Schools of Islamic theology

Schools of Islamic theology are various Islamic schools and branches in different schools of thought regarding aqidah (creed). According to Muhammad Abu Zahra, Qadariyah, Jahmis, Murji'ah, Muʿtazila, Batiniyya, Ash'ari, Maturidi, Athari are the ancient schools of Islamic theology.

The Meeting of the Theologians by Abd Allah Musawwir, mid-16th century.
See Islamic schools and branches for different schools of thought; see aqidah for the concept of the different "creeds" in Islam; see Kalam for the concept of theological discourse.

The main split between Sunni and Shia Islam was initially more political than theological, but over time theological differences have developed.

Divinity schools in Islam

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".[1]

Aqidah is an Islamic term meaning "creed" or "belief". Any religious belief system, or creed, can be considered an example of aqidah. 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 of Islam, and a Mu'tazili may for example, belong to Jafari, Zaidi or even Hanafi school of jurisprudence. One of the earliest systematic theological school to develop, in the mid 8th-century, was Mu'tazila. It emphasized reason and rational thought, positing that the injunctions of God are accessible to rational thought and inquiry and that the Qur'an, albeit the word of God, was created rather than uncreated, which would develop into one of the most contentious questions in Islamic theology.

In the 10th century, the Ash'ari school developed as a response to Mu'tazila. Ash'ari still taught the use of reason in understanding the Qur'an, but denied the possibility to deduce moral truths by reasoning. This was opposed by the school of Maturidi, which taught that certain moral truths may be found by the use of reason without the aid of revelation.

Another point of contention was the relative position of iman ("faith") vs. taqwa ("piety"). Such schools of theology are summarized under Ilm al-Kalam, or "science of discourse", as opposed to mystical schools who deny that any theological truth may be discovered by means of discourse or reason.

Sunni schools of theology


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.


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.[2] The name is derived from the Arabic word athar, literally meaning "remnant" and also referring to a "narrative".[3] 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.[4] Atharis engage in an amodal reading of the Qur'an, as opposed to one engaged in Ta'wil (metaphorical interpretation). They do not attempt to conceptualize the meanings of the Qur'an rationally, and believe that the "real" meaning should be consigned to God alone (tafwid).[5] 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 Qur'anic texts such as those of al-Qadi Abu Ya'la, Ibn Hamid and Ibn az-Zaghuni.[6] 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 Salafi aqidah is located somewhere between ta'tili and anthropopathy (Absolute Ẓāhirīsm in understanding the tashbih in Qur'an)[7][8] in Islam. Absolute Ẓāhirīsm and total rejection of ta'wil are amongst the fundamental characteristics of this "new" Islamic school of theology.

Ilm al-Kalām

ʿIlm al-Kalām (Arabic: علم الكلام, literally "science of discourse"[9]), usually foreshortened to kalam and sometimes called "Islamic scholastic theology", is a rational undertaking born out of the need to establish and defend the tenets of Islamic faith against doubters and detractors.[10] 'Ilm al-Kalam incorporates Aristotelian reasoning and logic into Islamic theology. A scholar of kalam is referred to as a mutakallim (plural mutakallimūn) as distinguished from philosophers, jurists, and scientists.[11] There are many possible interpretations as to why this discipline was originally called "kalam"; one is that the widest controversy in this discipline has been about whether the Word of God, as revealed in the Qur'an, 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.


The Mu'tazila were challenged by Abu al-Hasan Al-Ash'ari, who famously defected from the Mu'tazila and formed the rival Ash'ari school of theology.[12] The Ash'ari school took the opposite position of the Mu'tazila and insisted that truth cannot be known through reason alone. The Ash'ari school further claimed that truth can only be known through revelation. The Ash'ari claim that without revelation, the unaided human mind would not be able to know if something is good or evil.

Today, the Ash'ari school is considered one of the Orthodox schools of Sunni theology. The Ash'ari school is the basis of the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence, which has supplied it with most of its most famous disciples.[13] The most famous of these are Abul-Hassan Al-Bahili, Abu Bakr Al-Baqillani, al-Juwayni, Al-Razi and Al-Ghazali. Thus Al-Ash`ari’s school became, together with the Maturidi, the main schools reflecting the beliefs of the Sunnah.[13]


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 al-ra'y (people of reason), which includes only the Hanafi school of fiqh who make up the majority of Sunni Muslims.[14]

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.


The first group to pursue this undertaking were the Mu'tazila, who asserted that all truth could be known through reason alone. Mu'tazili theology originated in the 8th century in Basra when Wasil Ibn 'Ata' stormed out of a lesson of Hasan al-Basri following a theological dispute.

The Mu'tazila asserted that everything in revelation could be found through rational means alone. The Mu'tazila were heavily influenced by the Greek philosophy they encountered and began to adopt the ideas of Plotinus, whose Neoplatonic theology caused an enormous backlash against them. They are no longer considered an Orthodox school of theology by Sunni Muslims.


Bishriyya followed the teachings of Bishr ibn al-Mu'tamir which were distinct from Wasil ibn Ata.

Bâ’ Hashim’iyyah

Bâh’ Sham’iyyah[15] was a school of Mu'tazili thought, rivaling the school of Qadi Abd al-Jabbar, based primarily on the earlier teaching of Abu Hashim al-Jubba'i,[16] the son of Abu 'Ali Muhammad al-Jubba'i.


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.[17] This is the position adopted by the Ash'ari school, which holds that God's omnipotence is absolute and perfect over all creation.


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.[18][19] Their doctrines were adopted by the Mu'tazilis and rejected by the Ash'aris.[18] 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.


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.






Ibadiyya has some common beliefs overlapping with Ashari, Mu'tazila, Sunni and some Shi'ites.[22]


Murji'ah (Arabic: المرجئة) is 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.

Shia schools of theology


The Zaidi School of Divinity is close to the Mu'tazilite school. There are a few issues between both schools, most notably the Zaydi doctrine of the Imamate, which is rejected by the Mu'tazilites. Amongst the Shi'a, Zaydis are most similar to Sunnis[23] since Zaydism shares similar doctrines and jurisprudential opinions with Sunni scholars.[24]


The Bāṭen’iyyah ʿAqīdah, was originally introduced by Abu’l-Khāttāb Muhammad ibn Abu Zaynab al-Asadī,[25][26] and later developed by Maymūn al-Qaddāh[27] and his son ʿAbd Allāh ibn Maymūn[28] for the esoteric interpretation[29] of the Qur'an. The members of Batiniyyah may belong to either Ismailis or Twelvers.


The Ismā'īlī Imāmate 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[30] 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.[31]

Batini-Twelver ʿAqīdah schools

The followers of "Batiniyyah-Twelver" madh'hab consist of Alevis and Nusayris, who developed their own fiqh system and do not pursue the Ja'fari jurisprudence. Their combined population is nearly around 1% of World overall Muslim population.[32]



Alevi Islamic school of divinity


  • "The Alevi-Turks" has a unique and perplex conviction tracing back to Kaysanites Shia and Khurramites which are considered as Ghulat Shia. According to Turkish scholar Abdülbaki Gölpinarli, 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".[33]
  • Among the members of the "Qizilbash-Tariqah" who are considered as a sub-sect of the Alevis, two figures, firstly Abu Muslim Khorasani who assisted Abbasid Caliphate to beat Umayyad Caliphate, but later eliminated and murdered by Caliph Al-Mansur, and secondly Babak Khorramdin who incited a rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate and consequently was killed by Caliph al-Mu'tasim, are highly respected. This belief provides strong clues about their Kaysanites Shia and Khurramites origins. In addition, the "Safaviyya Tariqah" leader Ismail I is a highly regarded individual in the belief of "Alevi-Qizilbash-Tariqah" associating them with the Imamah (Shia Twelver doctrine) conviction of the "Twelver Shi'a Islam".
  • Their aqidah (theological conviction) is based upon a syncretic fiqh system called as "Batiniyya-Sufism"[29] which incorporates some Qarmatian sentiments, originally introduced by "Abu’l-Khāttāb Muhammad ibn Abu Zaynab al-Asadī",[25][26] and later developed by "Maymun al-Qāddāh" and his son "ʿAbd Allāh ibn Maymun",[28] and "Mu'tazila" with a strong belief in The Twelve Imams.
  • Not all of the members believe that the fasting in Ramadan is obligatory although some Alevi-Turks performs their fasting duties partially in Ramadan.
  • Some beliefs of Shamanism still are common amongst the Qizilbash Alevi-Turkish people in villages.
  • On the other hand, the members of Bektashi Order have a conviction of "Batiniyya Isma'ilism"[29] 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.[29][34]
  • They all may be considered as special groups not following the Ja'fari jurisprudence, like Alawites who are in the class of Ghulat Twelver Shia Islam, but a special Batiniyya belief somewhat similar to Isma'ilism in their conviction.
  • 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,[35][36] who altogether constitutes nearly one third of the whole population of the country. (An estimate for the Turkish Alevi population varies between Seven and Eleven Million.[37][38] Over 85% of the population, on the other hand, overwhelmingly constitute Maturidi aqidah of the Hanafi fiqh and Ash'ari aqidah of the Shafi'i fiqh of the Sunni followers.)
ʿAqīdah of Alevi-Islam Dīn Services


Baktāshism (Bektaşilik)
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




The Baktāshi ʿaqīdah


Bektashis hold that the Qur'an has two levels of meaning: an outer (Zāher ظاهر) and an inner (bāṭen باطن).[42] 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.[29]





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:



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





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.[35][43] 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.[44]

‘Alawite Islamic School of Divinity

Alawites consider themselves to be Muslims, although some Sunnis dispute that they are.[45] Alawite doctrine incorporates Gnostic, neo-Platonic, Islamic, Christian and other elements and has, therefore, been described as syncretistic.[46][47] Their theology is based on a divine triad,[45][48][49] or trinity, which is the core of Alawite belief.[50] The triad comprises three emanations of the one God: the supreme aspect or entity called the "Essence"[50] or the "Meaning"[49] (both being translations of ma'na), together with two lesser emanations known as his "Name" (ism), or "Veil" (hijab), and his "Gate" (bab).[48][49][50][51] 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).[48][50][51][52] Alawite belief is summarised in the formula: "I turn to the Gate; I bow before the Name; I adore the Meaning".[45] 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".[53] 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[50]) before returning to heaven.[45][51] They can be reincarnated as Christians or others through sin and as animals if they become infidels.[45][54]

Alawite beliefs have never been confirmed by their modern religious authorities.[55] Alawites tend to conceal their beliefs (taqiyya) due to historical persecution.[56] Some tenets of the faith are secret, known only to a select few;[57][58] therefore, they have been described as a mystical sect.[59] 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.[60][61] 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.[62] 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.[63][64] However, Athari Sunni (modern day Salafis) scholars such as Ibn Kathir (a disciple of Ibn Taymiyya) have categorised Alawites as pagans in their writings.[57][65][66]

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".[67] 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.[68] 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.[69]

Some sources have discussed the "Sunnification" of Alawites under the al-Assad regime.[70] 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".[70] 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.[71] 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.[55]

The Qizilbash ʿaqīdah


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






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





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


The lines of poetry above may easily be judged as an act of "Shirk" (polytheism) by the Sunni Ulama, but they have a bāṭenī[42] taʾwīl (inner explanation) in Qizilbashism.



Anthropomorphic-Anthropopathic Karram’iyyah was founded by Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Karrām.[72] 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.[73][22][74]

Anthropopathy in the history of Ghulāt Shia

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.


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.[75] However, Many Muslims consider Ahmadis as heretics.[76][77][78][79]

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[80] (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.[81]

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community 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.[82] 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.[83][84]

See also


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  2. Halverson, Jeffry R. (2010). Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 36. ISBN 9781137473578. 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.
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