Schools of Islamic theology are various Islamic schools and branches in different schools of thought regarding creed. The main schools of Islamic theology include the extant Mu'tazili, Ash'ari, Maturidi, and Athari schools; the extinct ones include the Qadari, Jahmi, Murji', and Batini schools.
The main schism between Sunni, Shia, and Khariji branches of Islam was initially more political than theological, but theological differences have developed over time throughout the history of Islam.
Divinity schools in Islamic theology
According to the Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān (2006), Modern scholars of the history of Islam and Islamic studies say that some instances of theological thought were already developed among polytheists in pre-Islamic Arabia, such as the belief in fatalism (ḳadar), which reoccurs in Islamic theology regarding the metaphysical debates on the attributes of God in Islam, predestination, and human free-will. An overview about diverse denominations according to Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi: +SunnismMu'tazilismKharijitesPhilosophersJahmitesMurjitesNature of GodGod is a thing and a self, but not a body. God is in no place.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 32-33, 40)God is a thing, but not a body. God is in every place by knowledge only.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 32-33, 40God is a thing and bodyAbu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 40God is not a thing and not a body.God is not a thing and not a body.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 32-33God is a thing and a body.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 41Attributes of GodGod's attributes are eternal. They consist of Knowledge, Life, Power, and Strengh.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 44)God's attributes are not eternal. They consist of Knowledge, Life, and Power.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 46)God's will of good and evilAll incidents, entities, and actions are by God's will. God can command obedience but will disobedience for his subject, as demonstrated in the case of Satan (Iblis).Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 59)Only good actions are by God's desire. God can only command obedience if God wills obedience or else God would be unjust.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 57)Eternity of the QuranGod's speech (i.e. the Qur'an) is eternal.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 62)God's speech is created.God's speech is created.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 62God's speech is created.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 67God's speech is eternal, but the words are created.Origin of actionsGood and Evil actions are created by God and acquired by the servant.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 104)Actions are created by the sevants, not by God.Actions are created by the servant, not by God.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 104Actions are created by God and also performed by God.Faith and afterlifeDisobedient Muslims remain believers and only loss of faith makes an unbeliever as demonstrated in the case of Satan (Iblis). Sinful Muslims will attain paradise after purgatory.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 142Disobedient Muslims remain Muslims but will join the unbelievers in hell.Disobedient Muslims become apostates and will join the unbelievers in hell.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 134God is not obligated to reward or punish: Both believers and unbelievers may go to paradise and both may go to hell.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 136Disobedient Muslims will join paradise and remain believers.ResurrectionBodily resurrection is true, but individually. Questioning of the grave by the angels Munkar and Nakir is affirmed. Paradise and Hell co-exist with the world, are created, but exist eternally henceforth.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 161, 169, 170))Bodily resurrection is true. The questioning of the grave by the angels Munkar and Nakir is denied. Paradise and hell are yet to be created but exist eternally after judgement day.Denial of bodily resurrection. The good souls ascend to the spiritual world, but evil souls remain in the bodily world and suffer therein.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 160Paradise and hell are created. Paradise and hell will eventually perish.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 171Infallibility of the ProphetsThe prophets and messengers are protected from intentional major and minor sins, but not from slips committed through forgetfulness or mistakes.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 172)The prophets and messengers are protected from both major and minor sins.Prophets and messengers are protected from both major and minor sins.Prophets and messengers are protected from both major and minor sins.Angels and MuslimsMuslims are superior to the angels.Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi "أصول الدين - محمد البزدوي (Kitab Usul al-Din)" (Arabic) p. 205)Angels are superior to Muslims. The original schism between Kharijites, Sunnīs, and Shīʿas among Muslims was a dispute over the political and religious succession to the leadership of the Ummah (Muslim community) after the death of prophet Muhammad. From their essentially political position, the Kharijites developed extreme doctrines that set them apart from both mainstream Sunnī and Shīʿa Muslims. Shīʿas believe ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib is the true successor to Muhammad, while Sunnīs consider Abu Bakr to hold that position. The Kharijites broke away from both the Shīʿas and the Sunnīs during the First Fitna (the first Islamic Civil War); they were particularly noted for adopting a radical approach to takfīr (excommunication), whereby they declared both Sunnī and Shīʿa Muslims to be either infidels (kuffār) or false Muslims (munāfiḳūn), and therefore deemed them worthy of death for their perceived apostasy (ridda).
ʿAqīdah is an Islamic term meaning "creed" or "belief". Any religious belief system, or creed, can be considered an example of ʿaqīdah. This term has taken a significant technical usage in Muslim history and theology, denoting those matters over which Muslims hold conviction. The term is usually translated as "theology". Such traditions are divisions orthogonal to sectarian divisions within Islam, and a Muʿtazilite may, for example, belong to the Jaʿfari, Zaydī, or even Ḥanafī schools of Islamic jurisprudence.
In the history of Islam, one of the earliest systematic schools of Islamic theology to develop were the Muʿtazila in the mid-8th century CE. Muʿtazilite theologians emphasized the use of reason and rational thought, positing that the injunctions of God are accessible through rational thought and inquiry, and affirmed that the Quran was created (makhlūq) rather than co-eternal with God, which would develop into one of the most contentious questions in the history of Islamic theology.
In the 9th–10th century CE, the Ashʿarī school developed as a response to the Muʿtazila, founded by the 10th-century Muslim scholar and theologian Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī. Ashʿarītes still taught the use of reason in understanding the Quran, but denied the possibility of deducing moral truths by reasoning. This position was opposed by the Māturīdī school; according to its founder, the 10th-century Muslim scholar and theologian Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī, human reason is supposed to acknowledge the existence of a creator deity (bāriʾ) solely based on rational thought and independently from divine revelation. He shared this conviction with his teacher and predecessor Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān (8th century CE), whereas al-Ashʿarī never held such a view.
According to the Afghan-American philosopher Sayed Hassan Hussaini, the early schools of Islamic theology and theological beliefs among classical Muslim philosophers are characterized by "a rich color of Deism with a slight disposition toward theism".
Another point of contention was the relative position of imān ("faith") contrasted with taqwā ("piety"). Such schools of Islamic theology are summarized under ʿIlm al-Kalām, or "science of discourse", as opposed to mystical schools who deny that any theological truth may be discovered by means of discourse or reason.
Sunnī schools of theology
Most Sunni scholars have adopted the Ash‘ariyya school of theology,“Ash‘ariyya” by W. Montgomery Watt in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. I, p. 696. but the similar Mātūrīd’iyyah school also has Sunni scholarly adherents. Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam and are known as 'Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘h' or simply as 'Ahl as-Sunnah'. The word Sunni comes from the word Sunnah, which means the teachings and actions or examples of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Therefore, the term "Sunni" refers to those who follow or maintain the Sunnah of Muhammad.
The Sunnis believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor to lead the Muslim ummah (community) before his death, and after an initial period of confusion, a group of his most prominent companions gathered and elected Abu Bakr, Muhammad's close friend and a father-in-law, as the first 'Caliph 'of Islam. Sunni Muslims regard the first four caliphs (Abu Bakr, `Umar ibn al-Khattāb, Uthman Ibn Affan and Ali ibn Abu Talib) as "al-Khulafā’ur-Rāshidūn" or "The Rightly Guided Caliphs". After the Rashidun, the position turned into a hereditary right and the caliph's role was limited to being a political symbol of Muslim strength and unity.
Athari
Atharism (; textualism) is a movement of Islamic scholars who reject rationalistic Islamic theology (kalam) in favor of strict textualism in interpreting the Quran. The name is derived from the Arabic word , literally meaning "remnant" and also referring to a "narrative". It has a minority position amongst the scholars and their disciples are called the Athariyya, or Atharis.
Earliest atharist such as Amir al-Sha'bi denounced the use of Qiyas (analogic deduction), as he strongly relied primarily on scriptural traditions. He also tried to convince other scholars that Qiyās was not a valid argument. Al-Sha'bi was recorded to have said: "Beware of Qiyās. For when you use it, you make what is halal to be haram and what is haram to be halal.".
For followers of the Athari movement, the "clear" meaning of the Qur'an, and especially the prophetic traditions, has sole authority in matters of belief, and to engage in rational disputation (kalam), even if one arrives at the truth, is absolutely forbidden.Halverson, Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam, 2010: 36 Atharis engage in an amodal reading of the Quran, as opposed to one engaged in ta'wil (metaphorical interpretation). They do not attempt to conceptualize the meanings of the Quran rationally, and believe that the "real" meaning should be consigned to God alone (tafwid).Halverson, Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam, 2010: 36-7 In essence, the meaning has been accepted without asking "how" or "Bi-la kaifa". In theory, Ahmad ibn Hanbal has stated this means rejecting any attribution of God with creatures; such as the doctrine of the rationalists (Mu'tazilah). thus, Ahmad rejecting the notion of Mu'tazilah that Qur'an was a creation, and instead stated Qur'an is a shifat (attribute) of God.