ILM AL KALAM (SCHOLASTICISM) PDF

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ILM AL KALAM THANVEER.T Introduction Ilm al kalam is the offspring of Islamic experience of intellectual works. A lot of scholars concentrated the reality of the world, existence of God and His manifestations and ethos. The History and discourse of Ilm al kalam had a very role in Islamic History and...

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‘ILM AL KALAM THANVEER.T Introduction Ilm al kalam is the offspring of Islamic experience of intellectual works. A lot of scholars concentrated the reality of the world, existence of God and His manifestations and ethos. The History and discourse of Ilm al kalam had a very role in Islamic History and intellectual field. Muslim mentality seemed to have tended to these subjects for a long time. Impact of Greek and Roman philosophy on Muslim scholars made them extremely rationalized in their theological works also. Some of them tried to defend Islam from those unislamic tendencies by the opponents’ philosophical methodology. Some were fascinated by the new philosophy which from the outside of Islamic boundaries, and preferred to those ideas. They even viewed Islamic philosophy in terms of Greek and Roman philosophy.

Definition It is difficult to establish precisely when ‘ilm al Kalam came to mean an autonomous religious science or branch of knowledge. In any case, whereas the term ‘ilm meant ‘the traditional knowledge’, the term kalam acquired the senses of “conversation, discussion, controversy” 1 In his Ihsa’ al ‘Ulum, al-Farabi regards “‘Ilm al 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 openions contradicting them”. 1

The doctors of Kalam (Mutakallimun) themselves were to take a very similar view: this isoneof many well-known definitions: “Kalam is the science which is concerned with firmly establishing religious beliefs by adducing proofs and with banishing doubts”.2 Similar definitions are to be found in Ibn Khaldun, and again in Muhammad ‘Abduh: they summarize a long elaboration, but add nothing new. ‘ilm al Kalam is the discipline which brings to the service of religious beliefs (‘aqa’id) discursive arguments; which thus provides a place for reflexion and meditation, and hence for reason, in the elucidation and defence of the content of the faith. It takes its stand firstly against “doubters and deniers”, and its function as defensive “apologia” cannot be over stressed. A fairly common synonymous term is ‘Ilm al Tawhid (science of the Unity of God) understood as concerned not merely with the divine unity but with all the bases of the Muslim faith, especially prophecy, especially al Jurjanis Sharh al Muwaqif. Another interpretation sometimes suggested explains ‘Ilm al Kalam as “science of the word of God”. The attribute of the world and the nature of the quran were indeed among the first themes treated, and discussions on this subject continued throughout the centuries. But this was by no means the first question undertaken nor that later treated at most length. It seems much more likely that kalam referred at first to discursive arguments, and the mutakallimun were “reasoners”. This was the case as early as the time of Ma’bad al Juhani (d.700 C.E.). kalam became a regular discipline when these arguments and discussions dealt with the content of the faith. It is

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this character of discursive and reasoned apologia which was to attract the attacks both of the traditionists and of the falasifa. According to De Boer, the Ilm al kalam “an assertion expressed in logical or dialectical fashion, was called by the Arabs, al kalam, the name was transferred from the individual assertion to the entire system. Our best designation for the science is the kalam is theological dialectics or simply dialectics. The name Mutakallimun which was at first common to all the dialecticians was in later times applied especially to the anti Mutazilities and orthodox theologians.

Origin and Development of ‘Ilm al Kalam In the days of Prophet (peace be upon him), companions and the followers, there was hardly any need of such sciences because whenever a problem raised it simply returned to the Prophet (pbuh). The lack of different opinions and scholars trust worthiness also were other causes. In this period Islam was confined among the Arabs only who were only interested in the spread of Islam, the holy Jihad and in the observation of worships rather the thoughts about gaybiyyat. They only tried to learn the Islamic teachings rather thinking about them. It seems that it is from the battle of Siffin and the schisms to which it gave rise that can be dated not of course the first meditations on the content of the faith but their grouping into tendencies and schools. The appearance of the three main politico-religious traditions, khariji, Shi’i and Sunni, set before Muslim thinkers the problem of “the validity of the Imama” and “the status of believer” which the imam must posess; thence arose the question of faith and 3

the conditions for salvation and the question of man’s responsibility, then, as parallel considerations, the nature of Quran (created or not created) and hence the stress laid upon the divine attributes, their existence and their connexion with the divine essence, and its Unity. Many other questions were added in course of time; but already at this early period- the age of the Umayyads and the ‘Abbsids- the essential themes which were to constitute ‘Ilm al Kalam had arisen. Whatever may have been the effect of external influences- discussions with Mazdean zanadiqa on good and evil in human actions or with the Christian theologians of Damascus on the word of God, and the discovery of Greek science and philosophy- kalam tended at first to take shape over specifically Muslim problems. The external influences probably had some effect as a result of the controversies, emphasizing some aspects of the subjects dealt with, giving direction to the choice of arguments and the method of argumentation. The fact remains, however, that ‘ilm al kalam is certainly not an ‘Arab adaption of Mazdean or Christian theology but arose within the Muslim community, where it preserved its own originality. We can conclude the major reasons which paved the way for the development of ‘ilm al kalam as below: 1. The new conversion of the people of other faiths, such as the Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and Buddhists etc. 2. Rise of schism in the Muslim community, such as Khawarijites, Shi’ites, Qadarites, Jabarites, Mu’tazilis etc. 3. The development of Islamic sciences and the new political issues. 4

4. Quranic denounces to learn and think about the world around us. 5. The fact that Islam denies the blind imitation and the belief on superstition lead to a new thought. It served as a major cause to think that Quran is either the world of God or his creation. Some other controversies also led on such Quranic terms as: Muhkam, Mutashabih, Nasikh, Mansukh, Dahir and Batin etc. 6. The compilation of Hadith literature also held in this period. Several studies on the authority of Hadith literature also made in this period. It also played a key role in the development of ‘Ilm al Kalam.

The fundamentals of this discourse are five: 1. Divine unity 2. Divine justice 3. The promise of reward and the threat of punishment 4. The state between belief and un belief 5. To order the doing of right and prohibit the doing of wrong In thesedebate, some Islamic groups got involved like as Kharijities, Murjieties, qadirities, Mutazilities, asharities and maturities.

Kharijities Due to the crisis between Caliph Ali and Amir Mu’awiya and serious position of some groups of Caliph Ali named kharijities. They called themselves the believers or the people of paradise while other party was the unbeliever, the idolaters or the people of hell. The reference to paradise and hell farther shows that the karijites regarded ultimate salvation or damnation 5

as linked with membership of the group. Because of this linking the kharijities were much concerned about associating only with the people of paradise and disassociating from the people of hell. Some went further and held that not all grave sins would lead to an eternity in hell. Najda for example, distinguished between what was fundamental in religion and what was not and insisted that for sins in non fundamentals. God’s punishment would not be in hell and would not be eternal, that is a man who admitted a single act of theft or adultery would not thereby become one or the people of hell. They boycotted Muslins other than themselves, did not marry with them, had no social or political transactions with them and considered killing them or looting their property as legitimate

The Jabarities It is the group of Jahm ibn Safwan and his adherents. He was advocate of pure determinism. Due to his thought he was put to death by Salim ibn Ahwas al-Mazini in Marw in the last days of the Umayyads. Jabr is a doctrine which denies that a deed is in reality to be attributed to man, as ascribes it to god. There are two main groups of jabarities. 1) The pure Jabarities who do not allow any deed at all to man, not even the power to act. 2) The moderate Jabarities who admit that man has power but maintain that it is a power which is in no way effective. Jahm ibn Jafwan agreed with the Mu’tazilities in denying the eternal attributes, but he also added other doctrines 6

1) It is not lawful to apply to god an attribute which is also applicable to creatures, because this would imply likeness between god and creatures, he, therefore denies that god is living and knowing, but maintains that he is powerful, an agent and a creator because to creature cannot be attributed power, action and creation. 2) God has cognitions which are not eternal and these cognitions are not in a substrate. According to Jahm ibn Safwan it is not right to say that god could know a thing before he created it, for the question would arise whether his knowledge remains as it was before or not 3) With regard to created power Jahm ibn Safwan says that a man does not have power over anything, nor can he be said to have capacity. Man is absolutely determined in his deeds. He has neither power, nor will, nor choice. 4) All motion in heaven and hell will come to an end paradise ad hell with both pass away after those who have gone to paradise have enjoyed its bliss, and those who have to hell have suffered its torments 5) If a man has knowledge of god but outwardly denies him, this denies does not make him an unbeliever because it does not take away his knowledge. 6) Jahm ibn sawan also agreed with the mu’talities in denying the beatific vision. In maintaining that the Qur-an is created, and in holding that knowledge is obligatory upon reason before revelation.

Other groups of Jabarities are:

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The najjariya -Husain ibn Muhammad al- najjar The Barghuthiya - Muhammad ibn Isa The Dirariya - Dirar ibn Amr The followers of Hafz al- Fard

Qadirities This group who asserted the doctrine of free will and held that man is responsible for his deesa. Ma’bad al-Juhani(d.743) was one who espoused these views and had to pay a heavy price. He was accordingly sentenced to death by the orders of Hajjaj ibn Yusuf. Qadirities quoted Qur-an to show that man could select, out of many ways open to him, the one that he wished or liked was Ghylan al-Dimishqi. The second important name among them is Ghylan al-Dimishqi. Umar ibn Abdul Aziz is said to have questioned Ghylan about his view and to have warned him of its danger and also warned others not to hold Ghylan’s doctrines of Qadr. His views again brought him into trouble in the Caliphate of Hisham (724- 743) and he is said to have fled to Armenia with a companion. Eventually he was captured and executed probably towards the end of the reign of Hisham. Those Qadirities more emphasizes in god’s determination. They seem to have been more of a sect than the Murjities, but there were different groups among them. Some of the kharitie rebels in the closing years of the Umayyads are said to have held qadiritie views of human free will.

Murji’ties 8

The word irja’ has two meanings. The first is postponement as in the words of god: ‘they said put him off, him and his brother that is give him respite or delay him’. The other meaning is to give hope. To use the term alMurji’a in the first sense for this group is correct, because they look upon deeds as secondary to intention and resolve. The term can absolutely be used of them in the second sense also, because they hold that disobience with faith is not harmful as obedience with disbelief is not beneficial. It is also said that Irjia means deferring the case of one who commits a grave sin to the Day of Judgment, in this world; therefore no judgment is made as to whether he belongs to the people of paradise or to the people of hell. If the world is understood in this way the Murjities and the Wajidiya are two opposing sects. Some say that al-Irja means bringing Ali down from the first to the forth people. In this sense the Murjities and shias became two opposed sects. The Murjities consist of four groups; the khariji Mujia, the qadiri murjia, the jabariti Murjia and pure Murjia. Muhammad ibn shahib, al- sehili and alKhalidi belonged to the Qadiritie Murjia.

Mutazalities Mutazalities are called generally as the rationalists in Islam. The leader of Mutazalities was Wasil bin Ata (birth 699 AD). He was a student of imam al Hasan al basri. The name Mutazaliities got from a warm discussion between the both teacher and student.

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One day someone went to Hasanul basri and said to him” o, imam, there some today who say that grave sinners are unbelievers. For them grave sin is unbelief by which one is cast out of the community. This group is the wajidiyya sect of the Kharijities. On the other hand, there are others who refer judgment on grave sinners. For them grave sin does not adversely affect a person as long as he has faith. Deeds, they hold, do not form on integral part of faith, sin therefore, does not adversely affect one having faith. Just as obedience is of no avail to one without faith, these are the Murjities( postpones). What in your opinion should we believe? While Hasan was considering this, wasil interrupted and said” I do not regard the grave sinner as a believer in as absolute sense, nor yet an unbelievers in an absolute sense. He is, in my opinion, in an intermediate position, neither believer or nor unbeliever” After this he arose and moved away to another pillar of the mosque where he began to explain what he had said to a group of Hasan’s followers. Hasan then remarked ‘Wasil has separated himself from us’. From then on Wasil’s followers were known as the mu’talities (the separatists). 1) Divine unity A) THE Qur-an has described God as the knower, the powerful, the living. It means that God possesses the qualities of knowledge power, life etc. But they had objection to this because they thought that by describing these qualities, plurality comes to Him which amounts to polytheism. They described divine attributes by saying that God knows, it powerful and so in and not that He possesses these 10

qualities. It means that qualities are not in the essence of God but are His expose, for example God is omnipotent by His omnipotence and it is His essence and not in His essence. B) The Qur-an is called the divine of speech of God, Muslims hold that The Qur-an is uncreated and has existed from all eternity with God, its revelation to the prophet of the course is an event of time. But Mutazalities denied the eternity of the Qur-an on the plea that God alone is eternal. According to them believing in uncreatedness of the Qur-an and making it co-eternal with God amounts to two Gods and hence polytheism. C) All the Muslims including Mutazalities maintain that the beatific vision is the basic aim of life. They differ in the nature of the vision. Mu’talities holds that God cannot be seen with physical eyes but he can be seen with our mind’s eye. They give the following Qur-anic verse for this “No vision can grasp him. But His grasp is over all vision” (an’am 103) This verse for them is of general application and means that physical eye cannot see God in this world or the next. D) In the holy Qur-an, these are many anthropomorphic expressions about God So glory to him in whose is the dominion of all things, and to Him will go all brought back (yasin 83) The Lord said, "O Iblis, what has prevented you from prostrating yourself before him whom I have made with both my hands? Are you assuming arrogance, or are you one of the high ones?" (Swad 75) 11

She floats under our eyes (al Qamar) (God) most gracious is firmly established on the throne (of authority) (thwaha 5) They interpreted all the anthropomorphic statements in the Qur-an such as the face, the hands and the eyes of God or His sitting upon the throne as merely metaphorical expressions 2) Divine justice It is maintained that God is not bound to do justice. He is absolutely free in what he does. The Mu’tazalities opposed this view and hold that good and evil can be apprehended by and distinguished through the activity of reasoning. There some evidences from quran; God never wishes injustice to His servants (gafir 31) Verily Allah does not wrong men (yunus 44) We shall set upscale of justice for the Day of Judgment so that not a soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least (anbi’a’ 47) They behaved in freedom of human beings and Gods justice/ therefore they called themselves people of justice and unity of God. They maintained that God would be justifies in punishing the sinners only if they were in their actions: 1) The promise of reward and the threat of punishment Their views of in this issue are on the basis of divine and punish the wrong and that he can’t do otherwise, while it is assigned by others that it is 12

certain that God will do so but if he has no discretion in this, then God is reduced to a dependent which is against His attributes. Their proof from Quran If anyone does good, the reward to him better than His deed but it any does evil, the doers of evil are only punished (to the extent) of their deeds (alqasas 84) To this verse, God has already conveyed the formula of reward and punishment. (People who do all this so) that Allah may reward them in accordance with the best of their deeds; indeed He will bestow upon them more amply out of His Bounty, for Allah grants to whomsoever He wills beyond all measure” ( al nur 38) 2) The state between belief and unbelief This principle is the foundation of them. They hold that if a believer commits a grave sin, he is neither believer nor unbeliever but comes in middle position. If he repents, he may be executed but if dies without repentance, he will go to hell-fire but His punishment would be lesser than an unbeliever 3) To order the doing of right and forbid the doing of wrong They considered this as compulsory upon every Muslim and they practiced this with the use of force also against those who did not subscribe to their views.

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Other beliefs 1. They deny that punishment and reward is given to the dead in the grave and he is questioned by the angels known as Munkar and nakir in grave 2. They deny the existence of kiraman katibin(respected writers) as recording angels on the plea that God is well aware of all the deeds done by His servants 3. They deny that heaven and hell already exist. They believe that they will come into existence in the Day of Judgment. 4. They deny the miracles of saints 5. They consider angels who bring message of God to the prophets superior in rank to the prophets.

Ash’arities and Maturidities The ‘resurgence of Sunnism’ under al Mutawakkil and throughout the 5th century was accompanied by an indictment of Mutazalism and concurrently, atleast by Hanbali and Zahiri traditionalists of kalam, as such: what was questioned was the basic principle of reasoned and discursive argument starting from the tenets of the faith. ‘ilm al kalam, however, not only survived but renowned itself. On this circumstances the two resurgence of Sunnism, Ash’arites and Maturidies entered.

Ash’arities 14

This group is related to Abul Hasan ali ibn Ismail al- Ash’ari (260324A.H). He was a staunch supporter of Mu’talizities and wrote for that up to his 4oth year in 300 A.H. He announces that he was no mo...