Status of istighatha

Imam al-Qunawi (d. 777 H) explained the contents of 'aqidah as follows:

العقيدة: المعنى الذي عقد عليه القلب...وإنما سمي أصول الدين عقيدة لتعلقه بعقد القلب دون العمل بالجوارح، فكان المقصود منه نفس العلم، بخلاف علم الفروع، فإن المقصود منه العمل بالجوارح، كالصلاة ونحوها

"Aqidah is a concept to which the heart is bound...The foundations of Din are called 'Aqidah as they relate to the belief of the heart, not actions of the limbs. The objective of it is knowledge itself; as distinguished from knowledge of the peripherals, as its objective is acting with the limbs, like salah etc."

There are two kinds of knowledge or beliefs in Shari'ah.

1) There are those things that are believed in for their own sake. For example, belief in Allah and His attributes, belief in the prophets, the scriptures, the angels and the afterlife. These are the primary contents of 'aqidah.

2) Then, there are those things that are not believed in for their own sake, but for the purpose of practising on them. For instance, it is necessary for every believer to know that salah, sawm and zakat are obligatory, and adultery, lying and murder are forbidden. But these are not subjects of 'aqidah, because the purpose of believing in them is not the belief per se, but to act on that knowledge.

There are exceptions to this. At times, something related to an action will be mentioned in a book on 'aqidah because of a wrong belief some people might have about it. Hence, Imam al-Tahawi - following Imam Abu Hanifah - mentions the permissibility of wiping over the khuffs in his work on 'aqidah, although this relates to an action and not to something that is believed in for its own sake. This is because some people denied the permissibility of wiping over khuffs, despite its mass-transmission from the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and the Sahabah (radiyallahu anhum).

One important subject of 'aqidah is: what brings a person into iman and what takes him out of iman? In brief, two things can take a person out of iman after having entered it: 1) denial (takdhib) of what is categorically established and known to be from the religion; 2) something that is a clear sign (amarah/'alamah) of denial, like belittling a categorical ruling of Shari'ah or a symbol of Islam, saying words of disbelief, or doing something that would only be expected to proceed from a kafir, like prostrating to an idol (قال القاضي عياض: نكفر بكل فعل أجمع المسلمون على أنه لا يصدر إلا من كافر). From this perspective, istighatha may enter into discussions of aqidah, if some scholars feel that certain expressions of istighatha would only be expected to proceed from a disbeliever. The subject of tawassul relates to the etiquettes of du'a, which is a subject of Fiqh.

The subject of 'aqidah (also called "usul al-din") relates to issues of doctrine and the subject of fiqh (also called "furu' al-din") relates to issues of practice. [قال التفتازاني: الأحكام الشرعية منها ما يتعلق بكيفية العمل وتسمى فرعية وعملية، ومنها ما يتعلق بالاعتقاد وتسمى أصلية واعتقادية]

'Aqida consists of issues that are certain and absolute, denying which would amount to disbelief. But it also consists of issues that are not absolute, which to deny would not amount to disbelief. Similarly, fiqh consists of both kinds of issues.

For example, "fasting in the daylight hours of Ramadan is obligatory for a sane, mature, able Muslim who is not travelling etc." is a ruling of fiqh, and is not an issue of 'aqidah. Yet, it is an absolute ruling of Shari'ah, which to deny would amount to disbelief. "Whether angels in general are superior to men in general or vice versa" is an issue of 'aqidah, yet not something absolute.

Yes, in general, the subject of 'aqidah consists mostly of matters of absolute certainty (yaqin), while fiqh consists mostly of matters of probable authenticity (zann).

Nonetheless, the primary distinction between 'aqidah and fiqh is what was mentioned above.