Karamat (marvels of the friends of God)

Summary

"We believe in what has come of their karamat, and in what sound reports have transmitted of them from trustworthy narrators" ¹.

The wali and the prophet

"We do not prefer any of the awliya over any of the prophets, and we say: a single prophet is better than all the awliya" ² ¹.

The awliya in the creed

He says the believers are all "awliya of the Merciful", the most honoured of them with God being the most obedient and the most following of the Qur'an ³. On curbing what people claim: "nor one who claims something contradicting the Book, the Sunna and the consensus of the umma", and he does not believe a soothsayer or an augur ¹; see soothsaying.

In Ibn Taymiyya's al-'Aqida al-Wasitiyya

Ibn Taymiyya says: "Among the principles of the people of the Sunna is believing in the karamat of the awliya and what God brings about at their hands of the breaking of custom in sciences, unveilings, kinds of power and effects — like what is related of former nations in Surat al-Kahf and elsewhere, and of this umma's first generation of Companions, Tabi'in and all the umma's groups; they exist in it until the Day of Resurrection" ⁴.

In al-Ash'ari's Maqalat al-Islamiyyin

In "the account of the sum of the saying of the people of hadith and sunna" in Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari presents what the people of hadith and sunna hold, ending: "And in all we have mentioned of their saying we speak, and to it we go" ⁵. He relates there "that the righteous may be singled out by God with signs that appear upon them" ⁶.

What is not covered here

This entry presents the positions of the 'Aqida al-Tahawiyya, Ibn Qudama's Lum'at al-I'tiqad, Ibn Taymiyya's al-Wasitiyya, and what al-Ash'ari related in Maqalat al-Islamiyyin of the people of hadith and sunna and declared his own — each attributed to its book. The sayings of the Maturidis and the remaining Sunni and non-Sunni schools from their own books have not yet been added; the entry needs specialist review before promotion.

Opinions on the question

The question: What is the position of Ahl al-Sunna on the marvels of the friends of God?

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni (Hanafi)Main reference

Believing in the marvels reported of the friends of God and what is sound from reliable narrators

Held by: Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya (the Tahawi creed)

Basis: al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya, Dar Ibn Hazm 1995 articles 127 and 128, pp. 30 and 31

More opinions (2)

Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni (Hanbali)Main reference

Believing in the marvels of the friends of God and the extraordinary things God brings about at their hands

Ibn Taymiyya says among the principles of Ahl al-Sunna is belief in the marvels of the friends of God and the extraordinary things God brings about at their hands in knowledge, unveilings and kinds of power and effect, and that they exist in this community until the Day of Resurrection.

Held by: Ibn Taymiyya al-Aqida al-Wasitiyya

Basis: al-Aqida al-Wasitiyya, Ibn Taymiyya (al-Matba'a al-Salafiyya) p. 26

Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni (Ash'ari)Main reference

The righteous may be given signs by God that appear at their hands

Al-Ash'ari reports they say it is possible for God to give the righteous signs that appear at their hands.

Held by: Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari Maqalat al-Islamiyyin wa-Ikhtilaf al-Musallin

Basis: Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, al-Ash'ari (ed. Muhammad Muhyi al-Din Abd al-Hamid) p. 349

Sources

al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya, Dar Ibn Hazm 1995, p. 31

al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya, Dar Ibn Hazm 1995, p. 30

al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya, Dar Ibn Hazm 1995, p. 22

al-Aqida al-Wasitiyya, Ibn Taymiyya (al-Matba'a al-Salafiyya), p. 26

Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, al-Ash'ari (ed. Muhammad Muhyi al-Din Abd al-Hamid), p. 350

Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, al-Ash'ari (ed. Muhammad Muhyi al-Din Abd al-Hamid), p. 349