Islamic Scholasticism (HUMA2815)

Islamic Scholastism (Kalam)
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`Islamic Scholastism (Kalam)
The monotheistic history has experienced great arguments on freedom of will and predestination. These arguments have found roots into philosophical and theological debates. Arguments on free will against the command of God over everything in the world and Gods right to predetermination has been problematic to people who practice this form of religion. After Mu'awiya declared himself a Caliph, he started the Ummayad dynasty whose followers had organized themselves as a schismatic group. The Umayyad period saw the rise of thinkers with ideological differences regarding the Islamic theology. Understanding of the theological implications of the idea of free will is very important. Saying that men possess no free will implies that he cannot take any liability for his actions as his actions are predetermined by God. The likely consequences of this make it of great importance to understand the idea of freewill and predetermination. The idea of free will has great implications. It has also brought about a lot of confusion as the Quran itself contains verses that are in support of free will and predetermination. The Quran therefore formed one part of the argument. Political setup during the time of the Umayyad dynasty also led to the rise of the argument. The Umayyad dynasty split into two sects; Qadariyyah and the Jabriyyah. Followers of the former believed in the aspect of free will while the latter believed that their fate was predetermined by God and not action or trend could change that. The Ummayad dynasty upheld the aspect of predetermination. This meant that man could not be held accountable for his action as he lacks control over themCITATION Fre94 \p 169 \l 1033 (Denny 169). Umayyad dynasty killed political rivals and all those of contrary beliefs. The killings were further justified by the belief that such actions were predetermined by God and no action could be taken to avert them. The Quran makes many references in support of the theory of free will. Scholars during the Umayyad dynasty used these references to their advantage and justificationCITATION Fre94 \p 176 \l 1033 (Denny 176). Early writers gave the word Kalam multiple meanings with some Christian writers interpreting it to refer to teachings on essential nature of God; Christian writers have even used the word Kalam when making reference to the Bible. In the Islamic religious traditions, the phrase theology has most often been translated as Kalam to mean disputation or else, discourse. Scholars of Islamic traditions have disputed the idea of equating theology and kalam. Theology has taken a leading place in the Christianity unlike the kalamCITATION Fre94 \p 167 \l 1033 (Denny 167). Science should be able to guard the orthodox creed and protect it from any diffusion on the innovators. The orthodox creed is well defined in the Quran as well as in the words of the Prophet. Theologians are God sent and their main purpose should be to defend the orthodox and expose any misgiving that may be put forward by those who aim to distort the creed, rather known as the innovators (Lecture notes, slide 6). Classical definitions have emphasized the apologetic function of Kalam, this may be in a bid to appease traditionalists who have formed part of the greatest critics. Kalam has been one of the grounds upon which battles over what exactly constitutes true religious doctrines have been fought. Kalam dealt with attempts to justify religious beliefs and reason or otherwise trying to use reason to draw conclusions and further, consequences from held beliefs. Theology as a religious discipline aims seeks to provide intellectual structures for elements of faith. The study of theology/Kalam in Islamic intellectual traditions implies a broad range of investigations of contextually defined religious debates which helped articulate some most commonly accepted articles of faith (Lecture notes, slide 7).
Some important debates which helped development of Kalam centered on the notions of sin/sinner, free will and p...