Aqida

Aqida books in Arabic: how this section is organised

• What you will find here: texts of creed in Arabic, from the classical epistles to contemporary manuals, in their original editions and all new.
• Four genres: primer, commentary, gloss and thematic work. The genre is stated on every listing, since it determines both use and level.
• Three levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, indicated on the listing according to the length, density and vocalisation of the text.
• The themes of the subject: tawhid, names and attributes, faith, divine decree, prophethood, the end of times. The listing states whether the work covers the whole programme or a single theme.
• Classical and contemporary authors: from the epistles of the third century AH to manuals written in the twentieth century for teaching.
• What you will not find: translations or bilingual editions. The catalogue is entirely in Arabic.
• Information on every listing: publisher, year, number of volumes, format, binding, vocalisation, genre, theme, level.

A short text and a long commentary: that is the rule here

This is what makes aqida distinctive, and it surprises buyers coming from fiqh.

The founding texts of the subject are very short. Ibn Qudama's Lum'at al-I'tiqad runs to some twenty pages, Ibn Taymiyya's al-Aqida al-Wasitiyya barely more, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's Three Fundamentals to a few leaves. These texts were written to be memorised in full and then explained orally. Their brevity is not an abridgement: it is their original form.

The volume lies on the side of the commentaries. A fifteen-page treatise can produce a commentary of several hundred pages. This is why the same title often appears more than once in this section, at very different thicknesses: it is not the same book, it is the same primer with more or less developed explanation. The listing states each time which text it is and who is commenting on it.

The practical consequence is simple. You do not buy a book of creed by its thickness. You choose the primer first, then the commentary that matches your level.

The six themes the word aqida covers

Two books in this section can name the same subject and deal with entirely different matters. Here is what the term covers.

Tawhid, divine oneness and what contradicts it, is the most represented theme. The names and attributes form a field of their own, often treated in dedicated works, because they bring their own rules of method into play. Faith, its definition, its branches and what nullifies it, occupies a large part of the classical texts. Divine decree, prophethood and the end of times complete the whole.

Some works cover the entire programme: those are the primers and their commentaries. Others are devoted to a single theme: a treatise on the names and attributes, a collection on faith, a work on the signs of the end of times. Every listing states whether the book is general or thematic, so that no one buys a specialised treatise thinking they are taking a complete manual.

Matn, sharh, hashiya: recognising the genre

As in fiqh, the same content circulates in several forms, and the cover does not always say so.

The primer, or matn, is the original epistle, brief and dense, written to be learnt by heart. The commentary, or sharh, develops it sentence by sentence, cites the proofs and answers objections. The gloss, or hashiya, comments on the commentary and addresses advanced students. The thematic work, finally, is attached to no primer: it is an independent treatise on a specific question.

The rule of use follows. A beginner takes a short matn and its simplest commentary. An intermediate reader takes up the same matn with a fuller commentary, which is not a duplicate but the normal next step of the curriculum. An advanced reader opens the glosses and the source works, those that gather the transmitted texts rather than explain them.

The texts one starts with

Here are the primers most studied at the start of the curriculum, as they are taught in the institutes and mosques of the Arab world. These are the ones you will find at the head of this section.

The Three Fundamentals

Al-Usul al-Thalatha by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, a few leaves built as questions and answers. It is the first text given to memorise in most curricula, and it exists in vocalised pocket editions.

Kitab al-Tawhid

By the same author, organised in short chapters each resting on transmitted texts. It is read with a commentary, since the text assumes the reader knows why each chapter cites what it cites.

Lum'at al-I'tiqad

The epistle of Ibn Qudama, a Hanbali of the seventh century AH, very brief, often the first text studied on the names and attributes. Its most read commentary today is that of Sheikh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymin.

Al-Aqida al-Wasitiyya

Ibn Taymiyya's treatise on the names and attributes, written in the eighth century AH, short but demanding. It has received many commentaries, of widely varying length, and it is on this text that the choice of commentary weighs most.

Al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya

The epistle of Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi, of the fourth century AH, written as a series of propositions. Its best known commentary is that of Ibn Abi al-Izz, in one or several volumes depending on the edition.

Alongside these older texts, this section offers contemporary manuals written for teaching, built like lessons, with definitions, exercises and summaries. They are often the best entry point for a reader learning Arabic, before approaching the epistles themselves.

Three buying mistakes in aqida, and how to avoid them

We see them come round again, and each time they cost a book that stays closed.

The first is taking a long commentary on a text one has not yet read. A sharh follows the matn line by line: without the text in mind, the reading comes apart after a few pages. Start with the text, even if it runs to fifteen pages.

The second is mistaking a source work for a manual. The great classical collections gather the transmitted texts on creed, with their chains of transmission, and assume a reader already trained. They are reference works, not courses.

The third is buying several commentaries on the same text at once. Two commentaries on one matn do not add up for a beginner: they repeat each other. Better one commentary read to the end, then a second, two years later, on the same text.

Buy aqida books in Arabic from My Maktaba

Every work in this section is in Arabic, in its original edition, and every one is new. For each title, the listing states the publisher, year, number of volumes, format, type of binding, vocalisation, genre, theme and level. For texts meant to be memorised, look for a vocalised pocket edition. For commentaries, check that the primer is reproduced within them.

If you do not know where to start, write to us stating your level of Arabic, the texts you have already read and the time you have available. We will suggest two or three titles, no more, in the order in which to read them. And if the work you are looking for does not appear in the catalogue, send us the title: our network of booksellers covers most of the editions in circulation.