Section 1

The faith of Islam is based upon three principles: (1) belief in the One God, the Creator of the world‑which is called al‑tawhid (monotheism); (2) belief in the prophethood of Muhammad ibn `Abd Allah (S) as the last of all prophets (al‑nubuwwah), and (3) belief in the Day of Resurrection (al‑ma`ad). Anybody who wants to be consi­dered a Muslim, must recognize these three principles (al‑usul) through the agency of his intellect. Thus, there is no difference of opinion as to these main points among Muslims. However, the differences occur in some of the secondary issues related to the three principles, some of which are as follows:

1. About God's Affirmative Attributes (al‑sifat al‑thubutiyyah), namely, the qualities positively attributed to God, such as Omniscience, Omnipotence, Life, etc., the Ash'arites believe that as in the case of a human being whose attributes are different from his essence and dependent upon it, so with God, whose Essence and Attributes are different things; the latter being derived from His Essence. However, in the case of man the attributes are contingent (hadith) while God's Attributes are pre‑eternal (qadim).

In this connection, the Mu'tazilites have various beliefs, but most of them hold the same opinion as the Shi'ah. The Shi'ah say: If there is any distinction between Divine Attributes such as Knowledge, Power, etc., and the Divine Essence, this difference lies only at the level of conception and thought, and not in reality. "God" is the same as "Omniscience", the same as "Omnipotence", and, moreover, such Attributes are in reality one and the same. Therefore, nothing has been appended to Divine Essence from outside; rather God is Omniscient, Omnipotent and Living by virtue of His Essence.

2. About the Divine Will (iradah), the Ash'arites hold that Divine Will and Omniscience (`Ilm) are two separate Attributes. But the Shiites, and a group of Mu'tazilites maintain that God's Will is the same as His Knowledge, and they call it Da`i, meaning "Divine Intention".

3. No doubt, one of the Divine Attributes is Speech (Kalam); that is, God speaks, or is Mutakallim. However, since Kalam, the Divine Word‑from which the word "Mutakallim" is derived‑is composed of letters, and letters occur in a temporal sequence, so a disagreement of opinion has been caused in this regard.

The Hanbalis consider God's Word (Kalam) to be pre‑eternal (qadim), and some of them even believe the cover and sheath of the Holy Quran to be pre‑eternal.

The Karramiyyah hold God's Word (Kalam) to be hadith (tem­poral or accidental), yet consider it permissible for a temporal thing to be dependent on Divine Essence.

The Ash'arites believe the Kalam to be hadith but have said: What is dependent on God's Essence is not the spoken Word (al‑Kalam al­ lafzi) ‑ which is hadith‑rather, it is the sense and meaning of the Divine Word which is qadim. This they call "al‑Kalam al‑nafsi".

Both the Shiites and Mu'tazilites have rejected the idea of al ­Kalam al‑nafsi, and have said that the origin of the word "mutakallim" is "takallum" and not "kalam". And "takallum" (speaking) means origination or creation of literal speech (al‑Kalam al‑lafzi) in others. Now, "creation" or "origination" is a quality of Act, not an Attribute of Essence. So no problem arises out of its being contingent (huduth); for, though an Act issues from God, it is not dependent on His Essence.

4. The Ash'arites believe God to be visible, not in the way the Karramiyyah and the Mushabbihah believe, but in freedom from the factors of time and space. But the Shiites and the Mu'tazilites consider the possibility of seeing God incompatible with His immaterial, neces­sary existence and have explained away the Quranic verses and narra­tions of the Holy Prophet which in appearance seem to imply visual perception of God (ru'yah).

5. There are some differences of opinion as to whether actions can be regarded as "good" or "bad" in independence of the decree of the Divine Lawgiver (al‑Shai').

The Ash'arites believe that a "good" action is that which the Shari`ah has ordered the people to do, and a "bad" action is that which it has prohibited people from doing. But the Shiites and the Mu'tazi­lites hold that "goodness" or "badness" of actions can be recognized by human reason; that is, regardless of the decree of the Shari`ah, some actions are good and some bad. The Lawgiver orders people to do what is "good" and prohibits them from doing "bad" deeds.

6. Is man really free to perform actions which are apparently done of his own free will, or is he compelled to perform such actions? A group of the Ash'arites are of the opinion that man's will and power have no effect in bringing about these actions, and it is only God's Will and Power that is effectual in their taking place. This belief is called "Jabr".

The Mu'tazilites hold that the only factor causing these actions to take place is man's will and power. God has only created man and given him power, will and intelligence. As long as God has not taken these forces and potentialities away from him, he can independently do whatever he wants; there is no need for him to be instantaneously and constantly given power, will and other potentialities by God. This belief is called "al‑tafwid".

However, the Shiites believe that man's actions depend on his own will, but not in the sense that he is totally independent in doing them. Rather, just as God is the initiating cause (al‑`illah al‑muhdithah) of man's life, power and will‑that is, God has originally given man these qualities and abilities ‑ so God is as well the maintaining cause (al‑`illah al‑mubqiyah) of these potentialities and qualities. That is to say, God grants these powers and abilities constantly and perpetually, otherwise man cannot perform any action. Thus, such actions can be attributed both to God and man. This belief is neither determinism nor free will, but something between the two (amr bayn al‑'amrayn).

7. About Divine Destiny and Providence (qada' wa qadar), there are also differences of opinion among Islamic thinkers. If by "Destiny" (qada) it is meant that all things‑‑even man's actions‑are brought into existence by God, and if by "Providence" (qadar) it is meant that the qualities and particulars of all things‑even of those things originated by man's will‑have taken place and shape solely as a result of God's Will, then qada' and qadar, in this sense, are accepted by the Ash'arites and rejected by the Shiites and the Mu'tazilites. And if by "qada" and "qadar" other senses are meant, such as: `The existence or happening of everything, even man's free actions and their particulars, depends on God's Will, but not directly, and rather through the special means of that thing, including man's will and power,' or if "qada "' and "qadar" are taken to mean `declaration and determination of some matter by God', then in both of these senses, qada' and qadar are admitted by the Imamiyyah Shiites. Moreover, there are certain verses in the Quran and ahadith of the Holy Prophet and Imams affirming this belief.

8. The Shiites and the Mu'tazilites consider it reprobate and wrong to attribute certain qualities or actions to God such as oppres­sion, tyranny, giving of a duty to anybody beyond his strength, and so on, and believe it necessary and right to attribute certain qualities and actions to Him such as mercy, compassion, assigning of prophets and so on.

The Ash'arites, due to their negation of rational foundation of goodness and badness of actions (al‑husn wa al‑qubh al‑`aqliyyan) and also owing to their maintaining that nobody can possibly assign duties and obligations to God, reject both of the above viewpoints.

But it is obvious that both of their own viewpoints rest on shaky grounds. Because, as to the first position, it has been established that the goodness and badness of actions are rational, and as to their second position, it may be said that by denial of certain qualities and actions to be attributed to God, what is meant is that such things as tyranny and oppression are inappropriate for the sublime station of God, and if some acts‑like assignment of prophets‑are considered to be incum­bent upon God, it is meant that refraining from such acts is not becom­ing to God, the Almighty, which is affirmed by reason. And this notion of denial or incumbency, in this sense, by no means entails any imposi­tion on God by somebody else.

9. Like the Mu'tazilites, the Shiites believe that since God is Wise (hakim), He never does any useless or frivolous action, any action which is in vain and devoid of benefit and expedience, because God is absolute and total perfection; the benefits of His actions accrue to His creatures, not to Himself. But the Ash'arites believe that since God has absolute perfection, His actions are not out of motives and purposes.

10. About prophethood (al‑nubuwwah), the Shiites and the Mu'tazilites hold that because God is Merciful and Gracious (Latif) towards His creatures, it is incumbent upon Him to assign prophets to guide humanity; but the Ash'arites, owing to their denial of the prin­ciple of Divine Grace (al‑Lutf), do not regard it incumbent upon God to assign prophets.

11. There is, on the whole, no difference of opinion as to the credibility of the principle of infallibility (`ismah) of the prophets. Rather, the differences lie in the secondary points of the issue.

The Mu'tazilites have considered it possible for prophets to commit venial sins; that is to say, they believe committing venial sins is not incompatible with their prophethood.

The Ash'arites and the Hashawiyyah have only regarded kufr and falsehood to be unattributable to the prophets, not other sins. Some Ash'arite scholars have said that a prophet cannot commit major or minor sins after being assigned to prophethood, but as for other sins, he can avoid committing them intentionally, not inadvertently.

But the Shiites believe that since the prophet has to be a reliable and perfectly trustworthy means of Divine guidance, he cannot commit any sins, neither major, nor minor, nor venial, neither intentionally nor inadvertently, neither before nor after being assigned to prophethood.