ʿAqāʾid Al-Nasafī

Najm al-Dīn al-Nasafī (1068-1142) belonged to the school of al-Māturīdī, and may have lived mostly in
Samarqand. This short creed became very popular, and there were many commentaries and
supercommentaries. The translation has been made from the text contained in The Pillar of the Creed…,
edited by W. Cureton, London, 1843, in conjunction with that contained in a Cairo edition of the
commentary by al-Taftazānī (d.c.1389), dated 1358/1936. Some slight differences between the two texts
have been neglected. The creed was translated by D.B. Macdonald in his Development, pp. 308-15, and
there is a translation of al-Taftazānī’s commentary by E. E. Elder, A Commentary on the Creed of Islam,
Columbia University Press, New York, 1950.

1. The People of Truth say that the real natures of things are established (or fixed), and that knowledge
of them is really (knowledge). (This is) contrary to the view of the Sophists.

2. The causes of knowledge for created beings are three: the sound senses, true report and reason. The
senses are 5: hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch; by each sense, information is given about (the class
of objects) for which it is appointed. True report is of 2 kinds. One of these is a widely-transmitted
report, that is, a report established by the tongues of (many) people, whose agreement on a falsehood is
inconceivable. This is bound to give a necessary knowledge, such as the knowledge of former kings in
past times and of distant lands. The second kind is the report of the messenger (who has been attested)
by an evidentiary miracle (about what has come to him by revelation). This is bound to give deductive
knowledge. The knowledge established (by such a report) resembles in certainty and fixity knowledge
necessarily established (such as sense-knowledge and that from wide widely transmitted reports).
Reason, again, is also a cause for knowledge. What is established by immediate intuition is necessary,
such as the knowledge that every thing is greater than its part. What is established by inference is
acquired knowledge. Inspiration is not one of the causes of the knowing of the soundness (or truth) of a
thing in the view of the People of Truth.

3. The world with all its parts is originated, since it (consists of) substances (or individuals) and accidents.
Substances are what is self-subsistent. A substance is either a composite, that is, a body, or non-
composite, such as the atom, which is the part which cannot be further divided. The accident is what is
not self-subsistent but is originated in the bodies and atoms, such as colours, physical states, tastes and
smells.

4. The Originator of the world is God. He is the One, the Pre-eternal, the Living, the Powerful, the
knowing, the Wishing, (or the Willing). He is neither accident nor body nor atom. He is neither formed
nor limited nor multiple. He has neither portions nor parts, and he is not a composite. He is not finite.
He is not characterized by quiddity nor by quality. He is not located in a place, nor does time pass over
(or affect) Him. Nothing resembles Him. Nothing is outwith His knowledge and power.

5. God has pre-eternal attributes subsisting in His essence. God has pre-eternal attributes subsisting in
His essence. They are not He and not other than He. They are: Knowledge, Power, Life, Strength,
Hearing, Sight, Will, Volition, Activity, Creativity, Provision of sustenance (for creatures) and Speech.
6. God is speaking with a Speech which is pre-eternal attribute for Him, and which is not of the class of
letters and sounds. It is an attribute which excludes silence and defect. God speaks with this (attribute),
commanding, prohibiting and making statements (or reporting).

7. The Qurʾān is the Speech of God, uncreated. It is written in the copies, remembered in the hearts,
recited by the tongues, heard by the ears, but it does not inhere in these.

8. Causing to be is a pre-eternal attribute of god. It is His causing to be of the world and all its parts, not
from eternity but at the time of its coming into existence in accordance with His knowledge and His Will.
(The attribute of causing to be) is other than what has been caused to be in our view.

9. Will is a pre-eternal attribute of God subsisting in His essence.

10. By reason, the vision of God (in Paradise) is possible, and by transmitted (reports) it is necessary that
He should be seen. A proof based on oral (material) has been handed down showing that it is necessary
that the believers should see God in the world to come. He is not seen in a place, nor in any direction
(from the person) facing Him, nor by the coming together of light rays, nor with a fixed distance
between the person seeing and God.

11. God is the creator of all the acts of human beings, whether (acts) of unbelief or faith, of obedience or
disobedience. All these acts are by His will and volition, by His judgement, His decreeing and His
determining. Human beings (perform) acts of choice for which they are rewarded or punished. The
good in them is with God’s pleasure, and the bad in them is not with His good pleasure

12. The acting-power (in people) exists along with the act (not before it). It is the reality of the power by
which the act comes to be. This name (acting-power) is used where the causes, instruments and limbs
(involved in the act) are sound. (A person’s) being genuinely liable (to obey the law) depends on this
acting-power, a person is not liable for (carrying out) what is not within his capacity.

13. The pain existing in a (person) beaten as a result of human beating, and the broken (condition) of a
glass after a human (act of) breaking, and similar things, are all created by God. The person has no
function in the creating of these.

14. The one killed dies at his appointed term. The appointed term is one.

15. Unlawful (food) is (nevertheless) sustenance from God. Everyone receives in full his own sustenance,
whether lawful or unlawful. It is inconceivable that a person should not eat his sustenance, or that his
sustenance should be eaten by someone else.

16. God leads astray whom He wills, and guide whom He wills. It is not obligatory for God to do the
best for a human being.

17. The punishment in the tomb for unbelievers and for some sinful believers, and the bliss in the tomb
of the obedient people, are in accordance with God’s knowledge and will. The interrogation by Munkar
and Nākir is established by proofs based on oral (reports). The raising of the dead is a reality. The
Balance is a reality. The Book (recording a person’s deeds) is a reality. The interrogation (by God) is a
reality. The Basin is a reality. The Bridge is a reality. Paradise is a reality and Hell is a reality, and they
are already created and existent. They are everlasting and will not pass away, and their people will not
pass away.

18. A great sin does not exclude the believing person from faith and place him in unbelief (that is, does
not make him an unbeliever ) God does not forgive one who assigns partners to Him, but He forgives to
whom He wills what is less than that of small and great sins. The punishing of a small sin is possible ( for
God) and also the forgiving of a great sin , provided this is not the considering lawful (of what is
forbidden), for such considering lawful is unbelief.

19. The intercession of the messengers and of the elite is established for the case of those committing
great sins. Those believers who commit great sins do not remain everlastingly in Hell.

20. Faith is the counting true of what (a messenger) has brought from God (as revelation) and the
confessing of it. Works increase in themselves, but faith neither increases nor decreases. Faith and
Islam are one (or the same). Where a person counts true and confesses, it is proper for him to say ‘I am
truly a believer’, and he does not have to say ‘I am a believer if God wills’.

21. The happy one sometimes becomes miserable and the miserable one happy , but the change is in
(the human experience) of happiness and misery , not in the making happy and the making of miserable,
for these are attributes of God , and there is no change in God or in His attributes.

22. In the sending of messengers (by God), there is wisdom. God has sent to humanity messengers who
are human to bring good news to warn and to make clear to people what they need (to know) about the
affairs of the secular world and of religion. He confirmed (their genuineness) as messengers by
evidentiary miracles, (that is, happenings) which are contrary to the natural order. The first of the
prophets is Adam and the last of them is Muhammad. A statement of their number has been handed
down in some hadiths ; but it is preferable that there should be no limit of number in naming them. God
has said (referring to previous messengers ): ’Of some of them We have told you the stories
‘(40.78).When the number of prophets and messengers is stated there is no security against some being
included from them who are of them . All were reporting and conveying messages from God, and were
truthful and sincere. The most excellent of the prophets is Muhammad.

23. The angels are servants of God fulfilling His command. They are not characterized by masculinity or
femininity.

24. God has books which He has sent down to His prophets. In them He has made clear His commands
and His prohibitions, His promise and His threat.

25. The ascension of the Messenger of God is a reality, (that is), when, while awake, he (was taken)
bodily to heaven and then to what (place) on high God willed.

26. The wonder-miracles of the saints are a reality. The wonder-miracles appears for the saint as
something contrary to the natural order, such as travelling a great distance in a short time, the
appearance of food, drink and clothing when they are needed, walking on water or in the air, the
speaking of inanimate objects and of animals, the warding off of threatened injury, the guarding of an
anxious person from his enemies, and other (similar) things. Such (an occurrence) is (at the same time)
an evidentiary-miracle supporting the messenger, to one of whose community the wonder-miracle has
occurred; for it shows that he is (truly) a saint, since (a person) will not become a saint unless he counts
true his religion, and his religion is the confession that the messenger is (indeed) a messenger.

27. The most excellent of humanity after our prophet is Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, then `Umar al-Faruq, then
`Uthman Dhu’l-nurayn, then `Ali al-Murtada. The caliphate was in this order, and (lasted) thirty years.
After that, the form of rule was kingly and princely.

28. The Muslims must have an imam (leader), who will see to the enforcing of their judgements, the
carrying-out of their punishments, the defence of their frontiers, the equipping of their armies, the
receiving of their alms, the controlling of violent men, thieves and highwaymen, the maintaining (of
worship) on Fridays and festivals, the settling of the disputes which occur between people, the receiving
of evidence regarding legal rights, the arranging of marriages for male and female minors who have no
guardians, and the dividing of the spoils (of war). Further, the imam must be seen (publicly and
recognized as imam), not hidden nor (merely) expected. He must be of the tribe of Quraysh and not of
any other; but he is not restricted to the clan of Banu Hashim or the descendents of Ali. It is not a
condition (of his imamate) that he be preserved from error, nor that he be the most excellent of the
people of his time; but it is a condition that he should be of those who have full and complete authority,
and an administrator with power to enforce the judgements, to preserve the frontiers of the sphere of
Islam, and to ensure justice for the one wronged against the one wronging him. He is not to be removed
from the imamate because of transgressing (the divine law) or acting unjustly.

29. Formal worship is permitted behind any ( leader), upright or sinful and there may be formal
worship on behalf of anyone, upright or sinful.

30. Only good shall be spoken of the Companions (of Muhammad).

31. We bear witness that Paradise is (promised) to the ten to whom the Prophet announced this.

32. We approved of the moistening of the sandals both when on a journey and when at home.

33. We do not prohibit wine made from dates.

34. The saint do not reach the level of the prophets. The (ordinary person) do not come to the
position where (God’s) commands and prohibitions and the scriptural texts in their external sense are no
longer applicable to him. To turn from these to the interpretations of the people of internal meanings is
heresy. To reject the scriptural text is unbelief. To regard sin as lawful is unbelief, to make light ( of sin)
is unbelief, and contempt for the law is unbelief.

35.To despair of God is unbelief , and to feel secure from God’s (punishment) is unbelief. To count true
what a diviner reports about the unseen is unbelief.
36. The non-existent is not a thing .

37. In the prayer of the living for the dead , and in almsgiving for them, there is benefit for the dead.
God answers prayers and supplies needs.

38.What the Prophet reported of the signs of the Hour , such as the appearance of the Dajjal and of the
beast of the earth and of Ya’juj and Ma’juj, and the coming-down of Isa from heaven , and the rising of
the sun in the west – all this is reality.

39.The interpreter (of texts) may sometimes be mistaken and sometimes be correct (in his
interpretations).

40.The messengers of the human race are more excellent than the messengers of the angels, the
messengers of the angels are more excellent than the generality of the human race, and the
generality of the angels.

NOTES

1. For the Sophists, see Wensinck, Muslim Creed,p.251f.

2. The ‘physical states’ (akwan) are union, separation, movement, rest.
3. ‘Quiddity’ represents the Arabic ma’iyya and ‘quality’kayfiyya, for the latter, ‘manner’ is also
possible. What precisely the author meant is not clear.
4. ‘What is best’ is al-aslah.For the discussions about this term, see El² s.v.
5. The mention of ‘bliss in the tomb’ seems an innovation.
6. This is an implicit rejection of the Hanbalite view of istithna, expression of uncertainty.
7. The ‘ people of interior meaning ‘ (ahl al-batin) are usually called Batiniyya , see El² , s.v.
8. The Arabic for “non-existent’ is ma’dum.