DATE: 944 CE
Kitab al-Tawhid (Arabic: كتاب التوحيد, lit. ’The Book of Monotheism’), is the main Sunni theological book, and the primary source of the Maturidi school of thought; written by the Hanafi scholar Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 333/944). Kitab al-Tawhid is monumental work which very nicely expounded the tenets and beliefs of the Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama’a and refuted the stands of the opponents, such as Karramites, Mu’tazilites, Qadariyya, Majus, Sophists, Dualisms, and Christians.
Table of Contents
[1]. Religion must not be Based on Belief in Authority (taqlid) but must be Based on Evidence,
[2]. Knowledge of the Religion is Acquired Through Transmission (sam’) & the Intellect (‘aql),
[3]. Humans have Essentially Three Means of Acquiring Knowledge ;
a). The Senses,
b). Transmission,
c). Intellect,
[4]. Proof for the Created Nature of the Universe ;
The Ontological Structure of the Universe,
[5]. Proof that the Universe has a Creator,
[6]. The Issue of the Creator of the Universe Being One,
[7]. The Issue of the Creator of the Universe Being One Based on Reason,
[8]. Refutation of Those who Dispute our Teachings on Epistemology,
[9]. Deducing that Which is Present from that Which is Absent,
[10]. The Refutation of those Who Profess the Eternity of the Universe,
[11]. God’s Names and Attributes: God may not be Described as Body (jism),
[12]. God may be Described as a ‘Thing’ (shay’),
[13]. Shaykh Abu Mansur was asked About the Meaning of ‘The One,’
[14]. God’s Essential Attributes : Free Will (‘ikhtiyar),
[15]. Power (qudra) and Will (irada),
[16]. Knowledge (‘ilm),
[17]. God’s Attribute of Action : Creating (taqwin),
[18]. Proof of the Existence of the Attributes: Against Equating the Creation with the Created,
[19]. Creating is just as Eternal as Knowledge and Power,
[20]. Presentation and Refutation of alKa’bi’s Doctrine on the Attributes,
[21]. Speech (kalam),
[22]. The Correct Understanding of God’s Free Will (‘ikhtiyar) in Repudiation of Ka’bi,
[23]. Against those Who Profess an Autonomous Process of Nature,
[24]. Against those Who Profess an Eternal Material Substance (tina),
[25]. Against The Karramites,
[26]. The Correct Understanding of God’s Names (asma’),
[27]. All Names Apply to God Eternally (with a Critique of Jahm bin Safwan),
[28]. Anthropomorphic Descriptions of God in the Qur’an;
God’s Istawa’ on the Throne (AlIstawa’ ‘ala al’Arsh),[Note 1]
[29]. The Differing Views of the Throne as well as the Possibility of a Localisation of God,
[30]. Summary of AlMaturidi’s Teachings,
[31]. Disputation with Ka’abi and Against the Idea that God is in the Sky Above Us,
[32]. The Meaning of the Terms ‘Near’ ‘Coming’ ‘Going’ and ‘Sitting’ in Regard to God,
[33]. The Vision of God (ru’yat Allah) in Paradise,
[34]. Dispute with Muslim Opponents Against the Mu’tazilites;
Proof that their Main Teachings are Close to the Ideas of Foreign Religions,
[35]. Against the Thesis; That which is NonExistent (ma’dum) Has Always Existed,
[36]. Against the Thesis; God has not Eternally been the Creator,
[37]. Against the Thesis; God’s Art of Creation is not Different from that Which is Created,
God’s Will is not other than that Which is Willed,
[38]. Against the Thesis; Accidents Function in the Material Universe According to their Own Sets of Laws,
[39]. Against the Thesis; Humans, Based on their Freedom can Act in a Way that God did not know Previously,
[40]. Description of God and Attributing Names to Him does not Entail Anthropomorphism,
[41]. Why did God Create the Universe?
[42]. Dispute with AlNajjar on God’s Wisdom and Providence,
[43]. The Question of Why God Created the World (against AlNajjar, the Mu’tazilites and Isma’ilis),
[44]. The Definition of Wisdom,
[45]. God’s Command and Prohibition (in Agreement with AlNajjar),
[46]. God’s Promise and Threat (in Agreement with AlNajjar),
[47]. On the Correct Understanding of the Maxim ‘Whoever Knows Himself, Knows His Lord,’
[48]. Again; On the Use of the Terms : ‘Thing’ (shay’), Body (jism) and Being (huwiyyah) with God,
[49]. Again; Is God in a Place (due to His Istawa’ on The Throne)?
[50]. On the Application of the Categories ; What (ma), How (kayfiyya), When (ayna), and Action (fil) in the Teaching on God’s Attributes,
[51]. Theodicy; God’s Wisdom and Providence in the Creation of Harmful Beings and Substances,
[51]. The Disagreement of Sects on the Nature of the Universe,
[52]. Refutation of Dualism,
[53]. Refutation of Naturalism,
[54]. Approaches to Monotheism,
[55]. The Views of Muhammad ibn Shabib on the Existence and Attributes of the Creator,
[56]. Defence of the Necessity of Speculative Reasoning (nazar) in Theology,
[57]. Muhammad ibn Shabib’s Argument for the Created Nature of Bodies,
[58]. Refutation of the Teachings of the Dahriyya (materialists),
[59]. The Categories of Aristotle,
[60]. Refutation of the Sumaniya’s Thesis that the World is with no Beginning and Incessantly Sinks Downward ; AlNazzam’s Argument with a Commentary by Imam alMaturidi,
[61]. Against the Sophists; Muhammad ibn Shabib’s Argument with a Commentary by Imam alMaturidi,
[62]. On the Teachings of the Manicheans; An Exposition of their Incorrectness,
[63]. On the Teachings of the Daysaniyyah (followers of Bardesanes, i.e., Ibn Daysan); An Exposition of their Incorrectness,
[64]. On the Teachings of the Marcionites; An Exposition of their Incorrectness,
[65]. On the Teachings of the Magians; An Exposition of their Incorrectness.
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