The ^Aqidah Of Ibn ^Asakir

I begin with the name of Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.  I praise Him and I seek His generosity and forgiveness. I humbly ask Him to raise the rank of Prophet Muhammad and protect his nation from what he feared for them.  I profess that no one is God except Allah, and I reaffirm my belief about Allah as beautifully stated by the famous Shafi^iyy scholar, Shaykh Fakhrud-Din Ibn ^Asakir, who died in 620 AH:

Allah is the only God in His Dominion.  He created the entire world, the upper and lower, the ^Arsh and Kursiyy, the heavens and earth, and what is in them and in between them.

All the creation is subjugated by His Power.  No speck moves except by His will.

He has no manager for the creation with Him, and has no partner in Dominion.

He is attributed with Life and His Existence does not come to an end (al‑Qayyum).  He is not seized by somnolence or sleep.

He is the One Who knows about the unforeseen and what is evidenced by His creation.  Nothing on earth or in heaven is hidden from Him.  He knows what is on land and in the sea.  Not a leaf does fall but He knows about it.  There is no grain in the darkness of earth, or anything that is moist or dry except which is inscribed in a clear Book.  His Knowledge encompasses everything.  He knows the count of all things.

He does whatever He wills.  He has the power to do whatever He wills.

To Him is the Dominion and He needs none; To Him belong the Glory and Everlastingness.  To Him are the Ruling and the Creating (al‑Qada‘).  He has the Names of Perfection.  No one hinders what He decreed.  No one prevents what He gives.  He does in His dominion whatever He wills.  He rules His creation with whatever He wills.

He does not hope for reward and does not fear punishment.  There is no right on Him that is binding, and no one exercises rule over Him.

Every endowment from Him is due to His Generosity and every punishment from Him is just.  He is not questioned about what He does, but they are questioned. 

He existed before the creation.  He is not attributed with a before or an after, an above or a below, a right or a left, an in front of or a behind, a whole or a part. 

It must not be said:  When was He?  Or Where was He?  Or How is He?  He exists without a place.  He created the universe and willed for the existence of time.  He is not bound to time and is not designated with place.

His management of one matter does not distract Him from another.  Delusions do not apply to Him, and He is not encompassed by the mind.  He is not conceivable in the mind.  He is not imagined in the self nor pictured in delusions.  He is not grasped with delusions or thoughts.

{لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَىْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ}

This ayah means:  [Absolutely nothing is like Him   and He is attributed with Hearing and Sight.]