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

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

***In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate***

*Praise be to Allah for His bounties, and peace be upon Muhammad and his
family. This is the emendation of A Shi‘ite Creed of Abu Ja‘far Ibn
Babawayh, may Allah have mercy upon him, compiled by ash-Shaykh al-Mufid
Abu ‘Abdillah Muhammad ibn an-Nu‘man\*, may Allah have mercy upon him.*

The learned divine, Abu Ja‘far [^1]Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn al- Husayn Ibn
Babawayh al-Qummi, died in 381 AH[^2], says, in the treaties of his
(Shi‘ite) creed, on the meaning of His, the Exalted's Speech:

***On a day when a shank (saq) shall be bared, and they shall be
summoned to prostrate themselves, but they cannot [68:42].***

as-Saq (shank) here means the result, or consummation of the affair and
its intensity.

Ash-Shaykh al-Mufid says: The meaning of the verse quoted above is
intended for the Day of Resurrection on which an important, hard and
intense matter will be disclosed, and that will be the reckoning and
scrutinizing of (man's) actions; the recompensing for (good or bad)
deeds, and the divulging of the heart secrets; the revealing of
mysteries, and the appraisal of good and bad acts. Hence, He (Allah)
designates by as saq the gravity of the matter; and by the same
reasoning, the Arabs used to symbolize the violence and severity of war
with their peculiar expression, "The war broke out [amongst us] (qamati
'l-harbu [bina] ‘ala saq)"[^3] .

And their poet, Sa‘d ibn Khalid, says:

*The war disclosed all its severety, and revealed its full calamity.*  
*The eagle of death appeared,*  
*Bearing in its train the decreed fate.*

Also, like this is their expression, "The fair is set up", (qad qamati
's-suq), denoting when the people crowd together, and buying and selling
goes briskly with much effort and exertion.

[^1]: N reads Muhammad ibn Muhammad, which is correct.

[^2]: Not found in N.

[^3]: See al-Maydani, Majma‘u 'l-amthal, vol.2, p.47; cf.,
az-Zamakhshari, al- Kashshaf, vol.3, p.210; ar-Razi, Tafsir, vol.8,
p.203.


