The Epistemology of Aqidah Education of KH. Muhammad Faqih Maskumambang in An-Nushus Al-Islamiyyah: From Theological Polemics to Moderate Islamic Education

This study aims to analyze the epistemology of aqidah education constructed by KH. Muhammad Faqih Maskumambang in An-Nushus al-Islamiyyah fi Radd ‘ala Madhhab al-Wahhabiyyah, particularly in establishing the relationship between textual authority, rational reasoning, and the scholarly tradition of Islamic boarding schools (pesantren). This qualitative study employs a library research method and content analysis of An-Nushus al-Islamiyyah as the primary source, complemented by relevant academic literature as secondary sources. The analysis applies the Islamic epistemological framework of bayani, burhani, and irfani, conceptually distinguishing scholarly authority based on sanad and ijma’ from irfani as the internalization of ethical and spiritual values. The findings demonstrate that KH. Muhammad Faqih’s epistemology of aqidah education is integrative, with bayani authority serving as its primary foundation, reinforced by burhani reasoning and the continuity of the salaf scholarly tradition. The dialogical and argumentative methods employed in the treatise also reveal pedagogical potential for fostering a moderate understanding of aqidah. The novelty of this study lies in reinterpreting An-Nushus al-Islamiyyah not merely as a theological polemical work, but as an epistemological construction of aqidah education integrating textual, rational, and traditional spiritual dimensions