Preface

The Author and His Works

1. The Metaphorical Interpretation of the Baring of the Shank (Kashfu 'S-Saq)

2. The Metaphorical Interpretation of "The Hand (Al-Yad)"

3. The Breathing of the Spirit (into man) (Nafkhu 'l-Arwah)

4. Metonym and Metaphor (in the Qur’an)

5. The Attribution of Scheming: beguiling and Mockery to Allah

6. The Attribution of Forgetfulness to Allah

7. The Attributes of Allah (Sifat Allah)

8. The Belief concerning the Origination of Human Actions

9. Concerning Human Actions (faslun fi af‘Ali 'L-khalq)

10. Predestination and Free Will (Al-Jabr wa 't-tafwid)

11. The Belief concerning Allah's Intention and Will (Al-Mashiah Wa 'l-Iradah)

12. The belief concerning destiny and decree (Al-Qada’ wa 'L-Qadar)

13. The interpretation of the reports concerning Al-Qada’ and Al-Qadar

14. The Natural Religion (Al-Fitrah)

15. Concerning Human Capacity (Al -Istita‘Ah)

16. Concerning Al-bada’

17. Concerning Religious Disputation (Al-Jidal)

18. The belief concerning the tablet and the pen (Al-Lawh Wa 'L-Qalam)

19. The Metaphysical Meaning of the Throne (Al-‘Arsh)

20. Concerning Souls and Spirits (Al-Arwah wa 'n-Nufus)

21. What Ash-Shaykh Abu Ja‘far has described about Death

22. The Belief concerning the questioning in the Grave

23. What Ash-Shaykh Abu Ja‘far has mentioned about Divine Justice

24. Chapter on Al-A‘raf

25. The Belief concerning the Bridge (As-Sirat)

26. Chapter concerning Al-‘Aqabat

27. The belief concerning reckoning and balance (Al-Hisab wa 'l-Mizan)

28. Concerning Paradise and Hell (Al -Jannah wa 'N-nar)

29. The Point of Unbelief

30. Concerning the descent of revelation (Nuzulu 'l-Wahy)

31. On the Revelation of the Qur’an (Nuzulu 'l-Qur’an)

32. The Belief on Impeccability (Al-‘Ismah)

33. Chapter on Excess and Delegation (Al-Ghuluww wa’t-Tafwid)

34. On Dissimulation (At-Taqiyyah)

35. That the ancestors of the prophet were monotheists (Muwahhidun)

36. Concerning the interpretation of the verse 42:43

37. On Prohibition and Permission (Al-Hazr wa 'l-Ibahah)

38. On Medicine (At-Tibb)

39. On the Divergent Traditions (Al -Ahadithu 'l-Mukhtalifah)

Bibliography

This text is a translation of Tashihu 'l-I‘tiqad of Abu ‘Abdillah,
Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Nu‘man, Known as ash-Shaykh al-Mufid (336/948
or 338/950 – 413/1022)


The Emendation of A Shi‘ite Creed

18. The belief concerning the tablet and the pen (Al-Lawh Wa 'L-Qalam)
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Ash-Shaykh Abu Ja‘far, may Allah have mercy upon him, says: "Our belief
concerning the Tablet and the Pen is that they are two
angels."ash-Shaykh al-Mufid, may Allah have mercy upon him, adds that
the Tablet is the Book of Almighty Allah in which He has written all
that will be till the Day of Resurrection. In the Qur’an we have:

***And We have written in the Psalms after the reminder, verily, my
righteous servants shall inherit the earth [21:105].***

Thus, the Tablet means 'the reminder' (dhikr). 'Pen' isthe name of that
thing by whose instrumentality Allah has caused the writing on the
Tablet. Hence, Allah has ordained the Tablet to serve as an original
record, through which the angels, peace be upon them, acquire the
knowledge of what is going to happen concerning what is hidden and what
is inspired.

When Allah intended to acquaint the angels with some secret of His, or
send a revelation (through them) to one of the prophets, peace be upon
them, He commands them to consult the Tablet, and from this they
memorize the ordinances which are to be communicated to those to whom
they have been sent, and thus they are informed of what they have to do.

This interpretation, more- over, was confirmed by the reports related on
the authority of the Prophet and the Imams, peace be upon them all. As
for those who maintained that the Tablet and the Pen are two angels,
they have indeed deviated from the truth, since angels cannot be called
tablets or pens, and since there are no linguistic precedents for an
angel or human being called tablet or pen.


