A book about the beliefs of Ahl as-Sunnah regarding Allah's Names and Attributes. Allah's Names and Attributes (Al-Asma' wa al-Sifat). Al-Bayhaqi is the last of those who comprehensively compiled the textual evidence of the Shafi`i school including the hadith and the positions of the Imam and his immediate companions in a number of books including the twenty-volume "Knowledge of Sunnas and Reports" and "The Expanded Reference of Shafi`i Law". Imam al-Haramayn Ibn al-Juwayni said, "Al-Shafi`i owes a huge debt for al-Bayhaqi's works which established his school and his sayings." Al-Dhahabi comments, "If al-Bayhaqi had wanted to found a school of Law for himself he would have been able to do so." The imam penned treasures of Islamic knowledge, including "The Major Work of the Prophet's (s) Sunna" in ten volumes, "The Divine Names and Attributes", the seven-volume "Signs of Prophethood", the foremost book exclusively devoted to the person of the Prophet (s), the fourteen-volume "The Branches of Belief", and "The Major Book of Asceticism", narrations of the Companions and early Sufis. Al-Bayhaqi lived frugally in the manner of the pious scholars. He began fasting perpetually (sawm al-dahr) thirty years before his death acording to the practice of several of the Companions, the Salaf and others such as al-Nabawi.
Translated by: Haddad, Gibril Fouad |
