Department Of History Of Islamic Sects And Kalam

PURPOSE:

The Department examines various political and theological understandings of the Islamic religion and the intellectual manifestations of these understandings. The Department has two sub-fields: Classical Islamic Sects and Contemporary Islamic Trends. The former investigates denominational groups (Khawarij, Shi‘a, Mu‘tazila, Murji’a, Ash‘ariyya, Maturidiyya, Druze, Nusayriyya, Yazidiyya, etc.) that came into existence with certain political and theological objectives during the classical Islamic period. 

The discipline of Kalam focuses on deriving the theological principles of the Islamic religion outlined in the Qur’an and defending these principles against other philosophical and theological world-views. Kalam analyzes the Islamic conception of belief (called tawhid in the Qur’an) and other central articles of faith in Islam, including Deity (uluhiyya), Prophethood (nubuwwa), and Afterlife (ma‘ad). The Department has two sub-fields: History of Kalam and Systematic Kalam. In the former, there are courses on the formative period and conditions of the discipline, the main theological paradigms and principles that have emerged throughout its history, and the like. Islamic theological schools (Murji’a, Jabriyya, Mu‘tazila, Ash‘ariyya, Maturidiyya, Shi‘a, etc.) are investigated from a comparative perspective