Sharh Al-Aqeedat Wasitiyah (Explanation of the Creed)

A judge from the city of Wasit in Iraq asked Shaykh-ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (661–728 AH) to write down the creed of Ahlus Sunnah. What he produced in reply — Al-Aqeedat Al-Wasitiyah — is a few dozen pages long and has been taught continuously for seven centuries. Its reputation rests on doing something difficult: stating the whole of Sunni creed briefly, without vagueness, and without a single claim that is not carried by the Qur'an or the Sunnah.

Brevity of that kind needs unpacking, and many scholars have written explanations of it. The one in this volume is by Dr. Muhammad Khalil Harras (b. 1916, Tanta, Egypt), a graduate and later professor of Al-Azhar who went on to teach at Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh and to head the Islamic Creed department at Umm Al-Qura in Makkah. His commentary is the one most commonly set alongside the text, valued for explaining the terminology precisely without burying the original.

What the Creed Establishes

• Allah's Names and Attributes — affirmed as He and His Messenger ﷺ affirmed them, without tahrif (distortion), ta'til (denial), takyif (asking how) or tamthil (likening Him to creation)
• The six pillars of Iman — belief in Allah, the Angels, the Books, the Messengers, the Last Day and divine decree
• The reality of Iman — that it comprises statement, belief and action, and that it increases and decreases
• The position of the Sahabah and the obligation to speak well of them
• The identity of the Saved Sect and its distinguishing characteristics
• The middle path between the extremes of the sects that departed from it

Who Should Study It

Al-Aqeedat Al-Wasitiyah is a core text in Aqeedah courses at Islamic universities worldwide, and it is usually the second creed text a student takes up — after an introductory work and before the longer treatises. With Khalil Harras's commentary supplying the definitions and the evidences, a determined beginner can work through it alone, though it is best studied with a teacher.

Related Reading

• Authentic Creed and Invalidators of Islam — Shaykh Ibn Baz on the foundations of belief and what nullifies Islam
• Kitab At-Tauhid — the companion text on Tawheed and the forms of shirk