Nasyrov Ilshat

Proofs for the existence of God in medieval Islamic Theology (Kalam)

Abstract

This article deals with methods of proving the existence of God that were proposed by representatives of the Mu‘tazilite and Ash‘arite schools of Islamic theology (Kalam) in the 10th and 12th centuries. The relevance of the study is conditioned by the fact that the Ash‘arite theological doctrine remains dominant in Sunni Islam. Various methods of proving the existence of God are analysed in Kalam in the context of attempts of Islamic theologians to logically justify the statement of the Quran about God as the initial source and cause of creation. Alongside the argument from beginning of the world (cosmological argument), which was the main form of argumentation for Islamic theologians, various other arguments that are versions of the teleological argument are also taken into account. In the 11th and 12th centuries, the methods of justifying God that were traditional for Kalam began to complement by proofs of the existence of God taken from the Peripatetic school of the Islamic philosophy. Some Islamic theologians (such as al-Djuwaynī and al-Ghazalī) combined Kalam arguments with those borrowed from the Peripatetic school, e.g. the argument from the fi niteness of the causal row. The influence of Kalam on the Islamic traditionalism is seen in the proof of the existence of God proposed by Ibn Taymiyya, one of the most prominent Islamic traditionalist theologians. Notwithstanding his declared rejection of theological explorations, Ibn Taymiyya employed not only revelational sources (Quran and Sunnah) but also made use of the rational methods in justifying the existence of God

Keywords

Islam, theology, proof, existence, God, cosmological argument, teleological argument, kalam, mutazilism, asharism, traditionalism

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Information about the author

Nasyrov Ilshat

Academic Degree: Doctor of Sciences* in Philosophy;
Place of work: Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences; Goncharnaya Str. 12/1, Moscow 109240, Russian Federation;
Post: Leading Research Fellow;
Email: ilshatn60@mail.ru.

*According to ISCED 2011, a post-doctoral degree called Doctor of Sciences (D.Sc.) is given to reflect second advanced research qualifications or higher doctorates.

Acknowledgments

The article is written within the framework of the project № 15-03-00211 "Metaphysics in the intercultural space: history and modernity" supported by RFBR Foundation