Islam - Beliefs, Practices, History

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These thinkers took a position that was intermediate between the traditionalists, who remained attached to the literal expressions of the primary sources of Islamic doctrines (the Qurʾān, Islamic scripture; and the Hadith, sayings and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad) and who abhorred reasoning, and those whose reasoning"/> <meta property="og:type" content="ARTICLE"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Islam - Beliefs, Practices, History | Britannica"/> <meta property="og:description" content="Islam - Beliefs, Practices, History: Islamic theology (kalām) and philosophy (falsafah) are two traditions of learning developed by Muslim thinkers who were engaged, on the one hand, in the rational clarification and defense of the principles of the Islamic religion (mutakallimūn) and, on the other, in the pursuit of the ancient (Greek and Hellenistic, or Greco-Roman) sciences (falāsifah). These thinkers took a position that was intermediate between the traditionalists, who remained attached to the literal expressions of the primary sources of Islamic doctrines (the Qurʾān, Islamic scripture; and the Hadith, sayings and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad) and who abhorred reasoning, and those whose reasoning"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Encyclopedia Britannica" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://cdn.britannica.com/63/115263-050-9D187C7B/Abu-Darweesh-Mosque-Amman-Jordan.jpg" /> <meta property="og:image:type" content="image/jpeg" /> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="init opengraph"> Mendel.openGraph = {"type":"ARTICLE","title":"Islam - Beliefs, Practices, History","description":"Islam - Beliefs, Practices, History: Islamic theology (kalām) and philosophy (falsafah) are two traditions of learning developed by Muslim thinkers who were engaged, on the one hand, in the rational clarification and defense of the principles of the Islamic religion (mutakallimūn) and, on the other, in the pursuit of the ancient (Greek and Hellenistic, or Greco-Roman) sciences (falāsifah). 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border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam">Islam</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/topic/Islam">Introduction</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref69137"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam#ref69137">The foundations of Islam</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69138"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam#ref69138">The legacy of Muhammad</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69139"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam#ref69139">Sources of Islamic doctrinal and social views</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69140"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Doctrines-of-the-Qur-an">Doctrines of the Qurʾān</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69141"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Doctrines-of-the-Qur-an#ref69141">God</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69142"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Doctrines-of-the-Qur-an#ref69142">The universe</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69143"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Doctrines-of-the-Qur-an#ref69143">Humanity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69144"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Doctrines-of-the-Qur-an#ref69144">Satan, sin, and repentance</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69145"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Doctrines-of-the-Qur-an#ref69145">Prophecy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69146"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Eschatology-doctrine-of-last-things">Eschatology (doctrine of last things)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69147"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Eschatology-doctrine-of-last-things#ref69147">Social service</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69148"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Eschatology-doctrine-of-last-things#ref69148">Fundamental practices and institutions of Islam</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69149" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Eschatology-doctrine-of-last-things#ref69149">The five pillars</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69150"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Eschatology-doctrine-of-last-things#ref69150">The <em>shahādah</em>, or profession of faith</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69151"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer">Prayer</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69152"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69152">The <em>zakāt</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69153"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69153">Fasting</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69154"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69154">The hajj</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69155" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69155">Sacred places and days</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69156"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69156">Shrines of Sufi saints</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69157"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69157">The mosque</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69158"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Prayer#ref69158">Holy days</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref69159"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-thought">Islamic thought</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69160"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-thought#ref69160">Origins, nature, and significance of Islamic theology</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69161"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-thought#ref69161">Early developments</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69162"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-thought#ref69162">The Hellenistic legacy</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69163"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Theology-and-sectarianism">Theology and sectarianism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69164"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Theology-and-sectarianism#ref69164">The Khārijites</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69165"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Theology-and-sectarianism#ref69165">The Muʿtazilah</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69166" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Sunnism">Sunnism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69167"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Sunnism#ref69167">The way of the majority</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69168"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Sunnism#ref69168">Tolerance of diversity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69169"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Sunnism#ref69169">Influence of al-Ashʿarī and al-Māturīdī</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69170" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Shiism">Shiʿism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69171"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Shiism#ref69171">Ismāʿīlīs</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69172"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Shiism#ref69172">Related sects</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69174" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Shiism#ref69174">Other groups</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref302602"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Shiism#ref302602">Sufism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69175"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Shiism#ref69175">The Aḥmadiyyah</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69177"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-philosophy">Islamic philosophy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69178" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-philosophy#ref69178">The Eastern philosophers</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69179"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-philosophy#ref69179">Background and scope of philosophical interest in Islam</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69180"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-philosophy#ref69180">Relation to the Muʿtazilah and interpretation of theological issues</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69181"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-philosophy#ref69181">The teachings of al-Kindī</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69182"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Islamic-philosophy#ref69182">The teachings of Abū Bakr al-Rāzī</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69183"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-al-Farabi">The teachings of al-Fārābī</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69184"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-al-Farabi#ref69184">Political philosophy and the study of religion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69185"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-al-Farabi#ref69185">Interpretation of Plato and Aristotle</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69186"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-al-Farabi#ref69186">The analogy of religion and philosophy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69187"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-al-Farabi#ref69187">Impact on Ismāʿīlī theology</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69188"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Avicenna">The teachings of Avicenna</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69189"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Avicenna#ref69189">The “Oriental Philosophy”</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69190"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Avicenna#ref69190">Distinction between essence and existence and the doctrine of creation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69191"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Avicenna#ref69191">The immortality of individual souls</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69192"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Avicenna#ref69192">Philosophy, religion, and mysticism</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69193" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers">The Western philosophers</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69194"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69194">Background and characteristics of the Western Muslim philosophical tradition</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69195"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69195">The teachings of Ibn Bājjah</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69196"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69196">Theoretical science and intuitive knowledge</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69197"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69197">Unconcern of philosophy with reform</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69198"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69198">The teachings of Ibn Ṭufayl</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69199"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69199">The philosopher as a solitary individual</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69200"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69200">Concern for reform</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69201"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-Western-philosophers#ref69201">The hidden secret of Avicenna’s “Oriental Philosophy”</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69202"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes">The teachings of Averroës</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69203"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69203">Philosophy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69204"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69204">The divine law</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69205"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69205">Theology</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref69206"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69206">The new wisdom: synthesis of philosophy and mysticism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69207" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69207">Philosophy, traditionalism, and the new wisdom</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69208"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69208">Philosophy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69209"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69209">Traditionalism and the new wisdom</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69210"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/The-teachings-of-Averroes#ref69210">Characteristic features of the new wisdom</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69211"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Critiques-of-Aristotle-in-Islamic-theology">Critiques of Aristotle in Islamic theology</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li 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link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69237">Muhammad</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69238"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69238">Other Qurʾānic figures</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref69239"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69239">Mystics and other later figures</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69240"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69240">Mythologization of secular tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref69241"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69241">Tales and beliefs about numbers and letters</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69242"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69242">Illustration of myth and legend</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref69243"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Islam/Tales-and-legends-concerning-religious-figures#ref69243">Significance and modern interpretations</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/Islam">Quick Facts & Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam/images-videos">Images & Videos</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative 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Author of <i>Islam </i>and others.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Fazlur Rahman</span>, <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Muhsin-S-Mahdi/1876" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Muhsin S. Mahdi</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">James Richard Jewett Professor of Arabic, Harvard University. Author of <i>Ibn Khaldun's Philosophy of History.</i></div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Muhsin S. Mahdi</span><span class="text-gray-700 mx-5">•</span><a class="see-all border-gray-700 gtm-byline" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam/additional-info#contributors">All</a> </div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-11-25T00:00:00CST" >Nov 25, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm 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Ghāzān</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Related Topics: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/Islamic-arts" topicid="295642">Islamic arts</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Islamic-world" topicid="295765">Islamic world</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Sufism" topicid="571823">Sufism</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/sharia" topicid="538793">sharia</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Shii" topicid="540503">Shiʿi</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/Islam"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="bg-gray-50 p-15 rounded module-spacing recent-news d-flex flex-column float-false"> <div> <h2 class="font-weight-bold font-14 m-0 d-inline"> News <span class="text-gray-600">•</span> </h2> <div class="recent-news-item first-recent-news-item d-inline"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/295507/226f2c9098f87149c05a95f1a9ee1540" rel="nofollow">Swatch wins Malaysian suit over watches the government said had LGBTQ+ elements</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 25, 2024, 6:01 AM ET (AP) <button class="btn btn-link d-inline p-0 font-12 js-toggle-recent-news"> <span class="text-gray-500">...</span><span>(Show more)</span> </button> </span> </div> </div> <div class="rest-of-recent-news-items"> <div class="recent-news-item mt-5"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/295507/2d242ffd84ea48d373cf6ef94399fb5c" rel="nofollow">Lebanon's Shiite Muslims pay high price in war between Israel and Hezbollah</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 25, 2024, 12:26 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(AP) </span> </div> <button class="js-toggle-recent-news d-flex btn btn-unstyled font-14 pr-10 rounded-sm mt-10" aria-label="Toggle additional news items"> Show less <em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_less"></em> </button> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><span class="marker h3"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref69159">  <span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Islamic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/theology" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">theology</a> (<em><span id="ref298969"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/kalam-Islam" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">kalām</a></em>) and philosophy (<em>falsafah</em>) are two traditions of learning developed by Muslim thinkers who were engaged, on the one hand, in the rational clarification and defense of the principles of the Islamic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/religion" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">religion</a> (<em>mutakallimūn</em>) and, on the other, in the pursuit of the ancient (Greek and Hellenistic, or Greco-Roman) sciences (<em>falāsifah</em>). These thinkers took a position that was intermediate between the traditionalists, who remained attached to the literal expressions of the primary sources of Islamic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/doctrine" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">doctrines</a> (the <span id="ref298970"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Quran" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Qurʾān</a>, Islamic scripture; and the <span id="ref298971"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hadith" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hadith</a>, sayings and traditions of the Prophet <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Muhammad</a>) and who <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="abhorred" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abhorred" data-type="MW">abhorred</a> reasoning, and those whose reasoning led them to abandon the Islamic <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="community" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community" data-type="MW">community</a> (the <em>ummah</em>) altogether. The status of the believer in Islam remained in practice a juridical question, not a matter for theologians or philosophers to decide. Except in regard to the fundamental questions of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/existence-of-God" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">existence of God</a>, Islamic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/revelation" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">revelation</a>, and future reward and punishment, the juridical conditions for declaring someone an unbeliever or beyond the pale of Islam were so demanding as to make it almost impossible to make a valid declaration of this sort about a professing Muslim. In the course of events in Islamic history, representatives of certain theological movements, who happened to be jurists and who succeeded in converting rulers to their cause, made those rulers declare in favour of their movements and even encouraged them to persecute their opponents. Thus there arose in some localities and periods a semblance of an official, or <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/orthodox" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">orthodox</a>, doctrine.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span> <section data-level="2" id="ref69160"><h2 class="h2">Origins, nature, and significance of Islamic theology</h2> <section data-level="3" id="ref69161"><h2 class="h3">Early developments</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The beginnings of theology in the Islamic tradition in the second half of the 7th century are not easily distinguishable from the beginnings of a number of other disciplines—Arabic philology, Qurʾānic interpretation, the collection of the sayings and deeds of Muhammad (Hadith), jurisprudence (<em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/fiqh" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">fiqh</a></em>), and historiography. Together with these other <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="disciplines" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disciplines" data-type="MW">disciplines</a>, Islamic theology is concerned with <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ascertaining" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ascertaining" data-type="MW">ascertaining</a> the facts and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="context" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/context" data-type="MW">context</a> of the Islamic revelation and with understanding its meaning and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="implications" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/implications" data-type="MW">implications</a> as to what Muslims should believe and do after the revelation had ceased and the Islamic community had to chart its own way. During the first half of the 8th century, a number of questions—which centred on God’s unity, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="justice" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justice" data-type="MW">justice</a>, and other attributes and which were relevant to human freedom, actions, and fate in the hereafter—formed the core of a more-specialized <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="discipline" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discipline" data-type="MW">discipline</a>, which was called <em>kalām</em> (“speech”) because of the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="rhetorical" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhetorical" data-type="MW">rhetorical</a> and dialectical “speech” used in formulating the principal matters of Islamic belief, debating them, and defending them against Muslim and non-Muslim opponents. Gradually, <em>kalām</em> came to include all matters directly or indirectly relevant to the establishment and definition of religious beliefs, and it developed its own necessary or useful systematic rational arguments about human knowledge and the makeup of the world. Despite various efforts by later thinkers to fuse the problems of <em>kalām</em> with those of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">philosophy</a> (and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/mysticism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">mysticism</a>), theology preserved its relative independence from philosophy and other nonreligious sciences. It remained true to its original traditional and religious point of view, confined itself within the limits of the Islamic revelation, and assumed that these limits as it understood them were identical with the limits of truth.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span></section> <section data-level="3" id="ref69162"><h2 class="h3">The Hellenistic legacy</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The pre-Islamic and non-Islamic <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="legacy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legacy" data-type="MW">legacy</a> with which early Islamic theology came into contact included almost all the religious thought that had survived and was being defended or disputed in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Egypt" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Egypt</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Syria" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Syria</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Iran" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Iran</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/India" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">India</a>. It was transmitted by learned representatives of various Christian, Jewish, <span id="ref298973"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Manichaeism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Manichaean</a> (members of a dualistic religion founded by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mani-Iranian-religious-leader" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mani</a>, an Iranian prophet, in the 3rd century), <span id="ref298974"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zoroastrianism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Zoroastrian</a> (members of a monotheistic, but later dualistic, religion founded by Zoroaster, an Iranian prophet who lived before the 6th century <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>), Indian (<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hinduism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hindu</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Buddhist</a>, primarily), and <span id="ref298975"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sabians" class="md-crosslink ">Ṣābian</a> (star worshippers of Harran often confused with the Mandaeans) <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="communities" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/communities" data-type="MW">communities</a> and by early converts to Islam <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conversant" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conversant" data-type="MW">conversant</a> with the teachings, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacred" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">sacred</a> writings, and doctrinal history of the religions of these areas. At first, access to this legacy was primarily through conversations and disputations with such men, rather than through full and accurate translations of sacred texts or theological and philosophic writings, although some translations from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pahlavi-language" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pahlavi</a> (a Middle Persian dialect), <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Syriac-language" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Syriac</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Greek-language" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Greek</a> must also have been available.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The characteristic approach of early Islamic theology to non-Muslim literature was through oral disputations, the starting points of which were the statements presented or defended (orally) by the opponents. Oral disputation continued to be used in theology for centuries, and most theological writings reproduce or imitate that form. From such oral and written disputations, writers on religions and sects collected much of their information about non-Muslim sects. Much of Hellenistic (post-3rd-century-<span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span> Greek cultural), Iranian, and Indian religious thought was thus encountered in an informal and indirect manner.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">From the 9th century onward, theologians had access to an increasingly larger body of translated texts, but by then they had taken most of their basic positions. They made a selective use of the translation literature, ignoring most of what was not useful to them until the mystical theologian <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Ghazali" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">al-Ghazālī</a> (flourished 11th–12th centuries) showed them the way to study it, distinguish between the harmless and harmful doctrines contained in it, and refute the latter. By this time Islamic theology had coined a vast number of technical terms, and theologians (e.g., <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Jahiz" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">al-Jāḥiẓ</a>) had forged Arabic into a versatile language of science; Arabic philology had matured; and the religious sciences (jurisprudence, the study of the Qurʾān, Hadith, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="criticism" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/criticism" data-type="MW">criticism</a>, and history) had developed complex techniques of textual study and interpretation. The 9th-century translators availed themselves of these advances to meet the needs of patrons. Apart from demands for medical and mathematical works, the translation of Greek learning was fostered by the early <span id="ref298976"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abbasid-caliphate" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">ʿAbbāsid</a> caliphs (8th–9th centuries) and their viziers as additional weapons (the primary weapon was theology itself) against the threat of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Manichaeism" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Manichaeism</a> and other subversive ideas that went under the name <em>zandaqah</em> (“heresy” or “atheism”).</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/contributor/Muhsin-S-Mahdi/1876">Muhsin S. Mahdi</a></span> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</a></span></section></section> </section><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":5,"pagesTotal":20,"pageId":295507,"pageLength":998,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"A","adLeg":"A","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":5,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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