Some excerpts from the book Fiqh-i Akbar

Some excerpts from the book Fiqh-i Akbar by Hadrat Imâm-i A’zam are as follows:
1. Îmân is to have belief in Allah, in His angels, in His books, in His prophets, in the Resurrection after death, in questioning and accounting on the Day of Judgement, in Mîzân [Scale], in Jannat [Paradise] and Jahannam [Hell], in qadar and in the fact that khair [good] and sharr [evil] are from Allah. Îmân is to believe in and know as true all of the mentioned tenets of belief.

2. Allah is One. He was not given birth to, nor does He give birth. There is nothing like Him. He does not resemble any of the things He has created. He was eternal in the past and is eternal in the future with His Names and with His Attributes, relating to Him and His actions. None of His Names and Attributes is of recent occurrence; they are all eternal. He is unceasingly All-knowing with His ‘ilm [knowledge], Almighty with His power, All-speaking with His attribute of Kalâm [Speech, Word], the Creator with His attribute of creativeness, and the Doer with His activity. The object that is created is a creature, but Allah’s activity itself is not a creature.

3. The essence of tawhîd is to believe in the fundamentals expressed in the Âmantu. Such things as hand, face and nafs that have been mentioned in the Qur’ân are the attributes that cannot be understood how they are. It cannot be said that His hand means His power or His blessing because such an interpretation negates His attribute.

(However, since corrupt groups liken such words [hand or face] to the organs of humans, Hadrat Imâm-i Ghazâlî states that it is permissible and to explain away [ta’wîl] such attributes.)

4. Allahu ta’âlâ will be seen in Paradise in the Hereafter.

5. All of Allahu ta’âlâ’s Names and Attributes are equal in grandeur and merit; there is no difference among them.

6. All His Attributes are different from the attributes of creatures. He hears but not as we do. He is Almighty, but His power is unlike ours. We speak through speech organs and in letters. However, He does not speak through such organs or in letters. Letters are creatures, but the Word of Allah is not a creature.

7. The Qur’ân al-karîm is not a creature. All that is mentioned in it pertaining to the states of prophets or disbelievers, e.g., Pharaoh or Satan, is the Word of Allah, and His Word is not a creature.

8. Allahu ta’âla brought into existence all the progeny of Hadrat Âdamfrom his loins in the shape of humans, gave them ‘aql [wisdom], addressed them, enjoined them to have îmân and forbade them from disbelief. They, on their part, confirmed that He is their Rabb. Hence, this is their îmân. People are born with an inherent disposition towards this. Thereafter, those who deviate into disbelief will have changed and corrupted this disposition, whereas those who believe and confirm will have shown tenacity and continuity in their disposition.

9. All prophets are free from committing sins, whether venial or grave, and unbecoming conduct. Nonetheless, they made minor lapses and errors. [Those lapses and errors are termed dhallas. A dhalla is being unable to find the most felicitous one from among many truths.]

10. The mu’jizas of the prophets and the karâmats of the awliyâ’ are true.

11. The shafâ’at [intercession] of the prophets is a fact. The shafâ’at of our Master the Prophet is for those who have committed grave sins.

12. On the Day of Resurrection, it is true that deeds will be weighed on Mîzan [Scale], that there will be the Hawd [pool] reserved for our Master the Prophet, and that there will be settlement of accounts between opposing people.

13. Jannat [Paradise] and Jahannam [Hell] exist now, and their existence will continue eternally.

14. We say nothing but good words about all of the Ashâb-i kirâm.

15. After prophets, the most virtuous of all people is Hadrat Abû Bakr. After him come the other three caliphs. [The superiority of the four caliphs to one another is in accordance with the sequence of their caliphates.]

16. Îmân does not increase or decrease in terms of tenets to be believed, but it increases or decreases in terms of yaqîn and confirmation. All Mu’mins are equal in îmân and tawhîd, but they differ from one another in deeds and conduct.

(Îmân is stating with the tongue and certifying with the heart. Îmân does not increase or decrease. However, there can be increase in its luster and strength. Deeds are not a part of îmân, so you cannot call a person committing sins a disbeliever. Whereas îmân is incumbent on every individual, every deed may not be incumbent on everyone. For example, a poor person not reaching the amount of nisâb [the border between richness and poverty prescribed by Islam is termed nisâb] does not give the zakât of his/her property. A woman does not perform namâz in the states of haid [menstruation] and nifâs [postnatal bleeding]. However, it cannot be said that îmân is not incumbent on a poor person or on a woman.)

17. Allah guides whom He wills to the righteous way as a grace, and He misleads whom He wills in accordance with His Justice.

18. The Mi’râj [ascending to heavens] of our Prophet is a fact. The signs of Doomsday, such as ad-Dajjâl, Ya’jûj and Ma’jûj [Gog and Magog] will appear, the sun will rise in the west, Hadrat ‘Îsâ will descend from heaven and all others, are true.

19. In the grave, it is true that questioning, the return of the soul to the body, and torments for disbelievers and sinful Muslims will take place.

20. According to the hadîth communicating the permissibility of making masah over masts, the duration of time one can continuously make masah on masts is one day plus one night for a settled person [muqîm] and three days plus three nights for a traveler [musâfir]. Since this hadîth is near-mutawâtir, it is feared that those who disbelieve it lose their îmân.

[hadîth-i mutawâtir: those hadîths that several Sahabîs heard from Rasûlullah (sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam) and which several other people heard from them, and which were written in a book not before having been heard always from several people who are not ever likely to have agreed on a lie. It is absolutely necessary to believe and to obey the hadîths that are mutawâtir; those who disbelieve them become kâfirs.]

21. Learning how to perform acts of worship is more meritorious than many branches of knowledge.

22. It is necessary not to call a Muslim who is Ahl-i qibla to be a disbeliever [not to call a Muslim who performs namâz a disbeliever], not to alienate anyone from îmân, to enjoin ma’rûf [good] and forbid munkar [evil], to believe in the fact that what was willed for you [by Allahu ta’âlâ] will certainly reach you, not to severe ties with any of the Ashâb-i kirâm but to love all of them.

23. A sinful Muslim cannot be called a kâfir [disbeliever]. Yet we cannot say sins do not cause a Mu’min harm. If one who has committed grave and venial sins except disbelief dies without repentance but as a Mu’min, one’s situation rests with the Will of Allah. If He wills, He will torture that person in Hell, or if He wills, He forgives and does not torture at all.

While Hadrat Imâm-i A’zam was sitting with a group of scholars, a man came and asked, “If a Mu’min murders his father, then gets drunk by drinking wine and commits fornication, does he lose his îmân?” Having heard this question, the scholars got angry with the person asking it and said, “Need you ask this? It goes without saying that he loses his îmân and becomes a disbeliever.” But Hadrat Imâm-i A’zam stated, “Even if he commits many grave sins, he is still a Mu’min, for committing sins does not cause people to lose their îmân.”

Some other tenets to be believed in our madhhab are as follows:
Allah does not command His born servants to perform things beyond their capabilities.

Shaitan does not seize the îmân from Mu’mins forcibly; however, if they abandon îmân, then Shaitan takes it.

Those who die as kafîrs [disbelievers] will never be forgiven; they will stay in Hell everlastingly.

The first of the prophets is Hadrat Âdam (‘alaihis-salâm) and the last is Hadrat Muhammad (‘alaihis-salâm).

Born servants cannot reach a stage where they are absolved of the observances of commandments and prohibitions. Everyone is obliged to perform acts of worship as much as they can.

The time of death of a person who has been killed or who has committed suicide is the moment this person has died. There is no death without an appointed time for it.

When we make du’â [prayer, invocation] and give alms for the dead, they will get benefit from them.

A walî [a dear slave of Allahu ta’âlâ] cannot reach the degree of a prophet.