Episode 22 of… The Assassins series Which is shown on the DMC channel in conjunction with its presentation on the Watch It platform, inviting Zaid bin Sayhun to an intellectual debate between the scholars of his sect and the scholars of the Seljuks, saying: He and his sect possess the cornerstone of theology, so what is the science of theology?
Scholars have different expressions in defining the science of theology, which often indicate a difference in point of view. Abu Nasr Al-Farabi, who died in the year 950 AD, had a say in defining theology and the difference between it and jurisprudence. He is unique in it as far as we know, and it is one of the oldest definitions of this science that have reached us, as he said The craft of speech enables a person to support the limited opinions and actions declared by the founder of the religion, and to falsify everything that contradicts them through sayings. This is also divided into two parts: a part in the opinions and a part in the actions.
According to the book Duha al-Islam by Ahmed Amin, it appears that this name was given to this science in the Abbasid era, and most likely in the era of Al-Ma’mun. We have seen that before that, research into such a topic was called “jurisprudence in religion,” similar to “jurisprudence in knowledge,” which is He taught law, and they said, “Jurisprudence in religion is better than jurisprudence in science.” Abu Hanifa called his book on doctrine “The Greatest Jurisprudence.”
Al-Shahrastani says: “Then the sheikhs of the Mu’tazila looked at the books of philosophers when they explained the days of al-Ma’mun, and mixed their methods with the methods of theology, and isolated them as one of the arts of science, and called it theology.” According to his statement, the Mu’tazilites were the ones who called this science the science of theology, and that was after Greek philosophy books were translated into Arabic during the time of Al-Ma’mun.
In Duha Al-Islam, Ahmed Amin identifies a difference between theology and Islamic philosophy in terms of their emergence. Discourse in Islam arose gradually and various issues arose. A group would raise an issue in which some people would express a different opinion, form a group, and so on, such as what happened in the question of who committed a major sin, is he an unbeliever or a believer? The Kharijites say that he is an infidel, and then some people come and say that he is in a position between the two positions: neither he is a believer nor is he an infidel, and the Mu’tazila sect is formed around this last opinion.
Thus, various issues were raised, and the doctrine was gradually formed, and as the era progressed, new issues were raised, and new solutions were developed for them, and this is the case with all Islamic sciences, in terms of jurisprudence and rhetoric. As for philosophy in Islam, it did not progress this gradually because it passed its path of development with the Greeks, then it was transmitted completely or almost completely, and what was new in it was the Muslims’ preoccupation with it, understanding it, explaining it, commenting on it, expressing some opinions on it, and reconciling some of its issues with Islamic issues. This is what made us consider theology an Islamic science, even if it contains some Greek philosophical issues, while we cannot call the philosophy that Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, and Ibn Sina worked with Islamic philosophy except with a degree of permissiveness.