Islamic Theology in the Context of Attack and Defense Debates

Many of the details of the issues of Islamic theology were not present in the prophetic era, so when they appeared in the later ages, the school of hadiths stood against them. They saw that studying these issues would harm the Muslim's Islamic belief. In addition to this, these issues are considered heresy that was not reported from the Prophet. The School of the Salaf has many books in warning against heresies and Ahl Kalam. These books were characterized by textuality; Meaning it is full of verses from the Qur'an and hadiths from the Sunnah. There is another group that saw theology as a necessary science in Islam, which every Muslim must learn. Because the Qur’an condemns imitation and the belief of the imitator is a belief that is not based on scientific foundations, but is inherited from parents and grandparents. As for theology, it helps the believer to strengthen his faith by building this faith on clear and strong foundations, and thus the Muslim's faith becomes strong thanks to this knowledge. In addition, the verses of the Qur’an have commanded the Muslim to exercise his intellect, think and consider the universe. As for the fact that theological issues were not mentioned in the Prophet’s era, that is because they were not in the era of the prophet, and if they were in the era of the prophet, he would have talked about them. The same logic applies to detailed jurisprudence issues, as many jurisprudence issues did not appear in the Prophet’s era. But when the need arose to deal with such issues in detail, scholars studied them and wrote many books on them. There are some scholars, such as Al-Ghazali and Ibn Arabi, who have said that the ruling on theology differs according to the person. For example, a simple, ordinary man should not study issues of theology; Because it would be harmful to him in his faith. While Al-Ghazali considered that the study of theology is obligatory for the specialist and the seeker of knowledge in Islam. Ibn Taymiyyah is considered one of the most knowledgeable scholars of hadith who saw the prohibition of studying theology. But despite this, Ibn Taymiyyah studied theology and philosophical sciences in-depth and produced different opinions from the school of hadith. After Ibn Taymiyya came scholars who were nothing more than imitators and summaries of his books. Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab was at the head of these scholars, so he was interested in summarizing Ibn Taymiyyah's books and publishing them among the people.