Part 2

MUSLIM THEOLOGY (Al-Tawhid or AI-Kalaam)
AND ITS DEVELOPMENT
ITS CRITIQUE, ITS VALUE, ITS METHODOLOGY
  Muslim speculative theology, is based on the belief that there is one and only one God who has no associate in his attributes, self or deeds. He has sent prophets to direct all humanity to the way of good in this world, and in the next .He questions man about his wordly deeds, awarding or punishing him for his good or evil deeds.

      In Islam Al-Tawhid is that branch of theology which studies religious and related dogmas and which man can reach through reason and intuition. Thus Al-Tawhid is the science that defends these dogmas and replies to those who deny them or differ or deviate from them.

    Al-Tawhid rose in Islam just as it did in the other religions and preceded it, in answer to certain factors necessitating its existence. Circumstances were later to ensue that called for a further development within that science. For like other branches of knowledge it was not complete at the moment of its birth. During its first stages it covered a limited area which was, according to the law of evolution and advancement, to expand, gradually covering a progressively wider area, which was to be influenced in its development by many factors which in their turn helped it to grow and develop till it finally reached the degree of completion in which it stands before us today. These factors can be divided into three groups; first there are those that stem directly from the Quran and from the precepts of the Prophet; the second group is related to the influence of men of different nationalities who were to join Islam later, bringing with them their own mental and cultural backgrounds; and the third group goes back to the influence of Greek philosophy and other philosophical systems which were carried over to Islamic culture.

     The Quran which is the first book to be written in Islam invites the individual to thought, to intellectual perception and sensuous observation, while at the same time it depreciates sheer imitation, especially in the sphere of religious belief. That is why Muslims found themselves obliged to submit to intellectual examination of both the Quran and the precepts of the Prophet which came to support and explain it . In such a process they were helped by the Prophet himself to understand whatever problems they brought before him.

       The death of the Prophet brought with it the problem of the Caliphate, specially after the affliction that had befallen both Osman and Aly and gave rise to deep discord and dispute which in their turn called for a solution of their differences.

         Muslims differed as to who was to be their Imam and the rightful leader of Islam, and also upon the conditions that were to accompany that leadership. In this they were divided among themselves . There were the Shiites, who would limit the caliphate to Aly and his descendants, the Kharijites and with them the Mu'tazilites who would elect for he who was most fit to be one, were he slave or non-Arab; while the Mu'tadilites, the third group and the greatest in number, saw that the one fit to be Imam was to come from Quraish. They were backed in their attitude by the words of the Prophet :"The Imams are to come from Quraish", especially when the authenticity of those words came finally to be established.

     After the death of Osman, Muslims differed much among themselves as to the denotation of " mortal sin" and upon whether it impairs one's faith, rendering one an infidel. This in its turn led them to a division of opinion upon the significance of ''true faith", its denotation and explanation. Such a division saw them cleft into three sects The Kharijites, The Murj'ites, and later The Mu'tazilites.

     Thus we see that the political division that came into existence among the Muslims was to develop into a religious one, becoming one of the significant problems of monotheism. It is in this manner that the problem of the doctrine of the Imam or the Caliphate came to be placed within the realm of this science despite the fact that it is more fit to be classed within jurisprudence as it deals with a practical rather than with a religious problem. For in short, it is a question of the fitness of whosoever is chosen to manage the affairs of Muslims, rather than a question of faith dealing with any of the bases of religion. But as some Islamic sects held notions about it which were most likely to lead them to a refusal of many of the precepts of Islam, men who upheld Al-Tawhid as their creed attached the Caliphate problem to this field of study .For then it could best be investigated in an atmosphere which was detached from any fanaticism or prejudice, and an atmosphere which could enable them to distinguish between right and wrong, and so finally to protect true religious beliefs.

      Islamic conquests and expansions were followed by a period of stability. Numbers of people who believed in a god other than Muhammad's, or in some deity, and were converted to Islam, others who continued to practise their own religious beliefs - all continued to live side by side with Muslims, bringing into discussion their former beliefs and at the same time engaging Muslims in their debates. This was followed by the translation of old philosophies together with the deep thought engaging problems it raised.

      Thus it was that through such a channel and others that many problems came within the field of the science of Al-Tawhid.

    Some of the problems centre round the divine qualities of God, the relation between God and man, or the question of free will; others relate to revelation and the need for apostles and prophets, while the remainder deal with other known philosophical problems.

       For these reasons and for others, into which we need not go here, we find Muslims intent on understanding the verses of the Quran and the precepts of the Prophet which centre round these problems. Such verses and precepts are consequently analysed to vindicate their interpretation in the way that we shall show in the course of our study. All such analysis has finally gone to form a solid part of the science of AI-Tawhid.

       But when the atheist danger grew more intense and intent on spreading among Muslims misleading views, together with its translation into Arabic of books on polytheism and treatises built on false statements, men of monotheistic learning set themselves up to refute those treatises and views. In the foreground and leading this counter-reaction came a distinguished group of Sunnite and Mu'tazilites who set out to write pamphlets and books that still stand in high credit.