailed description of modules:

Module One: The first module will cover an overview of classical Islamic creed looking at the main issues dealt with during early discussions on Aqidah. It includes a preliminary outline of Epistemology; the theory and articulation of Divine Oneness including an appraisal of The Proof of Mutual Hinderance’ (Dalil al-Tamanu); the methodology used in categorizing the Divine Attributes and the theory behind a differentiation between attributes and essences.

Module Two: Thereafter, students will cover the essential attributes related to the Speech and Will and the difference regarding the active attributes of God (takwin). It will investigate the area of Divine omnipotence and in particular the classification used by Abu Hanifah for the Divine attributes in separating them into the essential and active attributes. Finally the module will cover the controversy on the Divine Speech and the Sunni belief in the pre-eternal existence of the attributes.

Module Three: The third module develops advanced themes in Sunni Theology: The Descriptions and Attributes of God as they occur in the religious texts and how they are understood by Sunni theologians; the issue of Predestination and how this relates to the two divine attributes of Knowledge and Will; The meaning of the primordial Covenant that God took from the Sons of Adam and the ramifications of this on human choice and volition.

Module Four: The fourth module will cove the theory of Acquisition (kasb); the status of the Prophets; the problem of takfir and other legal issues discussed within Islamic Creed.

Module Five: The fifth modules moves on to secondary issues of creed, dealing with the chapters on Miracles, The Beatific vision of God, the relationship between faith and religion and finally the issue of intercession and other eschatological realities.

Module Six: The final module covers the remaining issues discussed in the text fiqh al-Akbar, including the Eschatological realities and the Signs of the Ends of time.

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