This Book
This text we present here is a doctrinal treatise by one of the scholars of our beloved homeland of Libya. The manuscript was hidden in a library, where its edges were being eaten away. I present it here to readers and researchers and to the younger generations of our country in order for them to see what was produced by the scholars of this country, God have mercy upon them and grant them His favour.
This text is quite compact and manages to summarize the general principles of Sunni doctrine according to the Asharī school in a few pages. As such, the text is appropriate as a primer to teach in schools and lodges (zāwiyas). As the author himself notes, it took him only an hour to compose.
Despite its brevity, this text represents a building block for the study of doctrine in Libya which followed the premier school of Sunni thought, the Asharī school, which combined reason with revelation. Many scholars of our country have authored books in the Asharī tradition, totaling over 150 texts of various types, from didactic poems, commentaries, and glosses.
It is noteworthy that despite the fact that this text was authored in Fizzān, the southern province of Libya, and was studied by students there, the only extant manuscript we have been able to find was contained in the illustrious library of al-Azhar, contained within the collection of the Riwāq al-Maghāriba (the Maghrebi Quarters).
This book contains a brief biography of the author, an edition of the manuscript, and an English translation of the text, all of which we present to readers and researchers of Islamic theology.