Students will learn how scholarly Islam uses both rational arguments as well as spiritual insight to understand God’s existence, our existence, and creation intelligibly.
The course draws on works that came to inform Islam’s traditional pedagogy and represent its’ normative expression. These works are cited below for reference followed by brief biography authors:
al-Bajuri, Ibrahim b. Mubammad. Tuhfat al-murid ‘ala jawharat al-tawhīd, Edited by ‘Abd al-Salam Shannar. Damascus: Maktabat Dār al-Bayruti, 2002. Yusuf, Hamza, trans. The Creed of Imam al-Ṭāhawi [Al-‘Aqidah alTahāwiyyah]. Hayward, CA: Zaytuna Institute, 2007
The Creed of Imam al-Ṭāhawi
Yusuf, Hamza, trans. The Creed of Imam al-Ṭāhawi [Al-‘Aqidah alTahāwiyyah]. Hayward, CA: Zaytuna Institute, 2007.
Translated, annotated, and introduced by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, it is a simple yet profound expression of the essential points of Muslim belief. Imam al-Tahawi’s creed has achieved an unusual degree of acceptance in the Muslim world, as it avoids involuted theological issues and systematically presents the most fundamental aspects of dogmatic theology. Studied throughout the Muslim world and increasingly in the West, The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi serves as a sound basis for Islamic faith and is the most reliable of the early articulations of Muslim belief. ( Read sample pages from ‘The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi’ )...Read More
About Imam al-Tahawi: Born in Taha in Upper Egypt in 239 AH/853 CE, Imam Abu Ja’far al-Tahawi lived until 321/933. A first-rate jurist, a brilliant grammarian and philologist, and an erudite man of letters, Imam al-Tahawi is best known for his eponymous creed. Known as “al-Azdi,” in reference to the Yemeni clan known as “Azd al-Hajar,” Imam al-Tahawi was a descendent of a people about whom the Prophet Muhammad said, “Faith is Yemeni.” It is altogether fitting that the man who penned such a unifying creed descended from the land of which faith itself is a descendant. Providing seekers of knowledge with a luminous set of simple and sound statements, his creed is a beacon of certainty in the darkness of doubt and ambiguity.
Tuhfat al-murid ‘ala jawharat al-tawhīd
Yusuf, Hamza, trans. The Creed of Imam al-Ṭāhawi [Al-‘Aqidah alTahāwiyyah]. Hayward, CA: Zaytuna Institute, 2007.
Jawharat al-Tawhid, translated as The Gem of Islamic Theology, is one of the approved and accredited texts of the Sunni Creed in the Ashari school. Written as a poem to facilitate memorizing it and to make it more enjoyable and appealing for young students. This was a method widely used to teach and convey knowledge in the past and is still used in some schools till today. It was composed by Imam Ibrahim al-Laqani al-Maliki (1041 H) upon a gesture from his Sufi mentor. Due to its high value and wide acceptance, many commentaries were written to elaborate and explain the meanings it had within. ...Read More
Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Bajuri Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Bajuri, born in Bajur; Egypt, in 1198/1784. Educated at al-Azhar, he was one of the foremost Shafi’i scholars and theologians of his time, authoring over twenty works and commentaries in Sacred Law, tenets of faith, Islamic estate division, scholastic theology, logic, and Arabic. In A.H. 1263 he was appointed Sheikh of al-Azhar, an office he remained in until his death in Cairo in 128811860 (al-A ‘lam (y136), 1.71). (Keller, Nuh Ha Mim. Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law. Rev.ed. Beltsville, MD: Amman, 1996)
Shaykh Thaqib Mahmood
Shaykh Thaqib has travelled to numerous places over the last 10 years in pursuit of sacred knowledge. This began at several deen intensives with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf from whom the impetus to his seeking sacred knowledge belongs. After travelling to Morocco he went to Hadramawt to the village of Tarim where he sat at the feet of the spiritual Masters and jurists including Habib Umar bin Hafiz.
He travelled to Damascus a number of times and studied under Shaykh Muhammad Darwish, Shaykh Abdul Wahaab Shaykh Muhammad al Yaqoubi, Shaykh Adnan al Majd, Shaykh Maree al Rashid and Shaykh Khalil al Sabbagh. His travels also led him to Mauritania to study with Murabit al Hajj, to Liverpool to study with Shaykh Siraj Ud-Din and to Istanbul at the feet of the gnostic and friend of Allah, Shaykh Mahmud Effendi; and studied with Shaykh Ehsaan Hojah and Shaykh Muhammed Ameen Siraj.”
Shaykh Thaqib has been teaching on Sacred Study for 12 years and part of the Fountain teacher for now over 22 years.
Location
Bury Park Community Centre, 161, 161b Dunstable Rd, Luton LU1 1BW. Zoom: links will be provided via email
Date/Time
Starting – 7th January 2023 for 10 weeks Saturdays – 9.30AM to 10.30PM
Course Content
Course content will only show once you re logged in.
