The Sanusi Creed Intensive
According to Imam al-Sanusi, Islamic theology is a demonstrative science and understanding it is religious duty incumbent on every Muslim.
To fulfill the need for Muslims having a basic understanding of core Islamic beliefs, Imam al-Sanusi constructed an entire curriculum of theology, taking learners from a beginner level to an advanced level.
This work, known as Umm al-Barahin (The Font of Demonstrative Proofs, or the Foundational Proofs), is one of the Imam’s greatest contributions to Islamic theology, and has received over the centuries dozens of commentaries and glosses over his own commentary.
“The first duty incumbent before anything else on the person who reaches the age of maturity is to exercise his mind on what will lead him with certain demonstrations and clear proofs to knowledge of his Lord […] and not to be satisfied with the lowly occupation of taqlid (conformism), for this does not avail him on the Last Day according to many verifying scholars.” (Sharh al-Kubra)
This classical text explains the core Islamic beliefs every Muslim must know and believe in:
- The twenty necessary attributes of Allah
- The twenty attributes that are rationally impossible for Allah
- What is possible for Allah
- The three necessary qualities of the Prophets and Messengers
- The three impossible qualities for the Prophets and Messengers
- What is possible for the Prophets and Messengers
The Sanusi Creed Intensive is a 40+ hour series covering the entire text of Imam al-Sanusi based on the famous gloss (Hashiya) of Imam al-Dasuqi al-Maliki (along with other commentaries and resources), covering:
- The ten foundations of the science of theology
- Epistemology—how we know what we know
- Judgements/propositions
- The legal judgement
- The empirical judgement
- The rational judgement
- Detailed descriptions of the ‘content of faith’
- The textual and rational proofs for our beliefs
- Contemporary issues in light of core Islamic theology
- How the ‘content of creed’ is implicitly contained in the testimony of faith ‘There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah
Epistemology
Clarity of thought and how we 'know what we know'
Theology
What we believe regarding the Divine and the textual and rational proofs in support of our creed
Prophetology
What we believe regarding the Prophets and the textual and rational proofs in support of it
"Know, dear brothers, that what is necessary in the creeds of the faith is knowledge (ma'rifa) and this is certain conviction that corresponds to the truth and is based on proof. Imitation, that is, certain conviction that corresponds to the truth but without proof, is not sufficient."
—Imam Ahmad Rumi Akhisari (Risala fi l-taqlid)
