blanketglossary

Kalam

Definition

Ilm al-kalam or ilm al-lahut, often shortened to kalam, is the scholastic, speculative, or rational study of Islamic theology (aqida). It can also be defined as the science that studies the fundamental doctrines of Islamic faith, proving their validity, or refuting doubts regarding them. Kalām was born out of the need to establish and defend the tenets of Islam against philosophical doubters and non-Muslims, and also to defend against heretical and religious innovations (bidʿah). A scholar of kalam is referred to as a mutakallim, a role distinguished from those of Islamic philosophers and jurists.

Related concepts

'Ala' al-Din al-Bukhari 'Aql 'Illish A Guide to Conclusive Proofs for the Principles of Belief Abbasid Abbasid Caliphate Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah Abd Allah ibn Wahb al-Rasibi Abd al-Ghani al-Ghunaymi al-Maydani Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi Abd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad Abd al-Rahman al-Fasi Abd al-Rahman al-Tha'alibi Abd al-Razzaq Lahiji Abdal Abdallah al-Aftah Abdallah ibn Ibad Abdallah ibn Mu'awiya Abdolkarim Soroush Abdollah Javadi-Amoli Abdul Qadir Gilani Abdullah Ansari Abdullah al-Harari Abdullah ibn Alawi al-Haddad Abdullah ibn Saba'Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī Abu'l-Fawaris Ahmad ibn Ya'qub Abu'l-Jarud al-Hamdani Abu 'l-Hasan 'Ali ibn Khalaf al-Qabisi Abu Ali al-Hassan al-Yusi Abu Amra Kaysan Abu Bakr al-Razi Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi Abu Dharr al-Harawi Abu Hanifa Abu Hasan al-Ash'ari Abu Hashim al-Jubba'i Abu Hatim Ahmad ibn Hamdan al-Razi Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi Abu Imran al-Fasi Abu Ishaq al-Isfara'ini Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini Abu Ishaq al-Saffar al-Bukhari Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi Abu Mansur al-Maturidi Abu Muslim Abu Qurra Abu Sulayman Sijistani Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani Abu Yazid Abu al-Abbas Iranshahri Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani Abu al-Hassan al-Amiri Abu al-Hudhayl al-'Allaf Abu al-Husayn al-Basri Abu al-Khattab Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi Abu al-Mu'in al-Nasafi Abu al-Walid al-Baji Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi Abubakar Muhammad Zakaria Ad-Darazi Adab (Islam)Adalah (Islam)Adud al-Din al-Iji Afdal al-Din Kashani Aga Khan Agha Zia ol Din Araghi Ahi Evren Ahl-i Hadith Ahl al-Bayt Ahl al-Hadith Ahl al-Ra'y Ahl ar-Ra'y Ahmad Fardid Ahmad Ibn Hanbal Ahmad Sirhindi Ahmad Zayni Dahlan Ahmad al-Dardir Ahmad al-Rifa'i Ahmad ibn Abi Du'ad Ahmad ibn Hanbal Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Naysaburi Ahmad ibn Isa ibn Zayd Ahmad ibn Umar al-Hazimi Ahmadiyya Ahmed Raza Khan Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi Akhbari Akhbarism Akhirah Akmal al-Din al-Babarti Al-Ahbash Al-Albani Al-Amali (of Shaykh Saduq)Al-Andalus Al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah Al-Azhar Al-Sharif Al-Baghawi Al-Bahūtī Al-Baqillani Al-Baydawi Al-Bayhaqi Al-Baz al-Ashhab Al-Bazdawi Al-Burooj Al-Dhahabi Al-Fadl ibn Shadhan Al-Farabi Al-Farq bayn al-Firaq Al-Fiqh al-Akbar Al-Ghazali Al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya Al-Hakim al-Samarqandi Al-Harith ibn Surayj Al-Jahiz Al-Jubba'i Al-Juwayni Al-Kamal ibn al-Humam Al-Khaṣībī Al-Khisal Al-Kindi Al-Ma'mun Al-Mahdi Al-Mansur al-Qasim Al-Maqqari al-Tilmisani Al-Masudi Al-Maziri Al-Milal wa al-Nihal Al-Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi Al-Mu'tasim Al-Mufaddal ibn Umar al-Ju'fi Al-Muqanna Al-Mutawakkil Al-Qadi Abd al-Jabbar Al-Qadi Abu Ya'la Al-Qadi al-Nu'man Al-Qasim al-Rassi Al-Qushayri Al-Sarakhsi Al-Sawad al-A'zam Al-Sha'rani Al-Shafi'i Al-Shahrastani Al-Sharif al-Jurjani Al-Shawkani Al-Shaykh al-Mufid Al-Suyuti Al-Taftazani Al-Uthaymin Al-Wathiq Al-Yaʿqūbī Al-Zamakhshari Alavi Bohra Alavi Bohras Alawis Alawite Alawites Alchemy and chemistry in the medieval Islamic world Alchemy in the medieval Islamic world Alevism Ali Ali Qushji Ali al-Hadi Ali al-Qari Ali al-Rida Ali al-Sajjad Ali ibn Abi Talib Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Walid Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari Alians Alid dynasties of northern Iran Allah Allamah Al-Hilli Almohad Caliphate Amman Amr ibn Ubayd An-Nafs Az-Zakiyyah Ancillaries of the Faith Angels in Islam Animals in Islam Ankara Anthropomorphism and corporealism in Islam Anwar Shah Kashmiri Apologetic Apologetics Apostasy in Islam Apostasy in Islam by country Aqida Aqidah Arabati Baba Teḱe Arabesque Arabic language Aristotelianism Arwa al-Sulayhi Asabiyyah Asas al-Taqdis Ash'ari Ash'arism Asharites Ashʿari Asian studies Astrology in the medieval Islamic world Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world Atba-e-Malak Athari Atharism Athīr al-Dīn al-Abharī Averroes Averroism Avicenna Avicennism Awail Al Maqalat Ayn al-Quzat Hamadani Azariqa Azd Azzabas Baba Ishak Baba Rexheb Babai revolt Babak Khorramdin Badakhshan Baghdad Baha al-Din al-Amili Baha al-Din al-Muqtana Bahmanyār Bahshamiyya Baligh Balkh Balım Sultan Bangladesh Banu Ifran Barak Baba Bardesanites Barelvi Barmakid Bashshar ibn Burd Basra Batiniyyah Batriyya Battle of Siffin Bazighiyya Shia Beirut Bektashi Order Bektashism Bektashism and folk religion Beliefs and theology of the Nation of Islam Berkeley, California Bernard Lewis Bhopal State Bid'ah Bishr al-Marisi Bishr ibn al-Muʿtamir Bishriyya Boston Brethren of Purity Brill Academic Publishers Brill Publishers Buyids Bábis C. E. Bosworth Cairo Caliphate Caliphate of Córdoba Cambridge Cambridge University Press Capital punishment in Islam Catholic Church and Islam Cemal Kafadar Censorship in Islamic societies Charles Pellat Christian Christianity and Islam Christopher Melchert Clifford Edmund Bosworth Columbia University Press Commanding what is just Common Era Companions of the Prophet Concubinage in Islam Contemporary Islamic philosophy Contingency (philosophy)Conversion of non-Islamic places of worship into mosques Cornell Fleischer Cosmology in medieval Islam Criticism of Islam Criticism of Islamism Criticism of Muhammad Criticism of hadith Criticism of the Quran Cultural Muslim D. Reidel Damascus Daniel W. Brown Dawah Dawoodi Bohra Dawud al-Zahiri Dawūd al-Qayṣarī Day of Resurrection De Gruyter Demir Baba Teke Deobandi Deobandi jihadism Dhabihah Dhammiyya Shia Dhimmi Dhu'ayb ibn Musa Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi Divorce in Islam Druze Dukayniyya Shia Duncan Black MacDonald Dönmes Early Islamic philosophy Early Muslim conquests Early Science and Medicine Edinburgh University Press Edip Yüksel Education in Islam Education in the Ottoman Empire Egypt Ehsan Yarshater Emeri Johannes van Donzel Encyclopaedia of Islam Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity Enjoining good and forbidding wrong Euhemerism Ex-Muslims Eʿteqādātal-Emāmīya Fakhr al-Din al-Razi Faqih Fars province Fasting during Ramadan Fasting in Islam Fathite Fatimid Caliphate Fatimid dynasty Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi Fazlallah Astarabadi Fazlur Rahman Malik Federico Campagna Fihi Ma Fihi Fiqh Five Pillars of Islam Fouad Zakariyya Franz August Schmölders Franz Steiner Verlag Friday prayer Frithjof Schuon Galibi Order Galip Hassan Kuscuoglu Geography and cartography in the medieval Islamic world Gholamhossein Ebrahimi Dinani Ghulat Ghurabiya Ghusl Gibril Fouad Haddad Glossary of Islam God in Islam Gorgias Press Greater Khorasan Gunpowder empires Guzgan Gülrü Necipoğlu H. A. R. Gibb Hadi Sabzavari Hadith Hafizi Hafizi Isma'ilism Haji Bayram Veli Haji Bektash Veli Hajj Hal (Sufism)Halal Hamdan Qarmat Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani Hamza ibn Ali Hanafi school Hanbali Hanbali school Harun al-Rashid Hasan al-Askari Hasan al-Utrush Hasan ibn Ali Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah Hashimiyya Hassan-i Sabbah Hassan Ala Dhikrihi's Salam Hassan Hassanzadeh Amoli Haya (Islam)Hazimism Hebtiahs Bohra Henry Corbin Heretical Hindu–Islamic relations Hisham ibn Hakam Hisham ibn al-Hakam Historiography of early Islam History of Islam History of Islamic economics History of the Prophets and Kings Holiest sites in Islam Hudud Hurufism Hurufiyya Husayn ibn Ali I'jaz Ibadi Ibadi Islam Ibadi theology Ibadism Ibn 'Abd al-Barr Ibn 'Arafa Ibn Abi'l-Hadid Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani Ibn Abi al-Izz Ibn Aqil Ibn Arabi Ibn Arafa Ibn Ashir Ibn Babawayh Ibn Battah Ibn Baz Ibn Furak Ibn Hajar al-Haytami Ibn Hawqal Ibn Hazm Ibn Karram Ibn Kemal Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khallikan Ibn Kullab Ibn Masarra Ibn Nusayr Ibn Qudama Ibn Sab'in Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Tufail Ibn Tumart Ibn al-Athir Ibn al-Jawzi Ibnul Qayyim Ibrahim al-Bajuri Ibrahim al-Nazzam Idris Imad al-Din Ijma Ijtihad Ilkhanate Illuminationism Ilm (Arabic)Ilm al-Kalam Imadaddin Nasimi Imamah (Ismaili doctrine)Imamah (Shi'a doctrine)Imamate (Twelver doctrine)Imamate in Ismaili doctrine Imamate in Nizari doctrine Imamate in Shia doctrine Imamate in Twelver doctrine Imamate in Zaydi doctrine Imams of Yemen Iman (Islam)Iman (concept)Index of Islam-related articles International Institute of Islamic Thought Iran Iran Heritage Foundation Iranian Revolution Iraq Irfan Ishaq al-Turk Ishikism Islam Islam and Jainism Islam and Mormonism Islam and Sikhism Islam and blasphemy Islam and cats Islam and children Islam and democracy Islam and domestic violence Islam and gender segregation Islam and humanity Islam and nationalism Islam and other religions Islam and violence Islam and war Islam by country Islam in association football Islamic Golden Age Islamic Modernism Islamic Supreme Council of America Islamic University of Madinah Islamic architecture Islamic art Islamic attitudes towards science Islamic banking and finance Islamic calendar Islamic calligraphy Islamic clothing Islamic creed Islamic criminal jurisprudence Islamic culture Islamic dietary laws Islamic economics Islamic eschatology Islamic ethics Islamic extremism Islamic family jurisprudence Islamic feminism Islamic flags Islamic garden Islamic geometric patterns Islamic holidays Islamic holy books Islamic honorifics Islamic hygienical jurisprudence Islamic inheritance jurisprudence Islamic leadership Islamic literature Islamic marital jurisprudence Islamic marriage contract Islamic metaphysics Islamic military jurisprudence Islamic modernist Islamic music Islamic nationalism Islamic philosophy Islamic poetry Islamic pottery Islamic religious leaders Islamic schools and branches Islamic sexual jurisprudence Islamic studies Islamic terrorism Islamic theological jurisprudence Islamic toilet etiquette Islamic view of angels Islamic view of miracles Islamic views on evolution Islamic views on slavery Islamic–Jewish relations Islamism Islamophobia Isma'ilism Ismail al-Faruqi Istanbul Istihsan al-Khawd fi 'Ilm al-Kalam Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam Ja'far Sobhani Ja'far al-Sadiq Ja'fari school Jabriyah Jabriyya Jahannam Jahiliyyah Jahm bin Safwan Jahmiyya Jalal al-Din al-Dawani Jalaladdin Davani Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani Jamal al-Din al-Ghaznawi Jami Jarudiyya Jewish Jewish Kalam Jihad Jihadism Jizya Johannes Hendrik Kramers Joseph A. Kéchichian Joseph Schacht Judgement Day in Islam Jābir ibn Zayd Kabbalist Kala Kato Kalam (disambiguation)Kalam cosmological argument Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar Karl Vilhelm Zetterstéen Karramiyya Kaysanites Khalafiyya Shia Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri Kharijite Kharijites Khashabiyya Shia Khattabiyya Khidr Bey Khitan (circumcision)Khoja Khoja Akhmet Yassawi Khojas Khums Khurramites Khuzistan Khwaja Abdullah Ansari King's College London Kitab al-Majmu Kitab al-Tawhid (Al-Maturidi)Kufa Kul Nesîmî Kuwait LGBTQ people and Islam LGBT in Islam Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of Islam Leiden Liberalism and progressivism within Islam Librairie philosophique J. Vrin List of Islamic texts List of Muslim philosophers List of Muslim theologians List of Shia books List of Sufi orders List of Sunni books List of contemporary Muslim scholars of Islam List of ex-Muslim organisations List of extinct Shia sects List of former Muslims List of inventions in the medieval Islamic world Literal translation Liverpool University Press Logic in Islamic philosophy Logos (Christianity)Louis Gardet Ma'bad al-Juhani Ma malakat aymanukum Madhhab Madkhalism Madrasa Madrasas Maghreb Mahdavia Mahdi Mahdism Mahmoud Pasikhani Mahmoud Shabestari Mahmud Hudayi Mahr Mahram Maimonides Maisir Malamatiyya Malfūzāt Malik ibn Anas Maliki Maliki school Manichaeans Maqrizi Marcionites Marriage in Islam Martin Hinds Martin Lings Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg Masjid al-Haram Maslaha Masnavi Mathematics in the medieval Islamic world Mathnawi Maturidi Maturidis Maturidism Mauritania Mazyar Mecca Medicine in the medieval Islamic world Melbourne Merv Messianism Middle Persian Mihna Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah, and Guidance Mir Damad Mir Fendereski Mirza Ghulam Ahmad bibliography Miskawayh Miswak Modernist Salafism Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi Mohammed Abed al-Jabri Mohammed Arkoun Mohsen Fayz Kashani Morality in Islam Morteza Motahhari Mosque Mostafa Malekian Mu'awiya Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi Mu'min al-Taq Mu'tazila Mu'tazili Mu'tazilism Mu'tazilites Mufaddaliyya Muhakkima Muhammad Muhammad Abdel-Haleem Muhammad Abduh Muhammad Abu Zahra Muhammad Arafa al-Desouki Muhammad Asad Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i Muhammad Iqbal Muhammad Jaunpuri Muhammad Mayyara Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi Muhammad al-Baqir Muhammad al-Jawad Muhammad al-Mahdi Muhammad bin Dawud al-Zahiri Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Muhammad ibn Isma'il Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah Muhammad in Islam Mukhtar al-Thaqafi Mulhid Mulla Sadra Muqatil ibn Sulayman Muqbil bin Hadi al-Wadi'i Murabaha Murji'ah Murtada al-Zabidi Musa al-Kazim Muslim beliefs Muslim diaspora Muslim world Muslims Musta'li Musta'li Isma'ilism Mustali Mutashabih Mutazilites Muʿtazila Muʿtazilites Muḥammirah Nabati Nafi ibn al-Azraq Nafs Najdah ibn 'Amir Najdat Najis Najm al-Din 'Umar al-Nasafi Nakkariyyah Names of God in Islam Namiriya Nasir Khusraw Nasir Khusraw al-Qubadiani Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai Nasir al-Din al-Tusi Nation of Islam Nawab Neoplatonic New York City Nikah mut'ah Nishapur Nizari Nizaris Non-denominational Muslim North India Nukkari Nuktawiyya Nuqta-yi Ula Nur al-Din al-Sabuni Nursing in Islam Oakland Omar Khayyam Oneworld Publications Ophthalmology in the medieval Islamic world Order of Assassins Oriental rug Ottoman Caliphate Ottoman Empire Outline of Islam Oxford Oxford University Press Pacifism in Islam Palgrave Macmillan Pamiris Pan-Islamism Peace in Islamic philosophy Persecution of Muslims Persecution of minority Muslim groups Petro-Islam Physics in the medieval Islamic world Pir Sadardin Pir Sultan Political aspects of Islam Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies Post-Islamism Predestination in Islam Principles of Islamic jurisprudence Prisoners of war in Islam Prophecy (Shia Islam)Prophetic biography Prophets and messengers in Islam Protestantism and Islam Psychology in the medieval Islamic world Qadariya Qadariyah Qadariyya Qadi Qadi Ayyad Qadi Mir Husayn al-Maybudi Qadiani Qadr (doctrine)Qalam Qalandariyya Qalb Qarmatians Qazi Sa’id Qumi Qisas Al-Anbiya Qisas al-Anbiya Qiyas Qiyāma (Nizārī Ismāʿīlī doctrine)Qizilbash Qom Quran Quran and miracles Quranism Qurban (Islamic ritual sacrifice)Qutb ad-Dīn Haydar Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi Qutbi Bohra Qutbism Rabee al-Madkhali Rahmatullah Kairanawi Rajab Ali Tabrizi Rashad Khalifa Rashid Ahmad Gangohi Rashid Rida Rashidun Rashidun Caliphate Rationalism Ray, Iran Rayy René Guénon Reza Davari Ardakani Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi Riba Richard C. Martin Rifa`i Riyadh Romanization of Arabic Rome Ruhollah Khomeini Rum (endonym)Rumi Sa'id ibn Jubayr Sabbatai Zevi Sabbatean Sabine Schmidtke Sadaqah Sadr ad-Din Dashtaki Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi Safar Al-Hawali Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam Sahib ibn Abbad Sahwa movement Said Nursî Salafi Salafi Modernism Salafi jihadism Salafi movement Salah Saleh Al-Fawzan Salman al-Ouda Samarkand Satpanth Saudi Arabia Sawm of Ramadan Sayf al-Din al-Amidi Sayyid Haydar Amuli Scholasticism Schools of Islamic theology Science in the medieval Islamic world Sectarian violence among Muslims Sects in Islam Seljuk Empire Seven pillars of Ismailism Sevener Sexuality in Islam Seyyed Hossein Nasr Shabakism Shafi'i school Shafi'ism Shah Abdul Aziz Shah Ismail Shah Waliullah Dehlawi Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi Shahada Shams Tabrizi Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi Sharia Sharif al-Murtaza Shaykh Tusi Shaykhism Shayki Sheikh Haydar Shi'ite Shia Shia Islam Shia Islamism Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi Shiraz Shlomo Pines Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut Shu'ubiyya Shura Siddiq Hasan Khan Siraj al-Din Urmavi Siraj al-Din al-Ushi Sokoto Caliphate Sources of Sharia Sources of sharia Spirit possession and exorcism in Islam Spread of Islam Studia Islamica Stuttgart Succession to Muhammad Sufi Sufi cosmology Sufi metaphysics Sufi philosophy Sufi psychology Sufism Sufri Sukuk Sulaymani Bohra Sunnah Sunni Sunni Islam Sunni schools Sunni schools of jurisprudence Sunpadh Supreme Leader of Iran Surat Al-Ard Syed Khundmir Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas Syed Nazeer Husain Syllogism Symbols of Islam Syria Süleyman Hilmi Tunahan Süleymancı Ta'til Tabarra Tabi'un Tabsirat al-Adilla Tafsir Taftazan Taha Abdurrahman Tajrid al-I'tiqad Takaful Taqi al-Din al-Subki Taqwa Tariqah Tashbih Tawakkul Tawalla Tawassul Tawhid Tawussite Shia Tayammum Tayyibi Tayyibi Isma'ilism Taşköprüzade Taṣawwuf Tehran Tel Aviv University Tewafuq Thawab The Encyclopaedia of Islam The Meadows of Gold The Moderation in Belief Theology of Twelvers Timeline of the history of Islam Timothy Winter Timurid Renaissance Traditionalist School (perennialism)Transcendent theosophy Transoxiana Tunis Tunisia Twelve Imams Twelver Shi'ism Twelver Shia Twelver theology Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz Umayyad Caliphate Umayyad period Umm al-Kitab (Shi'i book)Umm al-Qura University Ummah United Submitters International University of California Press University of Sharjah Upanishads Usul al-din Usulism Victor Louis Ménage Vizier W. Montgomery Watt Wahhabi Wahhabism Walatah Walayah Wallace Fard Muhammad Waqifite Shia Wasil ibn 'Ata'Wasil ibn Ata Wilayat al-faqih Wilferd Madelung Wolfhart Heinrichs Women in Islam Wudu Yahya ibn Khalid Yahya ibn Umar Yasir Qadhi Yazid bin Abdul Qadir Jawas Yunus Emre Zahiri Zahiri school Zakariyya Kandhlawi Zakariyya al-Ansari Zakat Zandaqa Zayd ibn Ali Zaydism Zikris Zina Zoroastrians Zubair Ali Zai Zurarah ibn A'yan Évariste Lévi-Provençal

2 concepts already in your glossary