The Origin of Kalam
The Quran’s uncreated or created?: The defining controversy that generated the discipline of kalam was the question of the Quran’s nature. The Mu’tazilites argued: the Quran must be created — otherwise there would be an eternal co-existent with Allah, compromising tawhid. The traditionalist Sunnis argued: the Quran is Allah’s speech and therefore uncreated — eternal as Allah is eternal. The Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun imposed the Mu’tazilite position through the mihna (inquisition, 833-848 CE), imprisoning scholars who refused to affirm the Quran’s createdness. Ahmad ibn Hanbal’s famous resistance to the mihna — imprisoned but refusing to recant — made him the hero of the traditionalist movement.
The theological questions: Beyond the Quran’s nature, kalam addressed: divine attributes (does Allah see, speak, love — literally or metaphorically?); human free will and divine predetermination; the definition of faith (iman); who is and is not a Muslim; the nature of paradise and hell.
See also: Aqida Islamic Creed, Tawhid Divine Unity, Ahlussunnah
The Major Schools
Mu’tazilism (founded c. 2nd century AH in Basra):
- The “Five Principles”: tawhid (divine unity without anthropomorphism); ‘adl (divine justice — Allah must do what is good and just); the “promise and the threat” (Allah’s promises of reward/punishment are binding); the intermediate position (the grave sinner is neither believer nor unbeliever); commanding right and forbidding wrong
- Famous Mu’tazilite: al-Zamakhshari; their Quranic tafsir al-Kashshaf is still considered a masterwork of Arabic exegesis despite their heterodox theology
Ash’arism (founded c. 320 AH / 935 CE by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash’ari):
- Former Mu’tazilite who returned to traditionalist positions but defended them rationally
- Key positions: affirming divine attributes (without specifying how); kasb (acquisition) theory of human agency; Quran’s eternity as uncreated kalam; divine power over all things
- The dominant theological school of the Maliki, Shafi’i, and some Hanafi traditions
Maturidism (founded c. 333 AH / 944 CE by Abu Mansur al-Maturidi):
- Similar to Ash’arism but granting slightly greater scope to human reason
- Dominant in the Hanafi tradition (Turkey, Central Asia, South Asia)
See also: Al Ghazali, Nasir Khusraw, Ismaili Philosophy
The Ismaili Position — Beyond Kalam
The critique of rationalist kalam: The Ismaili philosophical tradition accepts the use of reason but identifies a limit to what kalam can achieve. Al-Ghazali (no friend of the Ismailis) made a similar point in his own way: rational theology demonstrates certain truths but cannot replace the direct knowledge of spiritual experience.
Ta’lim vs. kalam: The Ismaili answer to kalam’s limitations is ta’lim (authoritative teaching from the Imam). Where the kalam schools produce competing positions — Mu’tazilite, Ash’ari, Maturidi — each internally consistent but in conflict with the others, the Imam’s ta’lim is not one position among many but the authoritative interpretation that resolves the debate. The Imam’s knowledge is not derived by reasoning from first principles but received through the prophetic chain.
Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani’s engagement: The great Ismaili philosopher Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani explicitly engaged the kalam schools, accepting the rational framework for certain theological questions while showing its limits and grounding ultimate certainty in the Imam.
See also: Hamid Al Kirmani, Dai Al Mutlaq Institution, Tawil Esoteric Interpretation
See also: Aqida Islamic Creed, Tawhid Divine Unity, Ahlussunnah, Al Ghazali, Nasir Khusraw, Ismaili Philosophy, Hamid Al Kirmani, Dai Al Mutlaq Institution, Tawil Esoteric Interpretation