Topic 6: How was Aqidah recorded?

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ

Aqidah started as verses from the Quran, the Hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, and the statements of the companions. The Prophet ﷺ would teach the companions about topics of Aqidah, and these sayings would be preserved like any Hadith is preserved. Either it was written during the time of the Prophet ﷺ or after. Regardless the ahadith are remembered by the people and passed onto the next generations until they were written in Hadith books
Examples:

Muwatta, Musnad Ahmad, the 6 books of Hadith, etc.

Around this time, people started to write about Aqidah in general. They brought the ayat and ahadith to explain the correct Aqidah.

Examples:
-At-Tawheed by Ibn Khuzaymah(died 311 AH)
-Usool as Sunnah by Imam Ahmad(died 241 AH)

There were also refutations against people with the wrong Aqidah.

In the later years, books became much more specific, sometimes volumes for a single topic of Aqidah. For example, scholars in the later years wrote huge works on just the Sahabah.