What does a Muslim actually believe, and on what basis?
Islamic Creed and Divine Unity answers that question with rigour, clarity, and a sustained commitment to evidence. Written by Al-Sayyid al-Shaykh Hasan al-Saqqaf, a leading contemporary scholar of hadith, creed, and theology, this work presents the creed of Islam as established by the Noble Quran, the sound Sunnah, sound reason, and the verified inheritance of the scholarly tradition.
The book examines foundational questions of belief while critically addressing weak narrations, inherited errors, anthropomorphism, misinterpretation, and blind imitation. Rather than merely repeating dominant formulations, the author returns to the sources, weighing claims against the Quran, established prophetic reports, and the principles of hadith criticism. The result is a work of creed grounded in certainty, evidence, and divine transcendence.
Across five chapters, the book covers the valid and invalid evidences for belief, the preliminary obligations of faith, the divine attributes and the absolute transcendence of God, prophethood and the qualities of the messengers, and the transmitted matters of the unseen, including the angels, the intermediate realm, the Last Day, and the Prophet's household.
This English edition has been prepared with both students and serious general readers in mind. Each chapter opens with a summary to orient the reader and closes with questions for reflection. A chapter-by-chapter glossary of key theological terms and a full index further support study and reference.
This is a book for readers who want to understand Islamic creed not as inherited formulas alone, but as a living engagement with the Quran, sound reason, and the best of the scholarly tradition.
Abdurrahim, Walid: - Walid Abdurrahim is an Islamic scholar, writer, translator, and student of the traditional sciences. He has received ijazat from scholars across the Muslim world in theology, tafsir, hadith, fiqh, and Qur'anic recitation, and is licensed in the ten canonical readings of the Qur'an. His work is rooted in the mainstream Sunni tradition, with particular concern for sound belief, spiritual refinement, and love of the Prophet ﷺ and his family. He writes for English-speaking Muslims seeking access to the depth, mercy, and clarity of the inherited Sunni tradition in an age marked by online polemics, sectarian rigidity, and shallow readings of the classical heritage.
Al-Saqqaf, Hasan: - Al-Sayyid Hasan ibn Ali ibn Hashim ibn Ahmad ibn Alawi ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Saqqaf is a contemporary Muslim scholar from the noble Prophetic household, as indicated by the honorific "al-Sayyid," traditionally used for descendants of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, through Sayyida Fatima al-Zahra and Imam Ali, may God be pleased with them both. His great-great-grandfather, Sayyid Alawi ibn Ahmad al-Saqqaf, who died in 1335 AH, was the Shafi'i mufti and shaykh of the noble Husayni Ba Alawi sayyids in Mecca.Sayyid Hasan al-Saqqaf is known among serious students of creed and hadith for his critical care, his verification of scholarly heritage, and his examination of Prophetic hadiths, reports, and early scholarly statements. Among his most prominent teachers was the great hadith master Sidi Abdullah ibn al-Siddiq al-Ghumari, one of the leading hadith scholars of the twentieth century. Shaykh al-Saqqaf follows the Shafi'i school in jurisprudence.His scholarship focuses on Islamic creed, hadith criticism, correcting inherited errors, rejecting extremism, and defending the transcendence of God Most High against corporealism and anthropomorphism. He weighs theological claims through the Noble Quran, the sound Sunnah, sound reason, and the verified statements of recognised scholars of Ahl al-Sunna wa'l-Jama'a. His method is marked by hadith expertise, including knowledge of narrators, chains, subtle defects, and principles of authentication and weakening.A central feature of his work is affirming that God Most High is not a body, is not contained by place or direction, and is not described by limbs, organs, motion, sitting, settling, or any attribute of created beings.Sayyid Hasan al-Saqqaf has authored around 150 works. Among his notable books are Sahih Sharh al-'Aqida al-Tahawiyya, 'Iqd al-Zabarjad al-Nadid, Tanaqudat al-Albani al-Wadihat, Tanqih al-Fuhum al-'Aliya, and al-Tandid bi-man 'Addada al-Tawhid. In this book, he presents Islamic creed in a coherent, evidence-based manner, seeking to clarify, purify, and protect the foundations of faith.
