Islamic Theology: 'Ilm al-Kalam & Aqida

• 'Ilm al-kalam is Islamic Theology

Aqida

• Aqida translates from Arabic as 'aqada, which means 'to tie'
• Aqida is a manifesto of faith or belief
• Aqida is a list of things
• Creed refers to tenets of faith in English
• Dogma is a non-negotiable set of beliefs
• Doctrine refers to a set of beliefs that could be religious or political

'Ilm al-Kalam

• It represents the rationalization of faith
• It involves discussion of 'aqida
• It is Supported by Quran & Hadith as well as reason
• The subject covers divine attributes (al-sifat al-ilahiya)
• It also discusses predestination (qadar)
• Qadariya is a topic
• Jabriya is a topic
• Jahmiya is a topic
• Defining 'aqida is important as it acts as a statement of belief
• Defining 'aqida is important as it is a denial of what anyone else does not believe correctly
• The term kalam literally means "word"
• Kalam acquired the senses of conversation, discussion, and controversy
• Al-Farabi regards 'ilm kalam as a science that enables a man to procure the victory of the dogmas and actions laid down by the Legislator of the religion, and to refute all opinions contradicting them.
• Mutakallimun refers to scholars of kalam
• Kalam is the science concerned with firmly establishing religious beliefs by adducing proofs and with banishing doubts.
• 'Ilm kalam brings discursive arguments to the service of religious beliefs ('aqa'id)
• It thus provides a place for reflection and meditation, and hence for reason, in the elucidation and defense of the content of faith
• 'Ilm kalam takes stand against doubters and deniers
• Its function as defensive apologia cannot be over-stressed
• 'Ilm al-tawhid, the science of the Unity (of God), is a fairly common synonymous term
• It's understood as concerned not merely with the divine unity but with all the bases of the Muslim faith, especially prophecy.
• The method of 'ilm kalam is explicative and defensive
• It always postulates the existence of an opponent who is to be won over
• The choice of arguments and the method of presenting them will vary on the nature of the opponents
• Rational arguments were often the first to be advanced
• Rational arguments are primarily dialectical, and pursue very subtle lines of reasoning.
• Rational arguments are followed or preceded by traditional arguments or arguments from authority.
• These revolve around citations from the Qur'an; those adduced in direct support of an argument and those quoted by opponents whose faulty interpretation of them is attacked.

Al-Mu'tazila

• Al-Mu'tazila may be the first school of scholastic theology ('ilm al-kalam)
• Its origins are obscure, but may have been influenced by the Qadariyya and Jahmiyya
• The earliest scholars of this tendency seemingly came from Basra and the circle of al-Hasan al-Basri (642-728)
• Mu'tazilism took shape when it began employing Greek philosophy and Aristotelian logic under the auspices of Abu Hudhayl Hamdan al-'Allaf (753-841) and Bishr b. Mu'tamir (d. 841), in Basra and Baghdad respectively.
• Both theologians had influence in the 'Abbasid court, which was probably due to the ability of the Mu'tazila method to refute other religious positions in court debates.
• The doctrine of the Mu'tazila revolves around five basic principles (usul)
• Divine Unity (al-tawhid) means that God is incomparable and unique.
• This view is common to Sunni belief, but they employ it to mean that the Divine attributes (al-sifat) are not a distinct quality
• The divine attributes would indicate multiplicity but are in fact identical with His essence
• They deny their true nature to a large extent
• They believe that the Quran is created as it is considered the 'work' of God and not His speech, which also dictates that the Quran in their view is not eternal, as this would also indicate duality
• The Mu'tazila became famous for this position and it was adopted as the state belief which consequently led to the 'inquisition' (al-mihna) being enforced during the reign of al-Ma'mun (786-833) for thirteen years.
• Justice (al-'adl) means that God is just to His creation and does only that which is in their interests.
• They deny that any evil action can be attributed to Him and that human beings themselves create and determine such actions
• They reject the concept of intercession on the Day of Judgement as God is ultimately fair every human being will dealt with justly and hence will not be in need of anyone's intercession.
• 'The promise of reward and threat of punishment' (al-wa'd wa al-wa'id) essentially means that the righteous will be rewarded with good, whereas the sinful will be rewarded with torment.
• Each group will be recompensed due to them deserving it (al-istihqaq) and not due the actual promise of God
• A person who commits a major sin (murtakib al-kabira) will not be forgiven unless they repent
• The 'intermediate state' (al-manzila bayna manzilatayn) refers to a person who commits a major sin (murtakib al-kabira) is neither a believer (mu'min) nor a disbeliever (kafir) and is in an 'intermediate state' between belief and disbelief, which they term reprobate (fasiq).
• Finally, 'enjoining the good and forbidding the evil' (al-amr bi 'l-ma'ruf wa nahy 'an al-munkar) means that this process is a duty by whatever means are appropriate, i.e. via debate, knowledge or the sword, to propagate Islam
• It also means it is permissible to oppose the caliph if he strays from the truth.

Al-Ash'ariyya

• It is a school of scholastic theology ('ilm al-kalam) belonging to the Sunni denomination
• It is attributed to its founder Abu 'l-Hasan 'Ali al-Ash'ari (873-935)
• He underwent three stages on life, firstly, a period spent studying under the Mu'tazila master Abu ‘Ali al-Jubba'i (d. 915) until he himself became a renowned scholar of this school
• The second phase included his rejection of this theological school and his interpretation of Islamic texts in a manner that he considered to be in agreement with an intellectual approach
• In the third stage he rejected this method also and reverted to the understanding of the earliest Muslim generations, which was to believe in all the Divine attributes 'without stating how' (bi la kayf)
• He wrote extensively on matters of theology and the resulting sectarianism that occurred due to the different approaches to this discipline
• His most famous works include Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, al-Luma' and al-Ibana fi Usul al-Diyana.

Al-Ash'ari's works

• The Maqalat is a comparative theology text which showed people the opinions that existed
• Al-Luma' is a Hard-core kalam text to convince the mu‛tazila
• Al-Ibana is a traditional creedal text which presents the traditional perspective

More on Al-Ash'ariyya

• After the death of al-Ash'ari many scholars explained and commentated upon his works, thus developing his thought to a new and quite different teaching, because of their application of scholastic theology ('ilm al-kalam) and philosophy (falsafa)
• This later development of the school then became identified with being 'Ash'ari' until it became synonymous with it.
• Later scholars included Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Baqillani (950-1013), Abu Muzaffar Shahfur al-Isfarayini (d. 1027), Abu 'l-Maʻali 'Abd al-Malik al-Juwayni (1027-1085), Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazzali (1058-1111) and Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1150-1210).
• The scholars above played significant roles in the development of this school

Additional notes on Al-Ash'ariyya

• This school departs from the earlier generations in its methodology
• It differs in issues which relate directly to tenets of faith
• The use of the intellect (al-'aql) in dealing with issues has caused the approach tenets of faith in general
• It has also influenced how certain divine attributes of God (al-sifat) are understood
• Divine attributes such as God having a face (wajh), hand (yad) and foot (qadam), are reinterpreted as something else
• Divine attributes are considered 'intellectually incomprehensible' with regard to God
• The school has differed from the earliest generations as these Muslims saw no distinction, nor contradiction between the intellect and revelation
• Revelation takes precedence, whether is it is 'intellectually comprehensible' or not, as for them this was the meaning of having true faith
• They developed a theological discourse that directly countered the onslaught of Mu'tazila rationalism, defending the 'orthodox' position

The Later Ash'arites

• Al-Iji commented that the aversion to the discipline in his time meant that engaging in it had become 'among the majority a reprehensible thing'
• Ibn Khaldun, another Ash'arite writing during the same period (c. ah 779/ad 1377), deplored the fact that kalam had deteriorated and become confused with philosophy
• Kalam was becoming redundant because heresies it was meant to combat had become extinct
• Traditionalists prioritize revelation (al-wahy)
• Mutazila prioritize Intellect (al-'aql/al-wahy)
• Philosophers prioritize Intellect (al-'aql)
• Al-Ash'ariyya priorities al-wahy/al-'aql