Classical Islamic Theology: The Ash`arites

Richard M. Frank is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures, at the Catholic University of America, USA. Dimitri Gutas is Professor of Arabic and Graeco-Arabic at Yale University, USA.

• Contents: Foreword; Hearing and saying what was said; The science of Kalam; Moral obligation in classical Muslim theology; Can God do what is wrong?; Attribute, attribution, and being: three Islamic views; Two Islamic views of human agency; Knowledge and taqlid, the foundation of religious belief in classical Ash'arism; The non-existent and the possible in classical Ash'arite teaching; The Ash'arite ontology I: primary entities; Bodies and atoms: the Ash'arite analysis; Al-Ahkam in classical Ash'arite teaching; Notes and remarks on the Taba'i in the teaching of al-Maturidi; The autonomy of the human agent in the teaching of 'Abd al-Gabbar; Al-Ustadh Abu Ishak: an 'Akida together with selected fragments; Index.

’When we today claim to have some sense of the terminology of early kalam, it is because Richard M. Frank analysed it and taught it to us. His works are fundamental for anyone working with kalam literature. It is fitting that his papers have been collected... this volume is well suited for students of Islamic theology, even the beginners among them.’ Journal of Islamic Studies ’[These studies] are among the most significant resources for the study and understanding of medieval Islamic theology... Dimitri Gutas is to be congratulated for the entire project.’ Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies