Kalam

For other uses, see Kalam (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Qalam.

Ilm al-kalam or ilm al-lahut, often shortened to kalam, is the scholastic, speculative, or philosophical study of Islamic theology (aqida). It can also be defined as the science that studies the fundamental doctrines of Islamic faith (usul al-din), proving their validity, or refuting doubts regarding them.

Some scholars state kalām was formed out of the need to establish and defend the tenets of Islam against the philosophical doubters. This picture has been questioned by scholarship that attempts to show that kalām was, in fact, a demonstrative rather than a dialectical science and was always intellectually creative. It is also important to note that the definition of kalām has changed depending on the time and context and who it was used by.

The term kalām means "speech", "word", or "utterance". There are many possible interpretations as to why this discipline was originally called so; one is that one of the widest controversies in this discipline, in the second and third centuries of Hijra, has been about whether the "Word of God" (Kalām Allāh), as revealed in the Quran, is an eternal attribute of God and therefore not created, or whether it is created words.

A scholar of kalam is referred to as a mutakallim (plural mutakallimun), a role distinguished from those of Islamic philosophers and jurists.

Etymology

Many definitions exist for Kalam. One definition is that "kalām is the science which is concerned with firmly establishing religious beliefs by adducing proofs and with banishing doubts". Al-Farabi in his Iḥṣāʾ al-ʿulūm defined Kalam as "a science which 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". A common synonym isʿilm al-tawḥīd meaning science of the Unity (of God).

There are several proposed reasons behind calling this discipline Ilm al-Kalam. One reason is that it gave the person well-versed in it power and strength in kalam, i.e. speech and discourse. Another proposed reason is that the name originated from the habit of its scholars of starting the discussions in their books with "al-kalamu fi kadha". Yet another reason is that people who were involved in this discipline discussed issues (and as such were involved in kalam about these issues) in which Ahl al-Hadith remained silent. Other proposed reasons include that a mihna resulted from the discussion in this discipline of whether the Quran, which is regarded as the kalam of Allah, is created (makhluq) or not.

History

As early as in the times of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258 CE), the discipline of Kalām arose in an "attempt to grapple" with several "complex problems" early in the history of Islam, according to historian Majid Fakhry. One was how to rebut arguments "leveled at Islam by pagans, Christians and Jews". Another was how to deal with (what some saw as the conflict between) the predestination of sinners to hell on the one hand and "divine justice" on the other (some asserting that to be punished for what is beyond someone's control is unjust). Also Kalam sought to make "a systematic attempt to bring the conflict in data of revelation (in the Quran and the Traditions) into some internal harmony". Other factors that might have led to the necessity of the study of Islamic doctrines include the various nations that embraced Islam, and brought with them new ideas and doctrines, and the emergence of Zandaqa in the Islamic world.

In early Islam, Ahl al-Kalām essentially referred to the Muʿtazila, in addition to other smaller schools. Historian Daniel W. Brown describes Ahl al-Kalām as one of three main groups engaged in polemical disputes over sources of authority in Islamic law during the second century of Islam -- Ahl ar-Ra'y and Ahl al-Hadith being the other two. Ahl al-Kalām agreed with Ahl al-Hadith that the example of the Islamic prophet Muhammad was authoritative, but it did not believe it to be divine revelation, a status that only the Quran had (in its view). It also rejected the authority of the hadith on the grounds that its corpus was "filled with contradictory, blasphemous, and absurd" reports, and that in jurisprudence, even the smallest doubt about a source was too much. Thus, they believed, the true legacy of Muhammad was to be found elsewhere, i.e. in the sunnah, which is separate from the hadith.

Earliest oppositions of the doctrine of kalam such as Amir al-Sha'bi denounced the use of Qiyas (analogic deduction), which used by his contemporary scholar Ibrahim al-Nakha'i who followed Ahl ar-Ra'y school and used analogies in theology. He also tried to convince other scholars that Qiyās was not a valid argument. Al-Sha'bi was recorded to have said: "Beware of Qiyās. For when you use it, you make what is halal to be haram and what is haram to be halal.".

According to his own admission, Abu Hanifa, the founder of Hanafi school; was once observed kalam and became prominent scholar of the subject. However, he was later lost his confidence about kalam after he cannot solve the issue about Talaq (Divorce in Islam). Thus Abu Hanifah decided to completely abandon kalam and instead pursue the jurisprudence study under a tabi'un scholar named Hammad ibn Abu Sulaiman.

Ahl al-Hadith prevailed over the Ahl al-Kalām (and Muslims, or at least mainstream Muslims, now accept the authority of the hadith), so that most of what is known about their arguments comes from the writings of their opponents, such as Imam al-Shafi'i. Brown also describes the Muʿtazila as "the later ahl al-Kalām", suggesting the ahl al-Kalām were forerunners of the Muʿtazilites.

One of the most notable episode of Mu'tazila conflict with the Atharist orthodoxy in early medieval period was during the reign of Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun, where the long feud of Mu'tazila Quran creationism doctrine opposed by the scripturalists (Atharism) doctrine that Quran as shifat (attribution) of God which championed by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the founder of Hanbali school. Ahmad was recorded engaged in long debates against the leading Mu'tazilite and qadi of caliphate, Ahmad ibn Abi Du'ad regarding the said matter about the nature of Quran.

Later schools of Kalam like the Kullabis, Asharites and Matuiridis would develop systems that would defend the core orthodox creedal points of Islam completely on rational grounds, and were open to engaging in philosophy alongside the Quran and hadith. This was unlike the Mutazilites, whose kalam instead prioritised reason over revelation to the point where the Quran and hadith would only be accepted if it aligned with their interpretation of rationalism. The Hanbali school and followers of Ahmed Ibn Hanbal would generally avoid kalam and philosophical talk all together, seeing it as an innovation, and only address it out of necessity.

As an Islamic discipline

There are various view regarding kalam as theological discipline.

Abu Hanifah, founder of Hanafi school, was recorded to fiercely denounce kalam. He was recorded to scold a kalam scholar Amr ibn Ubayd, "May Allah curse Amr bin Ubaid, since he has paved the way for people who study the science of Kalam, even though this science is useless to them.". Abu Hanifa also said "(Kalam) are the sayings of the philosophers. You must follow the hadith of the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wasallam and the method of the salaf scholars. Stay away from any muhdath(innovation of theology) , because it is bid’ah).

Al-Shafi‘i, founder of Shafi'i school, held that there should be a certain number of men trained in kalam to defend and purify the faith, but that it would be a great evil if their arguments should become known to the mass of the people. However, in contradictory reports had al-Shafi'i strongly opposed kalam and its scholars (mutakallimun), such as report from his student Rabi' ibn Sulayman; and also how al-Shafi'i engaged in many debates against mu'tazila scholars. Al-Shafi'i goes as far as declaring that ahlul kalam "should be beaten with palm fronds, placed on camels, then paraded around the masses as punishment for abandoning sunnah in favor of kalam". Furthermore, Al-Nawawi, a 13th AD Shafi'i school jurist, has recorded in his work, Al-Majmu, that the compilation of al-Shafi'i own words that he strongly forbid the teaching and learning of kalam.

11 AD Maliki school scholar Ibn 'Abd al-Barr stated that his contemporaries consensus agreed that kalam was not a part of Islam scholastic discipline and considered it as deviation.

al-Ghazali held the view that the science of kalam is not a personal duty on Muslims but a collective duty. Like al-Shafi‘i, he discouraged the masses from studying it and that only the most able do so.

Hanbali Sufi cleric Khwaja Abdullah Ansari wrote a treatise entitled Dhamm al-Kalam where he criticized the use of kalam where as the Shafii hadith scholar Al-Bayhaqi approved of it in the correct framework.

15 AD Shafi'i scholar Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani has stated in his work, Bulugh al-Maram, that the practice of kalam or qiyas (analogy) was already discouraged even from the era of Companions of the Prophet. Ibn Hajar claimed this by quoting a hadith from Sunan Abi Dawud, which transmitted a hadith regarding the Wudu with the authority from Ali , fourth Rashidun caliph. In said hadith, Ali has narrated "If the religion is based on logical reason, the lower part of the khuf (sandal) should be rubbed (in Wudu ablution) instead the upper part. (however) I verily once saw the Messenger of Allah, may God bless him and grant him peace, wipe the top of both his khufs.". Ibn Hajr concluded this hadith as ruling out the use of kalam.

Bangladeshi Salafi scholar and academic Manzoor Elahi in his book "The Importance of Right Aqeedah in Reforming Society" edited by Abubakar Muhammad Zakaria says about Ilmul Kalam,

The Mutaqallimin called the Aqeedah studies "Ilmul Kalam" and the philosophers called "Al-Falsafa al-Islamiyyah" or Islamic philosophy, "Al-Ilahiyat" and "Metaphysics" (supernaturalism). About the latter names, Dr. Nasser al-Aql and many others say that it is not pure to call the Islamic Aqeedah by these names. Explaining the reason, Muhammad Ibrahim Al Hamad said, “Because the source of Ilmul Kalam is human intellect, which is based on Hindu and Greek philosophy. On the other hand, the main source of Tawheed is revelation. Moreover, Ilmul Kalam includes restlessness, imbalance, ignorance and doubt. That is why the Salaf Saleheen condemned Ilmul Kalam. And Tawheed is based on knowledge, conviction and faith,….. Another reason can be said that the foundation of philosophy is based on assumptions, false beliefs, imaginary thoughts and superstitious ideas”. Imam Harawi wrote a 5-volume book called ذم الكلام وأهله and Imam Ghazali wrote a book called تهافت الفلاسفة. Besides, Imam Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim, among other Muslim scholars have discussed in detail that 'Ilmul Kalam' and 'Falsafa' do not represent the correct Islamic belief.

According to British religion researcher Clinton Bennett, the study of kalam is considered by Muslim scholars to fall beyond the category of necessity and is usually the preserve of qualified scholars, eliciting limited interest from the masses or common people.

Major kalam schools

Sa'id Foudah, a contemporary Ash'ari scholar of kalam (Islamic systematic theology).

Sunni

• Ashʿari
• Maturidi
• Muʿtazili

Shiʿi

• Twelver (Theology of Twelvers)
• Ismāʿīlī
  • Nizari
  • Musta'li
    • Hafizi
    • Tayyibi

See also

• Istihsan al-Khawd fi 'Ilm al-Kalam
• Al-Fiqh al-Akbar
• Apologetics
• Jewish Kalam
• Kalam cosmological argument
• Logic in Islamic philosophy
• Logos (Christianity)
• Mihna
• Qadr (doctrine)
• Scholasticism
• Tawhid

Bibliography

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Further reading

• Brown, Daniel W. (1996). Rethinking tradition in modern Islamic thought. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521570778. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
• Eissa, Mohamed. The Jurist and the Theologian: Speculative Theology in Shāfiʿī Legal Theory. Gorgias Press: Piscataway, NJ, 2017. ISBN 978-1-4632-0618-5.
• Wolfson, Harry Austryn, The Philosophy of the Kalam, Harvard University Press, 1976, 779 pages, ISBN 978-0-674-66580-4, Google Books, text at archive.org

External links

• Kalam and Islam by Sheikh Nuh Keller
• Kalam and Islam, Living Islam
• Islamic Kalām: Rational Expressions of Medieval Theological Thought, Encyclopedia of Mediterranean Humanism