Member of the academic staff of Qom University of Religions and Religions
Abstract
The nature and essence of Islam and faith are among the historical questions of Islamic theology that Muslim theologians have continuously addressed. The re-emergence of this question among Muslim theologians of the fifth century AH, which was a period of flourishing and consolidation of theological knowledge across various Islamic sects, provides a reliable standard of the general Muslim view based on the Quran and Sunnah. This facilitates the assessment and judgment of each Islamic school regarding other Muslims. Among the Islamic theologians of the fifth century, including Ahl al-Hadith, Maturidiyyah, Ash'arites, Imamiyyah, and Mu'tazilites, some scholars like Sheikh Mufid and Sheikh Tusi defined "faith" as knowledge of the heart, while others like Sayyid Murtada and Qadi Abd al-Jabbar considered it as affirmation and action. Others, such as Al-Lalika'i, associated faith with action. Some groups, like Sheikh Mufid and Abu Mu'in al-Nasafi, considered actions as separate from faith and viewed faith as constant, while others, like the Imamiyyah, established that faith could increase and decrease. Some, like the Mu'tazilites, considered faith identical to Islam, while others, like Al-Lalika'i and Al-Baqillani, regarded Islam as encompassing more than faith. However, it can be argued that by going beyond the apparent discourse of fifth-century theologians and referring to the foundations and inner perspectives of their views—whether in the realm of the truth of faith and Islam and their relationship, or in the issue of increase and decrease, or in the connection between faith and action—we arrive at a comprehensive view that largely closes the path to religious excommunication (takfir) and religious othering, paving the way for the development of faith and Islam among followers of various Islamic schools and facilitating reconciliation.
Zolqadri,H , Aqanuri,A and bageri,A . (2025). The Nature and Truth of Faith from the Perspective of Muslim Theologians of the Fifth Century AH. The Study of Theological Religions, 3(2), 97-117.
MLA
Zolqadri,H , , Aqanuri,A , and bageri,A . "The Nature and Truth of Faith from the Perspective of Muslim Theologians of the Fifth Century AH", The Study of Theological Religions, 3, 2, 2025, 97-117.
HARVARD
Zolqadri H, Aqanuri A, bageri A. (2025). 'The Nature and Truth of Faith from the Perspective of Muslim Theologians of the Fifth Century AH', The Study of Theological Religions, 3(2), pp. 97-117.
CHICAGO
H Zolqadri, A Aqanuri and A bageri, "The Nature and Truth of Faith from the Perspective of Muslim Theologians of the Fifth Century AH," The Study of Theological Religions, 3 2 (2025): 97-117,
VANCOUVER
Zolqadri H, Aqanuri A, bageri A. The Nature and Truth of Faith from the Perspective of Muslim Theologians of the Fifth Century AH. The Study of Theological Religions. 2025;3(2):97-117 (In Persian).