Publisher's Synopsis
The Fundamental of Islamic Creed: All praise be to Allah the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be on the most honored of Messengers and the best of creations, Muhammad, a slave of Allah and His Messenger: the trustworthy guide. Peace and blessings also be upon his kinsfolk, Companions and all those who followed him in right stead - until the day of Judgement.
We feel extreme pleasure at presenting a fresh translation of the fundamentals of Islamic faith as formulated by Imam Tahawi and explained by Ibn Abi Al-'Izz. It might be appropriate too, at this point, to reproduce the following lines that appeared in the preface of the original text and abridged commentary published by the Ministry of Justice and Islamic and Endowment Affairs of the United Arab Emirates.
"The starting point of the journey taken up by the present-day Islamic refor- mation activities has to be firmly rooted in right faiths and beliefs especially with regard to the concept of Oneness of Allah, so as to be free of all adulteration. The Islamic awakening of our times has to have this 'truth of all truths' firmly estab- lished so that, on the one hand the new generation follows the right sign posts on its march forward, then, on the other, the older generation may be warned of the infiltration of superstitions, fetishes and adulteration into the value system of Islam. Hence the choice of the work at hand.
The scholars and the jurists are unanimous that the articles of faith as formu- lated by Imam Tahawi, may Allah show him mercy, most accurately reflect the mind and understanding of the earliest Muslims. It is free of incorrect interpreta- tions, over-exemplification and any distortion of the ideas put forward by Islam. There is also a general agreement that the commentary on the original work as done by Qadi Ibn Abi al-'Izz al-Adhru'i is also an accurate elucidation of what Tahawi meant to express. It strives to be very close to the texts of the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and, without over-stretching the meaning, attempts to project the opinion of the great majority of scholars where differences in opinion prevail.
This commentary was first published about 75 years ago in Makkah al-Mukar- ramah in 1394 A.H. under the supervision of a team of scholars headed by Sheikh Abdullah b. Hasan b. Hussayn al-Sheikh Muhammad b. 'Abdul Wahhab. Sub-
