Islamic theology
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Islamic theology deals with the beliefs of the Islamic faith.
Types of theology[change | change source]
Islamic theology comes from the Qur'an, Hadith, and the story of Muhammad's life (Sirah Rasul Allah).
Kalam[change | change source]
Kalam is the Islamic philosophy of seeking theological principles through dialectic. In Arabic, the word means "speech". A scholar of kalam is called a mutakallim (Muslim theologian; plural mutakallimiin).
Eschatology[change | change source]
Eschatology is understood as the last things or ultimate things, and in Muslim theology, eschatology is about the end of this world and what will happen in the next world. Eschatology covers the death of human beings, their souls after their bodily death, the destruction of this world, the resurrection of human souls, the final judgments of human deeds by Allah after the resurrection, and the rewards and punishments for the believers and non-believers. The places for the believers are known as Paradise and for the non-believers as Hell.
Comparative religion[change | change source]
Comparative religion in Muslim theology is about the differences and similarities between it and other theologies such as Christian and Jewish as explained in the Qur'an and the Prophetic traditions.
Differences between various Muslim groups[change | change source]
In the history of Muslim theology, there have been theological schools among Muslims with both similarities and differences with each other about their beliefs.
Sunni view[change | change source]
Sunni Muslims hold that there are six articles of belief: belief in Allah, in angels, in divinely revealed scripture] like Qur'an, in prophets, in the "Last Day" or end times, and in predestination.
Shia view[change | change source]
Shi`ite Muslims hold that there are five articles of belief: the Divine Oneness and Justice, the Prophethood, the Imamate, and eschatology.
Mu`tazilite view[change | change source]
In the relationship between humans and their creator, Mu`tazilites emphasize human free will over predestination and God's justice over God's omnipotence. Mu'tazilites also believe in the use of logic to decide the true meanings of the Qur'an. This and the principal of Ijtihad, led to their belief in dynamic Fiqh.