Course info

Level: Two

Instructors: Shaykh Faraz Rabbani & Shaykh Mohammed Tayssir Safi

Course Overview

This is a Level Two elective course in the Islamic Studies Curriculum.

This course covers one of the greatest intermediate-level summaries of mainstream Islamic beliefs: Book Two of Imam Ghazali’s Ihya, on the Foundations of Islamic Belief (Qawa‘id al-`Aqa’id), in full.

In his Foundations of Islamic Belief, Imam Ghazali begins in Part One with a brief statement of Islamic beliefs. Many scholars considered this summary one of the greatest summaries of the key principles of Islamic belief ever written.

In Part Two, Imam Ghazali explains how one learns and inculcates sound belief, and how faith is nurtured in the heart. He discusses a number of sensitive issues, including the relationship between the study of faith and the means of being spiritually realized in the fruits of faith. He clarifies both the importance of the study of the science of theology, but also its limitations.

Its role, he argues, is to clarify, support, and defend sound beliefs; but faith itself is truly nurtured not through mere study but through devotion to Allah. This is with the acts of turning to Allah in worship, devotion, remembrance, reflection, and acting on the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

In Part Three, Imam Ghazali covers an explanation of the Islamic belief covered in Part One. This serves as a commentary on Part One, and many central principles and key issues of Islamic beliefs are detailed and clarified.

In Part Four, Imam Ghazali explains core proofs for the beliefs that have been presented in the Foundations of Islamic beliefs. He avoids getting into detailed debates but presents what he considers the clear, strongest, and most convincing arguments for sound, mainstream Islamic theology.

The text is explained in English, but the full Arabic of Imam Ghazali’s work is read.

About the Course Text

Qawa’id al-‘Aqai’id (Foundations of Belief) is the second of the forty books of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya ‘Ulum al-Din) by Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. In this book, he explains the fundamental beliefs of Islam, those that concern faith in God, His revelation, His messengers, and the Hereafter.

This presentation of beliefs goes beyond a list of creedal statements. Imam Ghazali cites the scriptural foundations in the Qur’an and hadith, refers to transmitted reports from the companions and others from the righteous predecessors, and supports these beliefs with rational arguments.

About the Author

This work was written by the greatest scholar of his time and arguably the most famous scholar of the Islamic tradition, Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali. Imam Ghazali is unanimously regarded as the renewer (mujaddid) of Islam of his century, first for his intellectual defense of traditional Islamic beliefs against Avicennan philosophy, and then for his powerful spiritual reinvigoration of the Islamic sciences through his magnum opus, the 40-part lhya ‘Ulum aI-Din (Revival of the Religious Sciences).

Imam Ghazali was born in the year 450 AH (1058 CE) in Tabiran, near Tus (just north of present-day Mashhad, Iran). He first studied Islamic law at Tus and then travelled across the Islamic world taking Sacred Knowledge from its masters. One of his main teachers was Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni, at whose hands he became a scholar in Shafi'i law, logic, tenets of faith, debate, and the rationalistic doctrines of the philosophical schools of his time (which he was later called upon to refute). After Juwayni’s death, Ghazali was appointed to a teaching post at the Nizamiyya Academy in Baghdad, where word of his brilliance spread, and scholars journeyed to hear him.

In mid-career, after considerable reflection, he was gripped by an intense fear for his soul and his fate in the Afterlife and resigned from his post, travelling first to Jerusalem and then Damascus to engage in spiritual struggle. In Damascus, he lived in seclusion for some ten years, at the end of which he emerged to produce his masterpiece Revival of the Religious Sciences. He died in Tabiran in 505 AH (1111 CE).

Who is This Course For?

• This course is for adults.

• It is particularly beneficial for students of the sacred sciences.

• It is a Level Two course. In order to successfully complete this course, students should first take the course What Muslims Believe and Why: Dardir's Kharida al-Bahiyya or equivalent.

This course can also be taken by anyone who is interested in learning more about Islamic beliefs and their rational proofs.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand the key principles and statements of Islamic Beliefs.

• Explain the relation between scholarly study and spiritual realization.

• Learn the importance of theology and its limitations

• Contextualize the role of theology in religious life.

• Explain Islamic beliefs and their core proofs.

• Understand the strongest arguments for mainstream Islamic theology

Course Requirements:

• Previous study of Islamic beliefs is recommended—such as the SeekersGuidance online course:

Lesson Outline:

Lesson One: Introduction

Lesson Two: Oneness

Lesson Three: Transcendence, Life, Power, Knowledge

Lesson Four: Hearing, Seeing, Speech

Lesson Five: Actions of Allah Most High

Lesson Six: Belief in Prophets

Lesson Seven: Transmitted Beliefs

Lesson Eight: How Faith is Learned and Nurtured

Lesson Nine: Scholastic Theology

Lesson Ten: The Balanced Approach to Theology, Three Qualities for Deep Study of Theology and How to Perfect Faith

Lesson Eleven: Inward and Outward Beliefs

Lesson Twelve: The Balanced Way of Sunnism in Interpreting Unclear Texts

Lesson Thirteen: Explanation of the Creed and Proofs, Belief in Allah Himself

Lesson Fourteen: The Attributes of Negation (Part 1)

Lesson Fifteen: The Attributes of Negation (Part 2)

Lesson Sixteen: The Attributes of Negation (Part 3)

Lesson Seventeen: The Attributes of Negation (Part 4)

Lesson Eighteen: Ten Principles Related to the Attributes of Allah Most High

Lesson Nineteen: Proofs of Islamic Belief

Lesson Twenty: Principles Related to the Actions of Allah Most High (Part 1)

Lesson Twenty One: Principles Related to the Actions of Allah Most High (Part 2)

Lesson Twenty Two: Transmitted Beliefs (Part 1)

Lesson Twenty Three: Transmitted Beliefs (Part 2)

Lesson Twenty Four: Conclusion

About The Instructors

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus, and then in Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), as well as his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age. He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance in order to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of: Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.

Mohammed Tayssir Safi is a doctoral candidate at Ibn Haldun University. At the university’s Islamic Studies department, he specializes in Ḥadīth Studies, with a particular focus on the epistemological framework used in the technical study of ḥadīth. In parallel with his academic studies at the university, Mohammed has been a long-time student of the Islamic Sciences in traditional educational circles. To that end, he has spent years studying in Damascus (Syria), Cairo (Egypt), Tarim (Yemen), and most recently, Istanbul (Turkey). He is also a graduate of Sultan Ahmet Madrasa’s “IKAN,” program, which focuses on Islamic theology (Kalām). Mohammed holds a master’s degree from the University of Michigan in applied linguistics (Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language), as well as a certificate in Manuscript Editing from Istanbul’s main Islamic Research institution, ISAM.

Mohammed currently teaches courses in Islamic Theology (Kalām) and Ḥadīth Studies for SeekersGuidance and resides with his family in Istanbul