Schools of Islamic theology

See Islamic schools and branches for sectarian divisions within Islam; see Aqidah for the concept of "creed" in Islam; see Kalam for the concept of theological discourse.

Schools of Islamic theology are various Islamic schools and branches in different schools of thought regarding ʿaqīdah (creed). The main schools of Islamic Theology include the Qadariyah, Falasifa, Jahmiyya, Murji'ah, Muʿtazila, Batiniyya, Ashʿarī, Māturīdī, and Aṯharī.

The Meeting of the Theologians, Persian painting by Abd Allah Musawwir (mid-16th century), Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

The main schism between Sunnī, Shīʿa, and Kharijite branches of Islam was initially more political than theological, but over time theological differences have developed throughout the history of Islam.^[1]

Divinity schools in Islam

Main articles: Aqidah and Islamic schools and branches

According to the Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān (2006), "The Qurʾān displays a wide range of theological topics related to the religious thought of late antiquity and through its prophet Muḥammad presents a coherent vision of the creator, the cosmos and man. The main issues of Muslim theological dispute prove to be hidden under the wording of the qurʾānic message, which is closely tied to Muḥammad's biography".^[2] However, modern historians and scholars of Islamic studies recognize that some instances of theological thought were already developed among polytheistic Pagans in pre-Islamic Arabia, such as the belief in fatalism (ḳadar), which reoccurs in Islamic theology regarding the metaphysical debates on the attributes of God in Islam, predestination, and human free-will.^[3][4]

The original schism between Kharijites, Sunnīs, and Shīʿas among Muslims was disputed over the political and religious succession to the guidance of the Muslim community (Ummah) after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.^[1] From their essentially political position, the Kharijites developed extreme doctrines that set them apart from both mainstream Sunnī and Shīʿa Muslims.^[1] Shīʿas believe ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib is the true successor to Muhammad, while Sunnīs consider Abu Bakr to hold that position. The Kharijites broke away from both the Shīʿas and the Sunnīs during the First Fitna (the first Islamic Civil War);^[1] they were particularly noted for adopting a radical approach to takfīr (excommunication), whereby they declared both Sunnī and Shīʿa Muslims to be either infidels (kuffār) or false Muslims (munāfiḳūn), and therefore deemed them worthy of death for their perceived apostasy (ridda).^[1]

ʿAqīdah is an Islamic term meaning "creed" or "belief".^[5] Any religious belief system, or creed, can be considered an example of ʿaqīdah. However, this term has taken a significant technical usage in Muslim history and theology, denoting those matters over which Muslims hold conviction. The term is usually translated as "theology". Such traditions are divisions orthogonal to sectarian divisions within Islam, and a Muʿtazilite may, for example, belong to the Jaʿfari, Zaydī, or even Ḥanafī schools of Islamic jurisprudence.

One of the earliest systematic schools of Islamic theology to develop was the Muʿtazila in the mid-8th century CE.^[3][6] Muʿtazilites emphasized the use of reason and rational thought, positing that the injunctions of God are accessible through rational thought and inquiry, and affirmed that the Quran was created (makhlūq) rather than co-eternal with God, which would develop into one of the most contentious questions in the history of Islamic theology.^[3][6] In the 10th century CE, the Ashʿarī school developed as a response to the Muʿtazila. Ashʿarītes still taught the use of reason in understanding the Quran, but denied the possibility to deduce moral truths by reasoning. This position was opposed by the Māturīdī school, which taught that certain moral truths may be found by the use of reason alone, without the aid of revelation.

Another point of contention was the relative position of imān ("faith") contrasted with taqwā ("piety"). Such schools of Islamic theology are summarized under ʿIlm al-Kalām, or "science of discourse", as opposed to mystical schools who deny that any theological truth may be discovered by means of discourse or reason.

Sunnī schools of theology

Main article: Sunni Islam

 

Sunnī schools of thought^[7]

"Most Sunnis have adopted" the Ash‘ariyya school of theology,^[8] but the similar Mātūrīd’iyyah school also has Sunni adherents.^[9]Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam and are known as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘h or simply as Ahl as-Sunnah. The word Sunni comes from the word sunnah, which means the teachings and actions or examples of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Therefore, the term "Sunni" refers to those who follow or maintain the sunnah of the prophet Muhammad.

The Sunnis believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor to lead the Muslim ummah (community) before his death, and after an initial period of confusion, a group of his most prominent companions gathered and elected Abu Bakr, Muhammad's close friend and a father-in-law, as the first caliph of Islam. Sunni Muslims regard the first four caliphs (Abu Bakr, `Umar ibn al-Khattāb, Uthman Ibn Affan and Ali ibn Abu Talib) as "al-Khulafā’ur-Rāshidūn" or "The Rightly Guided Caliphs". After the Rashidun, the position turned into a hereditary right and the caliph's role was limited to being a political symbol of Muslim strength and unity.

Athari

Main article: Traditionalist Theology (Islam)

Atharism (Arabic: أثري; textualism) is a movement of Islamic scholars who reject rationalistic Islamic theology (kalam) in favor of strict textualism in interpreting the Quran.^[10] The name is derived from the Arabic word athar, literally meaning "remnant" and also referring to a "narrative".^[11] Their disciples are called the Athariyya, or Atharis.

For followers of the Athari movement, the "clear" meaning of the Qur'an, and especially the prophetic traditions, has sole authority in matters of belief, and to engage in rational disputation (kalam), even if one arrives at the truth, is absolutely forbidden.^[12] Atharis engage in an amodal reading of the Quran, as opposed to one engaged in ta'wil (metaphorical interpretation). They do not attempt to conceptualize the meanings of the Quran rationally, and believe that the "real" meaning should be consigned to God alone (tafwid).^[13] In essence, the meaning has been accepted without asking "how" or "Bi-la kaifa".

On the other hand, the famous Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Jawzi states, in Kitab Akhbar as-Sifat, that Ahmad ibn Hanbal would have been opposed to anthropomorphic interpretations of Quranic texts such as those of al-Qadi Abu Ya'la, Ibn Hamid, and Ibn az-Zaghuni.^[14] Based on Abu'l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi's criticism of Athari-Hanbalis, Muhammad Abu Zahra, a Professor of Islamic law at Cairo University deduced that the Salafi aqidah is located somewhere between ta'tili and anthropopathy (Absolute Ẓāhirīsm in understanding the tashbih in Qur'an)^[15][16] in Islam. Absolute Ẓāhirīsm and total rejection of ta'wil are amongst the fundamental characteristics of this "new" Islamic school of theology.

ʿIlm al-Kalām

Main article: Ilm al-Kalam

ʿIlm al-Kalām (Arabic: علم الكلام, literally "science of discourse"),^[5] usually foreshortened to kalām and sometimes called "Islamic scholastic theology" or "speculative theology", is a rational undertaking born out of the need to establish and defend the tenets of Islamic faith against doubters and detractors.^[17] ʿIlm al-Kalām incorporates Aristotelian reasoning and logic into Islamic theology.^[6] A Muslim scholar of kalām is referred to as a mutakallim (plural: mutakallimūn) as distinguished from philosophers, jurists, and scientists.^[18] There are many possible interpretations as to why this discipline was originally called kalām; one is that the widest controversy in this discipline has been about whether the Word of God, as revealed in the Quran, can be considered part of God's essence and therefore not created, or whether it was made into words in the normal sense of speech, and is therefore created.^[6] There are many schools of Kalam, the main ones being the Mutazila,^[19] the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools in Sunni Islam. Traditionalist theology rejects the use of kalam, regarding humans reason as sinful in unseen matters.^[20]

Muʿtazila

Main article: Muʿtazila

Further information: Wasil Ibn 'Ata', Ibrahim al-Nazzam, Al-Jubba'i, Abd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad, and Abu'l Husayn al-Basri

Muʿtazila is a school of theology that appeared in early Islāmic history and were known for their neutrality in the dispute between Alī and his opponents after the death of the third caliph, Uthman. By the 10th century CE the term had also come to refer to an Islamic school of speculative theology (kalām) that flourished in Basra and Baghdad (8th–10th century).^[21][22][23] According to Sunni sources, Muʿtazili theology originated in the eighth century in Basra (now in Iraq) when Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭā' (died 131 AH/748 AD) withdrew (iʿtazala, hence the name Mu'tazila) from the teaching lessons of Hasan al-Basri after a theological dispute regarding the issue of al-Manzilah bayna al-Manzilatayn (a position between two positions), where Wasil ibn Ata reasoned that a grave sinner (fāsiq) could be classed neither as believer nor unbeliever but was in an intermediate position (al-manzilah bayna manzilatayn).^[24]

The later Mu'tazila school developed an Islamic type of rationalism, partly influenced by Ancient Greek philosophy, based around three fundamental principles: the oneness (Tawhid) and justice (Al-'adl) of God,^[25] human freedom of action, and the creation of the Quran.^[26] The Muʿtazilites are best known for rejecting the doctrine of the Quran as uncreated and co-eternal with God,^[27] asserting that if the Quran is the word of God, he logically "must have preceded his own speech".^[28] This went against the orthodox Sunni position which argued that with God being all knowing, his knowledge of the Quran must have been eternal, hence uncreated just like him.^[29] Though Muʿtazilis later relied on logic and different aspects of early Islamic philosophy, ancient Greek philosophy, and Indian philosophy, the basics of Islam is their starting point and ultimate reference.^[30][31]

Several groups were later influenced by Muʿtazilite theology, such as the Bishriyya, who followed the teachings of Bishr ibn al-Mu'tamir, and the Bahshamiyya, who followed the teachings of Abu Hashim al-Jubba'i.^[32][33]

Ashʿarīyyah

Main article: Ash'ari

Further information: Abu Hasan al-Ash'ari, Al-Ghazali, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, and Fakhr al-Din al-Razi

Ashʿarīyyah is a school of theology that was founded by the Arab Muslim scholar, reformer, and scholastic theologian Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī in the 9th–10th century who developed the school of thought founded by Ibn Kullab a century earlier.^[34][35][36]

It established an orthodox guideline^[37][38] based on scriptural authority,^[34][36][39] rationality,^{[34][39][40][41][42]} and theological rationalism.^{[34][39][41][43][44][45]} As a young man, al-Ashʿarī studied under al-Jubba'i, a renowned teacher of Muʿtazilite theology and philosophy.^[46][47] He was noted for his teachings on atomism,^[48] among the earliest Islamic philosophies, and for al-Ashʿarī this was the basis for propagating the view that God created every moment in time and every particle of matter. He nonetheless believed in free will, elaborating the thoughts of Dirar ibn 'Amr and Abu Hanifa into a "dual agent" or "acquisition" (iktisab) account of free will.^[49]

Al-Ashʿarī established a middle way between the doctrines of the Aṯharī and Muʿtazila schools of Islamic theology, based both on reliance on the sacred scriptures of Islam and theological rationalism concerning the agency and attributes of God.^[34][36][39] The Ashʿarī school reasoned that truth can only be known through revelation, and that without revelation the unaided human mind wouldn't be able to know if something is good or evil. It has been called "an attempt to create a middle position" between the rationalism of the Muʿtazilites and scripturalism of the traditionalists.^[50] In an attempt to explain how God has power and control over everything, but humans are responsible for their sins, al-Ashʿarī developed the doctrine of kasb (acquisition), whereby any and all human acts, even the raising of a finger, are created by God, but the human being who performs the act is responsible for it, because they have "acquired" the act.^[51] While al-Ashʿarī opposed the views of the rival Muʿtazilite school, he was also opposed to the view which rejected all debate, held by certain schools such as the Zahiri ("literalist"), Mujassimite ("anthropotheist"), and Muhaddithin ("traditionalist") schools for their over-emphasis on taqlid (imitation) in his Istihsan al‑Khaud.^[52]

Ashʿarism eventually became the predominant school of theological thought within Sunnī Islam,^[35][36][53] and is regarded by some as the single most important school of Islamic theology in the history of Islam.^[35] Amongst the most famous Ashʿarite theologians are Imam Nawawi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Ghazali, al-Suyuti, Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Ibn 'Asakir, al-Subki, al-Taftazani, al-Baqillani and al-Bayhaqi.^[54]

Mātūrīd’iyyah

Main article: Maturidi

The Maturidi school was founded by Abu Mansur al-Maturidi, and is the most popular theological school amongst Muslims, especially in the areas formerly controlled by the Ottomans and the Mughals. Today, the Maturidi school is the position favored by the Ahl ar-Ra'y ("people of reason"), which includes only the Hanafi school of fiqh who make up the majority of Sunni Muslims.^[55]

The Maturidi school takes the middle position between the Ash'ari and Mu'tazili schools on the questions of knowing truth and free will. The Maturidis say that the unaided human mind is able to find out that some of the more major sins such as alcohol or murder are evil without the help of revelation, but still maintain that revelation is the ultimate source of knowledge. Additionally, the Maturidi believe that God created and can control all of His creation, but that He allows humans to make individual decisions and choices for themselves.

Ethics are considered to have objective existence. Humans are thus capable of recognizing good and bad without revelation, but reason alone.^[56] However, prophets and revelation are necessary to explain matters beyond human reason.^[57] In matters of the six articles of faith, Māturīdism notably holds the idea that paradise and hell coexist with the current world, and does not adhere to the doctrine of impeccability of angels.^[58][59]

Jahmiyyah

Main article: Jahmites

Jahmis were the followers of the Islamic theologian Jahm bin Safwan who associate himself with Al-Harith ibn Surayj. He was an exponent of extreme determinism according to which a man acts only metaphorically in the same way in which the sun acts or does something when it sets.^[60] This is the position adopted by the Ash'ari school, which holds that God's omnipotence is absolute and perfect over all creation.

Qadariyyah

Main article: Qadariyyah

Qadariyyah is an originally derogatory term designating early Islamic theologians who asserted human beings are ontologically free and have a perfect free will, whose exercise justifies divine punishment and absolving God of responsibility for evil in the world.^[61][62] Their doctrines were adopted by the Mu'tazilis and rejected by the Ash'aris.^[61] The tension between free will and God's omnipotence was later reconciled by the Maturidi school of theology, which asserted that God grants human beings their agency, but can remove or otherwise alter it at any time.

Further information: 'Amr ibn 'Ubayd, Al-Jubba'i, Abd al-Jabbâr al-Hamadhânî, Ibrahim an-Nazzam, and Al-Jahiz

Muhakkima

Main article: Muhakkima

The groups that were seceded from Ali's army in the end of the Arbitration Incident constituted the branch of Muhakkima (Arabic: محكمة). They are mainly divided into two major sects called as Kharijites and Ibadis.

Khawarij

Main article: Khawarij

The Kharijites considered the caliphate of Abu Bakr and Umar to be rightly guided but believed that Uthman ibn Affan had deviated from the path of justice and truth in the last days of his caliphate, and hence was liable to be killed or displaced. They also believed that Ali ibn Abi Talib committed a grave sin when he agreed on the arbitration with Muʿāwiyah. In the Battle of Siffin, Ali acceded to Muawiyah's suggestion to stop the fighting and resort to negotiation. A large portion of Ali's troops (who later became the first Kharijites) refused to concede to that agreement, and they considered that Ali had breached a Qur'anic verse which states that The decision is only for Allah (Qur'an 6:57), which the Kharijites interpreted to mean that the outcome of a conflict can only be decided in battle (by God) and not in negotiations (by human beings).

The Kharijites thus deemed the arbitrators (Abu Musa al-Ashʿari and Amr Ibn Al-As), the leaders who appointed these arbitrators (Ali and Muʿāwiyah) and all those who agreed on the arbitration (all companions of Ali and Muʿāwiyah) as Kuffār (disbelievers), having breached the rules of the Qur'an. They believed that all participants in the Battle of Jamal, including Talha, Zubayr (both being companions of Muhammad) and Aisha had committed a Kabira (major sin in Islam).^[63]

Kharijites reject the doctrine of infallibility for the leader of the Muslim community, in contrast to Shi'a but in agreement with Sunnis.^[64] Modern-day Islamic scholar Abul Ala Maududi wrote an analysis of Kharijite beliefs, marking a number of differences between Kharijism and Sunni Islam. The Kharijites believed that the act of sinning is analogous to Kufr (disbelief) and that every grave sinner was regarded as a Kāfir (disbeliever) unless he repents. With this argument, they denounced all the above-mentioned Ṣaḥābah and even cursed and used abusive language against them. Ordinary Muslims were also declared disbelievers because first, they were not free of sin; secondly they regarded the above-mentioned Ṣaḥābah as believers and considered them as religious leaders, even inferring Islamic jurisprudence from the Hadeeth narrated by them.^[63] They also believed that it is not a must for the caliph to be from the Quraysh. Any pious Muslim nominated by other Muslims could be an eligible caliph.^[63] Additionally, Kharijites believed that obedience to the caliph is binding as long as he is managing the affairs with justice and consultation, but if he deviates, then it becomes obligatory to confront him, demote him and even kill him.

Ibadiyya

Main article: Ibadi

Ibadiyya has some common beliefs overlapping with the Ashʿarī and Mu'tazila schools, mainstream Sunni Islam, and some Shīʿīte sects.^[65]

Murji'ah

Main article: Murji'ah

Murji'ah (Arabic: المرجئة) was an early Islamic school whose followers are known in English as "Murjites" or "Murji'ites" (المرجئون). The Murji'ah emerged as a theological school in response to the Kharijites on the early question about the relationship between sin and apostasy (rida). The Murji'ah believed that sin did not affect a person's beliefs (iman) but rather their piety (taqwa). Therefore, they advocated the idea of "delayed judgement", (irjaa). The Murji'ah maintain that anyone who proclaims the bare minimum of faith must be considered a Muslim, and sin alone cannot cause someone to become a disbeliever (kafir). The Murjite opinion would eventually dominate that of the Kharijites and become the mainstream opinion in Sunni Islam. The later schools of Sunni theology adopted their stance while form more developed theological schools and concepts.

Shīʿa schools of theology

Main articles: Shi'ites, Imamah (Shia doctrine), and Shia Islamic beliefs and practices

Zaydi-Fivers

The Zaydi denomination of Shīʿa Islam is close to the Muʿtazila school in matters of theological doctrine. There are a few issues between both schools, most notably the Zaydi doctrine of the Imamate, which is rejected by the Muʿtazilites. Amongst the Shīʿa, Zaydis are most similar to Sunnīs,^[66] since Zaydism shares similar doctrines and jurisprudential opinions with Sunnī scholars.^[67]

Bāṭin’iyyah

Main articles: Batin (Islam), Esoteric interpretation of the Quran, and Sufi cosmology

Further information: Sevener, Qarmatians, Fatimid Islamic Caliphate, and Hashashins

The Bāṭen’iyyah was originally introduced by Abu’l-Khāttāb Muhammad ibn Abu Zaynab al-Asadī,^[68][69] and later developed by Maymūn al-Qaddāh^[70] and his son ʿAbd Allāh ibn Maymūn^[71] for the esoteric interpretation of the Quran.^[72] The members of Bāṭen’iyyah may belong to either the Ismāʿīlī or Twelver denominations of Shīʿa Islam.

Imami-Ismā'īlīs

Main articles: Ismā'īlī, Batiniyyah, Imamah (Ismaili doctrine), Seven pillars of Ismailism, and List of Ismāʿīlī Imams

The Ismāʿīlīs differ from Twelvers because they had living imams or da'is for centuries. They followed Isma'il ibn Jafar, elder brother of Musa al-Kadhim, as the rightful Imam^[73] after his father Ja'far al-Sadiq. The Ismailis believe that whether Imam Ismail did or did not die before Imam Ja'far, he had passed on the mantle of the imāmate to his son Muḥammad ibn Ismā'īl al-Maktum as the next imam.^[74]

Further information: Nizārī Ismā'īlī, Imamah (Nizari Ismaili doctrine), History of the Shī‘a Imāmī Ismā'īlī Ṭarīqah, Musta’li Ismaili, and Taiyabi Ismaili

Batini-Twelver ʿAqīdah schools

Main article: Batiniyyah

The followers of Bāṭen’iyyah-Twelver school consist of Alevis and Nusayris, who developed their own system of Islamic jurisprudence and do not pursue the Ja'fari jurisprudence. Their combined population is nearly around 1% of the global Muslim population.^[75]

Alevism

Main articles: Alevism, Sufism, Qutb ad-Dīn Haydar, Qalandariyya, Haji Bektash Veli, and Bektashi Order

Alevis are sometimes categorized as part of Twelver Shīʿīsm, and sometimes as its own religious tradition, as it has markedly different philosophy, customs, and rituals. They have many Tasawwufī characteristics and express belief in the Qur'an and The Twelve Imams, but reject polygamy and accept religious traditions predating Islam, like Turkic shamanism. They are significant in East-Central Turkey. They are sometimes considered a Sufi brotherhood, and have an untraditional form of religious leadership that is not scholarship-oriented like other Sunnī and Shīʿa groups. 7 to 11 million Alevis, including the other denominations of Twelver Shīʿītes, live in Anatolia.^[75]

Alevi Islamic school of divinity

Main articles: Safaviyya, Shaykh Haydar, Qizilbash, Imadaddin Nasimi, Hurufism, and Bektashism and folk religion

In Turkey, Shīʿa Muslims follow the Ja'fari jurisprudence, which tracks back to the sixth Shia Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, and are called "Ja'faris".^{[citation needed]}

• The Alevi-Turks have a unique and perplex conviction tracing back to the Kaysanites and Khurramites which are considered as Ghulat Shīʿītes. According to Turkish scholar Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı, the Qizilbash ("Red-Heads") of the 16th century – a religious and political movement in Azerbaijan that helped to establish the Safavid dynasty – were "spiritual descendants of the Khurramites".^[76]
• Their aqidah (theological conviction) is based upon a syncretic fiqh system called as "Batiniyya-Sufism"^[72] which incorporates some Qarmatian sentiments, originally introduced by "Abu’l-Khāttāb Muhammad ibn Abu Zaynab al-Asadī",^[68][69] and later developed by Maymun al-Qāddāh and his son ʿAbd Allāh ibn Maymun.^[71]
• On the other hand, the members of Bektashi Order have a conviction of "Batiniyya Isma'ilism"^[72] and "Hurufism" with a strong belief in The Twelve Imams.
• In conclusion, Qizilbash-Alevis are not a part of Ja'fari jurisprudence fiqh, even though they can be considered as members of different Tariqa of Shia Islam all looks like sub-classes of Twelver. Their conviction includes "Batiniyya-Hurufism" and "Sevener-Qarmatians-Ismailism" sentiments.^[72][77]
• The Twelver branch of Shia Islam Muslim population of Turkey is composed of Mu'tazila aqidah of Ja'fari jurisprudence madhhab, Batiniyya-Sufism aqidah of Maymūn’al-Qāddāhī fiqh of the Alevīs, and Cillī aqidah of Maymūn ibn Abu’l-Qāsim Sulaiman ibn Ahmad ibn at-Tabarānī fiqh of the Alawites.^[78][79]

Further information: Al-Hallaj, Sevener, Qarmatians, Baba Ishak, Babai Revolt, Hassan II (imam), and Nur al-Din Muhammad II

ʿAqīdah of Alevi-Islam Dīn Services

Main articles: ʿAqīdah, Dīn, and Buyruks

What's Alevism, what's the understanding of Islam in Alevism? The answers to these questions, instead of the opposite of what's known by many people is that the birthplace of Alevism was never in Anatolia. This is an example of great ignorance, that is, to tell that the Alevism was emerged in Anatolia. Searching the source of Alevism in Anatolia arises from unawareness. Because there was not even one single Muslim or Turk in Anatolia before a specific date. The roots of Alevism stem from Turkestan – Central Asia. Islam was brought to Anatolia by Turks in 10th and 11th centuries by a result of migration for a period of 100 – 150 years. Before this event took place, there were no Muslim and Turks in Anatolia. Anatolia was then entirely Christian. We Turks brought Islam to Anatolia from Turkestan. – Professor İzzettin Doğan, The President of Alevi-Islam Religion Services.^[80]

• Some of their members (or sub-groups) claim that God takes abode in the bodies of the human-beings (ḥulūl), believe in metempsychosis (tanāsukh), and consider Islamic law to be not obligatory (ibāḥa), similar to antinomianism.^[81]
• Some of the Alevis criticizes the course of Islam as it is being practiced overwhelmingly by more than 99% of Sunni and Shia population.
• They believe that major additions had been implemented during the time of Umayyads, and easily refuse some basic principles on the grounds that they believe it contradicts with the holy book of Islam, namely the Qur'an.
• Regular daily salat and fasting in the holy month of Ramadan are officially not accepted by some members of Alevism.
• Some of their sub-groups like Ishikists and Bektashis, who portrayed themselves as Alevis, neither comprehend the essence of the regular daily salat (prayers) and fasting in the holy month of Ramadan that is frequently accentuated at many times in Quran, nor admits that these principles constitute the ineluctable foundations of the Dīn of Islam as they had been laid down by Allah and they had been practised in an uninterruptible manner during the period of Prophet Muhammad.

Baktāshism (Bektaşilik)

Main article: Bektashism

 

The founder of the Bektashiyyah sufi order Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli (Ḥājjī Baktāsh Walī), a murid of Malāmatī-Qalāndārī Sheikh Qutb ad-Dīn Haydar, who introduced the Ahmad Yasavi's doctrine of "Four Doors and Forty Stending" into his tariqah.

Baktāshi Islamic School of Divinity

Main articles: Bektashiyyah and Wahdat-ul-Wujood

The Bektashiyyah is a Shia Sufi order founded in the 13th century by Haji Bektash Veli, a dervish who escaped Central Asia and found refuge with the Seljuks in Anatolia at the time of the Mongol invasions (1219–23). This order gained a great following in rural areas and it later developed in two branches: the Çelebi clan, who claimed to be physical descendants of Haji Bektash Veli, were called "Bel evladları" (children of the loins), and became the hereditary spiritual leaders of the rural Alevis; and the Babağan, those faithful to the path "Yol evladları" (children of the way), who dominated the official Bektashi Sufi order with its elected leadership.^{[citation needed]}

Bektashism places much emphasis on the concept of Wahdat-ul-Wujood وحدة الوجود, the "Unity of Being" that was formulated by Ibn Arabi. This has often been labeled as pantheism, although it is a concept closer to panentheism. Bektashism is also heavily permeated with Shiite concepts, such as the marked veneration of Ali, The Twelve Imams, and the ritual commemoration of Ashurah marking the Battle of Karbala. The old Persian holiday of Nowruz is celebrated by Bektashis as Imam Ali's birthday.

In keeping with the central belief of Wahdat-ul-Wujood the Bektashi see reality contained in Haqq-Muhammad-Ali, a single unified entity. Bektashi do not consider this a form of trinity. There are many other practices and ceremonies that share similarity with other faiths, such as a ritual meal (muhabbet) and yearly confession of sins to a baba (magfirat-i zunub مغفرة الذنوب). Bektashis base their practices and rituals on their non-orthodox and mystical interpretation and understanding of the Qur'an and the prophetic practice (Sunnah). They have no written doctrine specific to them, thus rules and rituals may differ depending on under whose influence one has been taught. Bektashis generally revere Sufi mystics outside of their own order, such as Ibn Arabi, Al-Ghazali and Jelalludin Rumi who are close in spirit to them.

The Baktāshi ʿaqīdah

 

Four Spiritual Stations in Bektashiyyah: Sharia, tariqa, haqiqa, and the fourth station, marifa, which is considered "unseen", is actually the center of the haqiqa region. Marifa is the essence of all four stations.

Main articles: Mysticism, Four Doors, Hajji Bektash Wali, Sharia, Tariqa, Haqiqa, and Marifa

The Bektashi Order is a Sufi order and shares much in common with other Islamic mystical movements, such as the need for an experienced spiritual guide — called a baba in Bektashi parlance — as well as the doctrine of "the four gates that must be traversed": the "Sharia" (religious law), "Tariqah" (the spiritual path), "Haqiqah" (truth), and "Marifa" (true knowledge).

Bektashis hold that the Qur'an has two levels of meaning: an outer (Zāher ظاهر) and an inner (bāṭen باطن).^[82] They hold the latter to be superior and eternal and this is reflected in their understanding of both the universe and humanity, which is a view that can also be found in Ismailism and Batiniyya.^[72]

Bektashism is also initiatic and members must traverse various levels or ranks as they progress along the spiritual path to the Reality. First level members are called aşıks عاشق. They are those who, while not having taken initiation into the order, are nevertheless drawn to it. Following initiation (called nasip) one becomes a mühip محب. After some time as a mühip, one can take further vows and become a dervish. The next level above dervish is that of baba. The baba (lit. father) is considered to be the head of a tekke and qualified to give spiritual guidance (irshad إرشاد). Above the baba is the rank of halife-baba (or dede, grandfather). Traditionally there were twelve of these, the most senior being the dedebaba (great-grandfather). The dedebaba was considered to be the highest ranking authority in the Bektashi Order. Traditionally the residence of the dedebaba was the Pir Evi (The Saint's Home) which was located in the shrine of Hajji Bektash Wali in the central Anatolian town of Hacıbektaş (Solucakarahüyük).

Further information: Alians, Arabati Baba Teḱe, Bektashism and folk religion, Demir Baba Teke, and Hurufism

Ithnā'ashariyyah

Main articles: Twelvers and Imamah (Shia Twelver doctrine)

Twelvers believe in the twelve Shīʿa Imams. The twelfth Imam is believed to be in occultation, and will appear again just before the Qiyamah (Islamic view of the Last Judgment). The Shia hadiths include the sayings of the Imams. Many Muslims criticise the Shia for certain beliefs and practices, including practices such as the Mourning of Muharram (Mätam). They are the largest Shia school of thought (93%), predominant in Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Bahrain and have a significant population in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Kuwait and the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. The Twelver Shīʿas are followers of either the Jaf'ari or Batiniyyah madh'habs.

Imami-Ja'faris

Main articles: Ja'fari jurisprudence and Theology of Twelvers

Followers of the Jaf'ari madh'hab are divided into the following sub-divisions, all of them are the followers of the Theology of Twelvers:

Usulism

The Usuli form the overwhelming majority within the Twelver Shia denomination. They follow a Marja-i Taqlid on the subject of taqlid and fiqh. They are concentrated in Iran, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iraq, and Lebanon.

Further information: Usulism

 

Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf, Iraq, where Shias believe Ali is buried.

Akhbarism

Akhbari, similar to Usulis, however reject ijtihad in favor of hadith. Concentrated in Bahrain.

Further information: Akhbarism

Shaykhism

Shaykhism is an Islamic religious movement founded by Shaykh Ahmad in the early 19th century Qajar dynasty, Iran, now retaining a minority following in Iran and Iraq. It began from a combination of Sufi and Shia and Akhbari doctrines. In the mid 19th-century many Shaykhis converted to the Bábí and Baháʼí religions, which regard Shaykh Ahmad highly.

Further information: Shaykhism

Ghulāt-Imamis

Main articles: Ghulāt and imami

‘Alawism

Main articles: Al-Khaṣībī, Ibn Nusayr, and Alawites

Alawites are also called Nusayris, Nusairis, Namiriya or Ansariyya. Their madhhab is established by Ibn Nusayr, and their aqidah is developed by Al-Khaṣībī. They follow Cillī aqidah of "Maymūn ibn Abu’l-Qāsim Sulaiman ibn Ahmad ibn at-Tabarānī fiqh" of the ‘Alawis.^[78][83] One million three hundred and fifty thousand of them lived in Syria and Lebanon in 1970. It is estimated they are 10–12% of the population of Syria of 23 million in 2013.^[84]

‘Alawite Islamic School of Divinity

Alawites consider themselves to be Muslims, although some Sunnis dispute that they are.^[85] Alawite doctrine incorporates Gnostic, neo-Platonic, Islamic, Christian and other elements and has, therefore, been described as syncretistic.^[86][87] Their theology is based on a divine triad,^[85][88][89] or trinity, which is the core of Alawite belief.^[90] The triad comprises three emanations of the one God: the supreme aspect or entity called the "Essence"^[90] or the "Meaning"^[89] (both being translations of ma'na), together with two lesser emanations known as his "Name" (ism), or "Veil" (hijab), and his "Gate" (bab).^{[88][89][90][91]} These emanations have manifested themselves in different human forms over several cycles in history, the last cycle of which was as Ali (the Essence/Meaning), Muhammad (the Name) and Salman the Persian (the Gate).^{[88][90][91][92]} Alawite belief is summarised in the formula: "I turn to the Gate; I bow before the Name; I adore the Meaning".^[85] The claim that Alawites believe Ali is a deity has been contested by some scholars as a misrepresentation on the basis that Ali is, in fact, considered an "essence or form", not a human being, by which believers can "grasp God".^[93] Alawites also hold that they were originally stars or divine lights that were cast out of heaven through disobedience and must undergo repeated reincarnation (or metempsychosis^[90]) before returning to heaven.^[85][91] They can be reincarnated as Christians or others through sin and as animals if they become infidels.^[85][94]

Alawite beliefs have never been confirmed by their modern religious authorities.^[95] Alawites tend to conceal their beliefs (taqiyya) due to historical persecution.^[96] Some tenets of the faith are secret, known only to a select few;^[97][98] therefore, they have been described as a mystical sect.^[99] In addition to Islamic festivals, the Alawites have been reported to celebrate or honor certain Christian festivals such as the birth of Jesus and Palm Sunday.^[100][101] Their most-important feast is Eid al-Ghadeer.

The ‘Alawite ʿaqīdah

Alawites have always described themselves as being Twelver Shi'ite Muslims and have been recognized as such by the prominent Lebanese Shi'ite cleric Musa al-Sadr.^[102] The Sunni Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini issued a fatwa recognising them as part of the Muslim community in the interest of Arab nationalism.^[103][104] However, Athari Sunni (modern day Salafis) scholars such as Ibn Kathir (a disciple of Ibn Taymiyya) have categorised Alawites as pagans in their writings.^{[97][105][106]}

Barry Rubin has suggested that Syrian leader Hafiz al-Assad and his son and successor Bashar al-Assad pressed their fellow Alawites "to behave like regular Muslims, shedding (or at least concealing) their distinctive aspects".^[107] During the early 1970s a booklet, al-`Alawiyyun Shi'atu Ahl al-Bait ("The Alawites are Followers of the Household of the Prophet") was published, which was "signed by numerous 'Alawi' men of religion", described the doctrines of the Imami Shia as Alawite.^[108] Additionally, there has been a recent movement to unite Alawism and the other branches of Twelver Islam through educational exchange programs in Syria and Qom.^[109]

Some sources have discussed the "Sunnification" of Alawites under the al-Assad regime.^[110] Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies, writes that Hafiz al-Assad "tried to turn Alawites into 'good' (read Sunnified) Muslims in exchange for preserving a modicum of secularism and tolerance in society". On the other hand, Al-Assad "declared the Alawites to be nothing but Twelver Shiites".^[110] In a paper, "Islamic Education in Syria", Landis wrote that "no mention" is made in Syrian textbooks (controlled by the Al-Assad regime) of Alawites, Druze, Ismailis or Shia Islam; Islam was presented as a monolithic religion.^[111] Ali Sulayman al-Ahmad, chief judge of the Baathist Syrian state, has said:

We are ‘Alawi Muslims. Our book is the Qur'an. Our prophet is Muhammad. The Ka`ba is our qibla, and our Dīn (religion) is Islam.^[95]

Kızılbaşlık

Main articles: Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam and Qizilbash

The Qizilbash ʿaqīdah

 

Shah Ismail I, the Sheikh of the Safavi tariqa, founder of the Safavid dynasty of Iran, and the Commander-in-chief of the Kızılbaş armies had contributed a lot for the development and implementation of The Qizilbash ʿAqīdah amongst the Turkmen people.

Qizilbash and Bektashi tariqah shared common religious beliefs and practices becoming intermingled as Alevis in spite of many local variations. Isolated from both the Sunni Ottomans and the Twelver Shi`a Safavids, Qizilbash and Bektashi developed traditions, practices, and doctrines by the early 17th century which marked them as a closed autonomous religious community. As a result of the immense pressures to conform to Sunni Islam, all members of Alevism developed a tradition of opposition (ibāḥa) to all forms of external religion.^{[citation needed]}

The doctrine of Qizilbashism is well explained in the following poem written by the Shaykh of Safaviyya tariqah Shāh Ismāʿil Khatai:

من داها نسنه بيلمه زه م / Men daha nesne bilmezem, (I don't know any other object)

١ّللَه بير محممد على́دير / Allah bir Muhammad-Ali'dir. (Allah is unique Muhammad-Ali)

اؤزوم غوربتده سالمازام / Özüm gurbette salmazam, (I can't let out my own essence to places far from my homeland)

١ّللَه بير محممد على́دير / Allah bir Muhammad-Ali'dir. (Allah is unique Muhammad-Ali)

اونلار بيردير، بير اولوبدور / Onlar birdir, bir oluştur, (They are unique, a single one, i.e. Haqq-Muhammad-Ali)

يئردن گؤيه نور اولوبدور / Yerden göğe nûr oluştur, (It's a nūr from Earth to Sky)

دؤرد گوشه ده سيرر اولوبدور، / Dört guşede sır oluştur, (It's a mysterious occult secret in every corner of the square)

١ّللَه بير محممد على́دير / Allah bir Muhammad-Ali'dir. (Allah is unique Muhammad-Ali)

ختايى بو يولدا سردير / Khatai bu yolda sırdır, (Khatai in this tariqah is a mysterious occult secret)

سرين وئره نلر ده اردير / Sırın verenler de erdir, (Those reveal their own secret are private as well)

آيدا سيردير، گونده نوردور / Ayda sırdır, günde nûrdur, (Secret on Moon, nūr on day)

١ّللَه بير محممد على́دير / Allah bir Muhammad-Ali'dir. (Allah is unique Muhammad-Ali)

The lines of poetry above may easily be judged as an act of "Shirk" (polytheism) by the Sunni Ulama, but they have a bāṭenī^[82] taʾwīl (inner explanation) in Qizilbashism.

Further information: Khatai, Muhammad-Ali, and Haqq-Muhammad-Ali

Tashbih

Main articles: Tashbih and Anthropopathy

Karram’iyyah

Main article: Karramiyya

Anthropomorphic-Anthropopathic Karram’iyyah was founded by Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Karrām.^[112] Ibn Karram considered that God was a substance and that He had a body (jism) finite in certain directions when He comes into contact with the Throne.^{[113][65][114]}

Further information: Anthropomorphism

Anthropopathy in the history of Ghulāt Shīʿīsm

Main articles: Anthropopathism and Anthropotheism

The belief of Incarnation was first emerged in Sabaʾiyya, and later some personalities like Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, Abu Muslim, Sunpadh, Ishaq al-Turk, Al-Muqanna, Babak Khorramdin, Maziar and Ismail I had become the subject of God incarnates.

Further information: Ghulāt, List of extinct Shia sects, Kaysanites Shia, and Khurramites

Ahmadiyya

The Ahmadis' beliefs are more aligned with the Sunni tradition, such as The Five Pillars of Islam and The Six articles of Islamic Faith. Likewise, Ahmadis accept the Qur'an as their holy text, face the Kaaba during prayer, accept the authority of Hadiths (reported sayings of and stories about Muhammad) and practice the Sunnah (traditions) of Muhammad.^[115] However, Many Muslims consider Ahmadis as heretics.^{[116][117][118][119]}

Ahmadi teachings state that the founders of all the major world religions had divine origins. God was working towards the establishment of Islam as the final religion, because it was the most complete and included all the previous teachings of other religion^[120] (but they believe that all other religions have gone astray in their present form). The completion and consummation of the development of religion came about with the coming of Muhammad; and that the perfection of the ‘manifestation’ of Muhammad's prophethood and of the conveyance of his message was destined to occur with the coming of the Mahdi.^[121]

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community are not Muslims but regard Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed to be the promised Messiah ("Second Coming of Christ") the Mahdi awaited by the Muslims and a 'subordinate' prophet to Muhammad whose job was to restore the Sharia given to Muhammad by guiding or rallying disenchanted Ummah back to Islam and thwart attacks on Islam by its opponents, as the "Promised One" of all religions fulfilling eschatological prophecies found in the scriptures of the Abrahamic religions, as well as Zoroastrianism, the Indian religions, Native American traditions and others.^[122] Ahmadi Muslims believe that Ahmad was divinely commissioned as a true reflection of Muhammad's prophethood to establish the unity of God and to remind mankind of their duties towards God and God's creation.^[123][124]

See also

• Outline of Islam
• Glossary of Islam
• Abdol Hamid Khosro Shahi
• Index of Islam-related articles
• Islamic eschatology
• Islamic schools and branches
• Islamic studies
• List of extinct Shia sects
• Shia–Sunni relations
• Shi'ite Crescent
• Succession to Muhammad
• Sunni Islam

References

1. Izutsu, Toshihiko (2006) [1965]. "The Infidel (Kāfir): The Khārijites and the origin of the problem". The Concept of Belief in Islamic Theology: A Semantic Analysis of Imān and Islām. Tokyo: Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies at Keio University. pp. 1–20. ISBN 983-9154-70-2. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
2. Nagel, T. (2006). "Theology and the Qurʾān". In McAuliffe, Jane Dammen (ed.). Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. Vol. V. Leiden: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQCOM_00203. ISBN 90-04-14743-8.
3.  • Treiger, Alexander (2016) [2014]. "Part I: Islamic Theologies during the Formative and the Early Middle period – Origins of Kalām". In Schmidtke, Sabine (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 27–43. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696703.013.001. ISBN 9780199696703. LCCN 2016935488. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
    • Abrahamov, Binyamin (2016) [2014]. "Part I: Islamic Theologies during the Formative and the Early Middle period – Scripturalist and Traditionalist Theology". In Schmidtke, Sabine (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 264–279. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696703.013.025. ISBN 9780199696703. LCCN 2016935488. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
4. Adang, Camilla (2001). "Belief and Unbelief: choice or destiny?". In McAuliffe, Jane Dammen (ed.). Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. Vol. I. Leiden: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQCOM_00025. ISBN 978-90-04-14743-0.
5. Abdel-Haleem, M. A. S. (2008). "Part I: Historical perspectives - Qur'an and hadith". In Winter, Timothy (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 19–32. doi:10.1017/CCOL9780521780582.002. ISBN 9781139001816. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
6. Peters, J. R. T. M. (1980). "La théologie musulmane et l'étude du langage". Histoire. Épistémologie. Langage (in French). Paris: Société d'histoire et d'Épistémologie des Sciences du Langage. 2 (1: Éléments d'Histoire de la tradition linguistique arabe): 9–19. doi:10.3406/hel.1980.1049. ISSN 1638-1580. from the original on 2021-11-30. Retrieved 2021-11-30.
7. Geaves, Ronald (2021). "Part 1: Sunnī Traditions – Sectarianism in Sunnī Islam". In Cusack, Carole M.; Upal, M. Afzal (eds.). Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements. Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion. Vol. 21. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 25–48. doi:10.1163/9789004435544_004. ISBN 978-90-04-43554-4. ISSN 1874-6691.
8. “Ash‘ariyya” by W. Montgomery Watt in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. I, p. 696.
9. Heer, Nicholas (n.d.). "A LECTURE ON ISLAMIC THEOLOGY" (PDF). University of Washington Faculty. pp. 9–10. (PDF) from the original on 26 October 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
10. Halverson, Jeffry R. (2010). Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 36. ISBN 9781137473578. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2020-10-28. The Atharis can thus be described as a school or movement led by a contingent of scholars (ulama), typically Hanbalite or even Shafi'ite, which retained influence, or at the very least a shared sentiment and conception of piety, well beyond the limited range of Hanbalite communities. This body of scholars continued to reject theology in favor of strict textualism well after Ash'arism had infiltrated the Sunni schools of law. It is for these reasons that we must delineate the existence of a distinctly traditionalist, anti-theological movement, which defies strict identification with any particular madhhab, and therefore cannot be described as Hanbalite.
11. Spevack, Aaron (2014). The Archetypal Sunni Scholar: Law, Theology, and Mysticism in the Synthesis of Al-Bajuri. State University of New York Press. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-4384-5370-5. The term Atharis is derived from athar, which implied transmitted content (rather than rationally derived content).
12. Halverson, Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam, 2010: 36
13. Halverson, Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam, 2010: 36-7
14. Swartz, Merlin. A Medieval Critique of Anthropomorphism. Brill, 2001, p.134-137 .
15. Muhammad Abu Zahra, The history of Madh'habs and Divinity Schools in Islam.
16. Scholar of renown: Muhammad Abu Zahrah 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine. Ed. Adil Salahi for Arab News. Published Wednesday, 14 November 2001; accessed Sunday 9 June 2013.
17. Madeleine Pelner Cosman, Linda Gale Jones, Handbook to Life in the Medieval World, p 391. ISBN 1438109075
18. Clinton Bennett, The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies, p 119. ISBN 1441127887.
19. Frank, Daniel H.; Leaman, Oliver; H, Frank Daniel (2003-09-11). The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy. Cambridge University Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-521-65574-3. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
20. Hadi Enayat Islam and Secularism in Post-Colonial Thought: A Cartography of Asadian Genealogies Springer, 30.06.2017 ISBN 9783319526119 p.48
21. "Mutazilah 2018-06-21 at the Wayback Machine", Encyclopaedia Britannica.
22. NEAL ROBINSON (1998). "Ash'ariyya and Mu'tazila". muslimphilosophy.com. from the original on 2011-11-20. Retrieved 2012-11-05.
23. "Different views on human freedom – Mu'tazilites and Asharites – Authority in Islam – GCSE Religious Studies Revision – OCR". BBC Bitesize. from the original on 2021-06-21. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
24. Dhanani, Alnoor (1994). The physical theory of Kalām : atoms, space, and void in Basrian Muʻtazilī cosmology. Leiden: Brill. p. 7. ISBN 978-9004098312.
25. Fakhry, Majid (1983). A History of Islamic Philosophy (second ed.). New York: Columbia University Press. p. 46. Almost all authorities agree that the speculation of the Muʿtazilah centeres around the two crucial concepts of divine justice and unity, of which they claim to be the exclusive, genuine exponents.
26. Campanini, Massimo (2012). "The Mu'tazila in Islamic History and Thought". Religion Compass. 6: 41–50. doi:10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00273.x. from the original on 2021-07-19. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
27. Abdullah Saeed. The Qur'an: an introduction. 2008, page 203
28. Kadri, Sadakat (2012). Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia to the Streets of the Modern Muslim World. macmillan. p. 77. ISBN 9780099523277. from the original on 2021-02-25. Retrieved 2015-09-16.
29. Nader El-Bizri, ‘God: essence and attributes’, in The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic theology, ed. Tim Winter (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), pp. 121-140
30. Walzer, R. (1967). "Early Islamic Philosophy". In A. H. Armstrong (ed.). The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy. UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-04054-X.
31. Craig, W. L. (2000). The Kalam Cosmological Argument. USA: Wipf & Stock Publishers. ISBN 1-57910-438-X.
32. Humanism in the renaissance of Islam: the cultural revival during the Buyid Age, by Joel Kramer,ISBN 90-04-07259-4, ISBN 978-90-04-07259-6
33. Frank, Richard M. "The Autonomy of the Human Agent in the Teaching of 'Abd al-Gabbar." Le Muséon 95(1982): 323–355
34. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (2006). "Part 3: Islamic Philosophy in History – Dimensions of the Islamic Intellectual Tradition: Kalām, Philosophy, and Spirituality". Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy. Albany, New York: SUNY Press. pp. 124–126. ISBN 9780791468005. LCCN 2005023943. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
35. Javad Anvari, Mohammad (2015). "al-Ashʿarī". In Madelung, Wilferd; Daftary, Farhad (eds.). Encyclopaedia Islamica. Translated by Melvin-Koushki, Matthew. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/1875-9831_isla_COM_0300. ISSN 1875-9823.
36. Thiele, Jan (2016) [2014]. "Part I: Islamic Theologies during the Formative and the Early Middle period – Between Cordoba and Nīsābūr: The Emergence and Consolidation of Ashʿarism (Fourth–Fifth/Tenth–Eleventh Century)". In Schmidtke, Sabine (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 225–241. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696703.013.45. ISBN 9780199696703. LCCN 2016935488. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
37. Frank, Richard M. (January–March 1989). "Knowledge and Taqlîd: The Foundations of Religious Belief in Classical Ashʿarism". Journal of the American Oriental Society. American Oriental Society. 109 (1): 37–62. doi:10.2307/604336. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 604336. LCCN 12032032.
38. Glassé, Cyril, ed. (2003) [1989]. "Ashʿarī". The New Encyclopedia of Islam (3rd Revised ed.). Walnut Creek, California and Lanham, Maryland: AltaMira Press. pp. 61–63. ISBN 978-0-759-10190-6. OCLC 1291928025. from the original on 2022-07-09. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
39. Frank, Richard M. (2020) [2007]. "Al-Ashʿarī's conception of the nature and role of speculative reasoning in theology". In Frank, Richard M.; Gutas, Dimitri (eds.). Early Islamic Theology: The Muʿtazilites and al-Ashʿarī – Texts and Studies on the Development and History of Kalām, Vol. II (1st ed.). London and New York: Routledge. pp. 136–154. doi:10.4324/9781003110385. ISBN 9780860789789. LCCN 2006935669. S2CID 169898034. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
40. Hoover, John (2020). "Early Mamlūk Ashʿarism against Ibn Taymiyya on the Nonliteral Reinterpretation (taʾwīl) of God's Attributes". In Shihadeh, Ayman; Thiele, Jan (eds.). Philosophical Theology in Islam: Later Ashʿarism East and West. Islamicate Intellectual History. Vol. 5. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 195–230. doi:10.1163/9789004426610_009. ISBN 978-90-04-42661-0. ISSN 2212-8662. LCCN 2020008682. S2CID 219026357. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
41. Halverson 2010, pp. 14–15.
42. Weeks, Douglas. "The Ideology of Al Muhajiroun." Al Muhajiroun. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2020. 103-140.
43. Gyekye, Kwame. "Theology and Law in Islam." (1976): 304-306.
44. Fah̲rī, Mağīd. Ethical theories in Islam. Vol. 8. Brill, 1991.
45. Hashas, Mohammed. "Is European Islam Experiencing an Ontological Revolution for an Epistemological Awakening?." American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 31: 4 (2014): 14.
46. Marshall Cavendish Reference, Illustrated Dictionary of the Muslim World, p 87. ISBN 0761479295
47. Allard, Michel. . Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2020-10-29. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
48. "Ash'ari - A History of Muslim Philosophy". from the original on 2018-05-27. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
49. Watt, Montgomery. Free-Will and Predestination in Early Islam. Luzac & Co.: London 1948.
50. Heer, Nicholas (n.d.). "A LECTURE ON ISLAMIC THEOLOGY" (PDF). University of Washington Faculty. p. 10. (PDF) from the original on 26 October 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
51. Cyril Glassé, Huston Smith The New Encyclopedia of Islam Rowman Altamira 2003 ISBN 978-0-759-10190-6 page 62-3
52. M. Abdul Hye, Ph.D, Ash’arism 2018-05-27 at the Wayback Machine, Philosophia Islamica.
53. Henderson, John B. (1998). "The Making of Orthodoxies". The Construction of Orthodoxy and Heresy: Neo-Confucian, Islamic, Jewish, and Early Christian Patterns. Albany, New York: SUNY Press. pp. 55–58. ISBN 978-0-7914-3760-5. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
54. Hamad al-Sanan, Fawziy al-'Anjariy, Ahl al-Sunnah al-Asha'irah, pp.248-258. Dar al-Diya'.
55. Campo, Juan Eduardo (2009). Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase Publishing. p. 287. ISBN 978-1-4381-2696-8. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
56. Oliver Leaman The Biographical Encyclopedia of Islamic Philosophy Bloomsbury Publishing 2015 ISBN 978-1-472-56945-5 page 311
57. Cenap Çakmak Islam: A Worldwide Encyclopedia [4 volumes] ABC-CLIO 2017 ISBN 978-1-610-69217-5 page 1014
58. Lange, Christian (2016). Paradise and Hell in Islamic Traditions. Cambridge United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-50637-3. p. 168
59. Yüksek Lisans Tezi Imam Maturidi'nin Te'vilatu'l-kur'an'da gaybi konulara İstanbul-2020 2501171277
60. Watt, W. Montgomery (May 1970). Pestman, P. W. (ed.). "The study of the development of the Islamic sects". Acta Orientalia Neerlandica: Proceedings of the Congress of the Dutch Oriental Society Held in Leiden on the Occasion of Its 50th Anniversary: 85.
61. John L. Esposito, ed. (2014). "Qadariyyah". The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512558-0. from the original on 2018-12-24. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
62. J. van Ess. Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed, Brill. "Ķadariyya", vol.4, p. 368.
63. Abul Ala Maududi, "Khilafat-o-Malookeyat" in Urdu language, (Caliphate and kingship), p 214.
64. Baydawi, Abdullah. "Tawali' al- Anwar min Matali' al-Anzar", circa 1300. Translated alongside other texts in the 2001 "Nature, Man and God in Medieval Islam" by Edwin Elliott Calverley and James Wilson Pollock. pp. 1001–1009
65. J. Hoffman, Valerie (2012). The Essentials of Ibadi Islam. Syracuse University Press. p. 328. ISBN 978-0815650843. from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
66. "Telling the truth for more than 30 years – Sunni-Shi'i Schism: Less There Than Meets the Eye". WRMEA. Archived from the original on 23 April 2005. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
67. McLaughlin, Daniel (February 2008). Yemen: The Bradt Travel Guide – Daniel McLaughlin – Google Books. ISBN 9781841622125. from the original on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
68. "Abu'l-Ḵaṭṭāb Asadī". from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
69. "Ḵaṭṭābiya". from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
70. Öz, Mustafa, Mezhepler Tarihi ve Terimleri Sözlüğü (The History of madhhabs and its terminology dictionary), Ensar Yayıncılık, İstanbul, 2011. (This is the name of the trainer of Muhammad bin Ismā‘īl as-ṣaghīr ibn Jā’far. He had established the principles of the Bāṭen’iyyah Madh'hab, later.
71. . Archived from the original on 16 May 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
72. Halm, H. "Bāṭenīya". Encyclopedia Iranica. from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
73. Rise of The Fatimids, by W. Ivanow. Page 81, 275
74. "Ismaʿilism xvii. The Imamate in Ismaʿilism". from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
75. "Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population". Pew Research Center. October 7, 2009. from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2010-08-24. Of the total Muslim population, 11–12% are Shia Muslims and 87–88% are Sunni Muslims. Seven to Eleven Million Alevis and Three to Four Million Alawis constitute nearly 10% of Shi'ites.
76. Roger M. Savory (ref. Abdülbaki Gölpinarli), Encyclopaedia of Islam, "Kizil-Bash", Online Edition 2005
77. Öztürk, Yaşar Nuri, En-el Hak İsyanı (The Anal Haq Rebellion) – Hallâc-ı Mansûr (Darağacında Miraç – Miraç on Gallows), Vol 1 and 2, Yeni Boyut, 2011.
78. "Muhammad ibn Āliyy’ūl Cillī aqidah" of "Maymūn ibn Abu’l-Qāsim Sulaiman ibn Ahmad ibn at-Tabarānī fiqh" (Sūlaiman Affandy, Al-Bākūrat’ūs Sūlaiman’īyyah – Family tree of the Nusayri Tariqat, pp. 14–15, Beirut, 1873.)
79. Both Muhammad ibn Āliyy’ūl Cillī and Maymūn ibn Abu’l-Qāsim’at-Tabarānī were the murids of "Al-Khaṣībī", the founder of the Nusayri tariqa.
80. Alevi-Islam Religious Services – The message of İzzettin Doğan 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Zafer Mah. Ahmet Yesevi Cad. No: 290, Yenibosna / Istanbul, Turkey.
81. Halm, Heinz (2004-07-21). Shi'ism. Edinburgh University Press. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-7486-1888-0.
82. Radtke, B. "Bāṭen". Encyclopedia Iranica. from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
83. Both Muhammad ibn Āliyy’ūl Cillī and Maymūn ibn Abu’l-Qāsim’at-Tabarānī were the murids of "Al-Khaṣībī", the founder of the Nusayri tariqat.
84. Pike, John. "Alawi Islam". from the original on 13 June 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
85. "Alawi Islam" 2008-06-13 at the Wayback Machine. Globalsecurity.org
86. Prochazka-Eisl, Gisela; Prochazka, Stephan (2010). The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-Alawi Community of Cilicia. p. 81. ISBN 978-3447061780.
87. Friedman, Yaron (2010). The Nuṣayrī-ʻAlawīs: An Introduction to the Religion, History, and Identity of the Leading Minority in Syria. p. 67. ISBN 978-9004178922.
88. Böwering, Gerhard; et al., eds. (2012). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought. p. 29. ISBN 978-0691134840.
89. Friedman, Yaron (2010). The Nuṣayrī-ʻAlawīs: An Introduction to the Religion, History, and Identity of the Leading Minority in Syria. p. 77. ISBN 978-9004178922.
90. Prochazka-Eisl, Gisela; Prochazka, Stephan (2010). The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-'Alawi Community of Cilicia. p. 82. ISBN 978-3447061780.
91. Peters, F.E. (2009). The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition, Volume II. p. 321. ISBN 978-1400825714.
92. Friedman, Yaron (2010). The Nuṣayrī-ʻAlawīs: An Introduction to the Religion, History, and Identity of the Leading Minority in Syria. pp. 80, 93–94. ISBN 978-9004178922.
93. "The 'secretive sect' in charge of Syria". BBC. 17 May 2012. from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
94. Alawis 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Countrystudies.us, U.S. Library of Congress.
95. 'Abd al‑Latif al‑Yunis, Mudhakkirat al‑Duktur 'Abd al‑Latif al‑Yunis, Damascus: Dar al‑`Ilm, 1992, p. 63.
96. Secretive sect of the rulers of Syria 2022-04-15 at the Wayback Machine, The Telegraph, 05 Aug 2011
97. "Alawi Islam". Globalsecurity.org. from the original on 2008-06-13. Retrieved 2014-03-29.
98. Friedman, Yaron (2010). The Nuṣayrī-ʻAlawīs. ISBN 978-9004178922. from the original on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
99. Lebanon: current issues and background, John C. Rolland (2003). Nova. 1 August 2003. ISBN 9781590338711. from the original on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
100. Kaplan, Robert (February 1993). "Syria: Identity Crisis". The Atlantic. from the original on 2018-12-24. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
101. Glasse, Cyril (2001). New Encyclopedia of Islam (Revised ed.). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 105.
102. Kramer, Martin (11 January 2010). "Syria's Alawis and Shi'ism". from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2014. In their mountainous corner of Syria, the 'Alawī claim to represent the furthest extension of Twelver Shi'ism.
103. Talhamy, Y. (2010). "The Fatwas and the Nusayri/Alawis of Syria". Middle Eastern Studies. 46 (2): 175–194. doi:10.1080/00263200902940251. S2CID 144709130.
104. Me'ir Mikha'el Bar-Asher; Gauke de Kootstra; Arieh Kofsky (2002). The Nuṣayr−i-ʻalaw−i Religion: An Enquiry Into Its Theology and Liturgy. BRILL. p. 1. ISBN 978-90-04-12552-0. from the original on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
105. "Syria crisis: Deadly shooting at Damascus funeral". BBC News. 18 February 2012. from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
106. Abd-Allah, Umar F., Islamic Struggle in Syria, Berkeley : Mizan Press, c1983, pp. 43–48
107. Rubin, Barry (2007). The Truth about Syria. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 49. ISBN 9781403982735.
108. Abd-Allah, Umar F. (1983). Islamic Struggle in Syria. Berkeley: Mizan Press. pp. 43–48. ISBN 0933782101.
109. Esther, Pan (18 July 2006). "Syria, Iran, and the Mideast Conflict". Backgrounder. Council on Foreign Relations. from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
110. Syrian comment. Asad's Alawi dilemma 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, 8 October 2004
111. "Islamic Education in Syria: Undoing Secularism". OU. from the original on 28 February 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
112. "KARRĀMIYA". from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
113. Lewis, B.; Menage, V.L.; Pellat, Ch.; Schacht, J. (1997) [1st. pub. 1978]. Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. IV (Iran-Kha) (New ed.). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. p. 667. ISBN 9004078193.
114. Fleming, Benjamin; Mann, Richard (2014). Material Culture and Asian Religions: Text, Image, Object. Routledge. p. 333. ISBN 978-1-135013738. from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
115. Annemarie Schimmel et al.: Der Islam III. Volksfrömmigkeit, Islamische Kultur, Zeitgenössische Strömungen. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1990, S. 418–420
116. "Ahmadiyya Islam – Beliefs History Practices". ReligionFacts. from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
117. "Who are the Ahmadi?". BBC News. 28 May 2010. from the original on 30 May 2010. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
118. Burhani, Ahmad Najib (2013). When Muslims are not Muslims: the Ahmadiyya community and the discourse on heresy in Indonesia. Santa Barbara, California: University of California. ISBN 9781303424861. from the original on 2019-11-28. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
119. Haq, Zia (2 October 2011). . Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 2015-04-19. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
120. "The Promised Messiah – Prophecies Fulfilled". Alislam.org. from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
121. "The Holy Quran". Alislam.org. from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
122. Invitation to Ahmadiyyat by Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad Part II, Argument 4, Chapter "Promised Messiah, Promised One of All Religions"
123. Simon Ross Valentine (2008). Islam and the Ahmadiyya jamaʻat: history, belief, practice. Columbia University Press. pp. 32–33. ISBN 978-0-231-70094-8. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
124. Nasir Mahmood Malik, National Tarbiyyat Secretary, USA (2007). "Raising Ahmadi Children in the West" (PDF). Al Islam. (PDF) from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Further reading

• Bulğen, Mehmet (December 2019). "al-Māturīdī and Atomism (İmam Mâtüridî ve Atomculuk)" (PDF). ULUM: Journal of Religious Inquiries. Ankara: ULUM İslami İlimler Eğitim ve Araştırma Merkezi. 2 (2): 223–264. doi:10.5281/zenodo.3601654. eISSN 2645-9132. from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
• Caspar, Robert (1998). A Historical Introduction to Islamic Theology: Muḥammad and the Classical Period. Studi arabo-islamici del PISAI. Vol. 11. Rome: Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. ISBN 9788885907102. OCLC 42577199.
• Kars, Aydogan (2019). Unsaying God: Negative Theology in Medieval Islam. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190942458.001.0001. ISBN 9780190942458. LCCN 2018048099. OCLC 1147875085. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
• Madelung, Wilferd; Schmidtke, Sabine, eds. (2016). "Al-Ṣāḥib Ibn ʿAbbād, Promoter of Rational Theology: Two Muʿtazilī kalām texts from the Cairo Geniza". Al-Ṣāḥib Ibn ʿAbbād Promoter of Rational Theology. Islamic History and Civilization. Vol. 132. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. i–102. doi:10.1163/9789004323735_001. ISBN 978-90-04-32373-5. ISSN 0929-2403. OCLC 952470870. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
• el-Omari, Racha (2016). The Theology of Abū l-Qāsim al-Balkhī/al-Kaʿbī (d. 319/931). Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science: Texts and Studies. Vol. 99. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/9789004259683_001. ISBN 978-90-04-25968-3. ISSN 0169-8729. LCCN 2014034960. OCLC 1041077026. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
• Renard, John, ed. (2014). Islamic Theological Themes: A Primary Source Reader. Berkeley and Oakland: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520281899. JSTOR 10.1525/j.ctt6wqbpp. LCCN 2014005897. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
• Rudolph, Ulrich (2015). Al-Māturīdī and the Development of Sunnī Theology in Samarqand. Islamic History and Civilization. Vol. 100. Translated by Adem, Rodrigo. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/9789004261846_001. ISBN 978-90-04-26184-6. ISSN 0929-2403. LCCN 2014034960. OCLC 900892852. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
• Sabra, A. I. (January 2009). "The Simple Ontology of Kalām Atomism: An Outline". Early Science and Medicine. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. 14 (1-3: Evidence and Interpretation: Studies on Early Science and Medicine in Honor of John E. Murdoch): 68–78. doi:10.1163/157338209X425506. ISSN 1573-3823. JSTOR 20617778. PMID 19831225.
• al-Salimi, Abdulrahman, ed. (2021). Early Ibadi Theology: New Material on Rational Thought in Islam from the Pen of al-Fazārī (2nd/8th Century). Islamic History and Civilization. Vol. 182. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/9789004459571. ISBN 978-90-04-45957-1. ISSN 0929-2403. OCLC 1256592318. S2CID 243595906. from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
• Thiele, Jan (December 2018). "Recent Scholarship in the Field of kalām". Studia Islamica. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. 113 (2): 223–243. doi:10.1163/19585705-12341378. hdl:10261/173270. ISSN 1958-5705. S2CID 159335485.

External links

 

Wikisource has the text of a 1905 New International Encyclopedia article about "Islamic schools and branches".

• The Four Sunni Schools of Thought
• Ask Imam – Islam Q&A
• Online Islamic Learning