While Imam Tahawi’s Creed covers a number of important topics, this course will focus mainly on those passages from the work that are related specifically to the issue of the divine decree (al-qada’ wa al-qadar). The lectures will aim to elucidate the proper understanding of this doctrine as evinced by the verses of the Qur’an and the reports from the prophetic tradition. It will also venture into questions of fatalism and absolute free-will in an attempt to elucidate the basis for these two tendencies in the Abrahamic traditions. The course also aims to magnify the importance of a proper understanding of this concept and how that understanding can positively impact the everyday life of a believer.

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The text chosen for this course is the Al-‘Aqida al-Tahawiyya (Tahawi’s Creed) of Imam Abu Ja’far Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Tahawi. Imam Tahawi’s work summarizes the fundamental doctrines of the Sunni tradition. Scholars, like Taqi al-Din al-Subki, have expressed that the doctrines contained in Imam Tahawi’s work are agreed upon by all Sunni factions. Even today, while there is disagreement over the appropriate interpretation of certain passages of the book, Ash’aris, Maturidis, Sufis, and Salafis all agree that the creed of Imam Tahawi represents authoritative doctrines for Sunnis, and the work has occupied the focus of numerous commentaries and glosses.

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