Al-Qadir's book on the fundamentals (al-usul)

al-Suyuti, in Tarikh al-Khulafa, quotes al-Khatib that the caliph al-Qadir Billah was known for piety, night prayer and frequent charity. He studied jurisprudence under Abu Bishr al-Harawi al-Shafii, and wrote a book on the foundations of belief. ¹

The account says that the book dealt with the virtues of the Companions, and that it declared the Mu'tazilites and those who said the Qur'an was created to be unbelievers. It was read every Friday in the circle of the transmitters of hadith at the Mahdi mosque, in the presence of the people. ¹

Ibn al-Jawzi reports that the Creed of al-Qadir was read in the diwan in 433 AH in the presence of ascetics and scholars. Sheikh Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Umar al-Qazwini wrote his signature beneath it before the jurists did. The jurists then wrote after him that it was the creed of the Muslims, and that whoever opposed it had transgressed and disbelieved, according to Ibn al-Jawzi's text. ²

The ruling of unbelief here is attributed to the book and to the jurists who signed it, as Ibn al-Jawzi records them. Other points of view on the matter have not yet been added.