The Idea of God in Islamic Thought
Theological and Philosophical Perspectives from Kalam to Mysticism
Islamic theology and philosophy encompass a wide spectrum of views about God, existence, and the human condition. From early debates in kalām to later metaphysical syntheses, each school represents a distinct attempt to articulate divine reality in relation to the world. While some traditions prioritize scriptural literalism, others engage deeply with reason, mysticism, or philosophical systems inherited and reinterpreted within an Islamic worldview. Central to all of them is the question of how the Absolute relates to creation—whether through will, emanation, light, or being itself. This survey introduces key theological and philosophical schools in Islam, exploring their views on God and reality, and highlighting the contributions of their major thinkers.
Ashʿariyya (Sunni Orthodox Kalām)
Ashʿari theology upholds the absolute sovereignty and transcendence of God. It teaches that all events in the universe are directly caused by God's will. This view is rooted in the concept of occasionalism, which denies natural causality and asserts that God creates each event independently in every moment. A fire burns not because of its intrinsic properties, but because God causes the burning each time. Even human actions are not self-generated; they are created by God and only acquired by humans through a concept known as kasb al-ʿamal or "acquisition of actions." This preserves a form of moral responsibility while maintaining divine omnipotence.
Ashʿarism emphasizes God's attributes as eternal and real, though unlike anything in creation. These include knowledge (ʿilm), will (irāda), and power (qudra), among others. However, the human intellect cannot grasp their true nature. Revelation is primary, and reason is employed only to defend and clarify it, not to derive theological truths independently. Existence in this view is contingent and wholly dependent on God’s sustaining will.
Key figures include Abu al-Hasan al-Ashʿari, who founded the school in opposition to Muʿtazili rationalism, and later theologians like al-Ghazali, who fused Ashʿari doctrine with mysticism and Sufi spirituality, while maintaining its fundamental epistemological stance.
Maturidiyya (Sunni Rationalist Theology)
The Maturidi school shares many foundational beliefs with Ashʿarism but allows a greater role for reason. It affirms that God's existence and certain moral truths can be known through rational inquiry, even without revelation. This includes the belief that good and evil have intrinsic qualities that human intellect can discern. Maturidis maintain that God’s justice (ʿadl) requires that humans have real freedom to choose among alternatives, although the outcomes are still created by God.
Like Ashʿarism, Maturidism accepts kasb al-ʿamal to explain the compatibility of divine creation with human responsibility. However, it places more emphasis on the autonomy of the human will in making moral choices. God's attributes are seen as eternal and essential, and while they are not comparable to anything in creation, they are affirmed through both scriptural and rational means.
Revelation and reason are seen as complementary sources of truth. This balance is especially evident in the works of Abu Mansur al-Maturidi, the school’s founder, and later scholars from the Hanafi tradition. The Maturidi approach was influential in the theological development of the Ottoman and Mughal empires.
Hanbali / Athari (Sunni Textualist Traditionalism)
Hanbali theology, often associated with the Athari creed, insists on a literal adherence to the Quran and Hadith without speculative reasoning. The Athari view regards God as possessing real attributes mentioned in scripture, such as hand (yad) and face (wajh), but without interpreting them metaphorically or delving into their modality. The guiding principle is bilā kayf, meaning "without asking how." This reflects a commitment to affirming what God has revealed while refusing to impose philosophical categories onto divine realities.
The Hanbali-Athari position rejects both kalām (theological dialectics) and philosophical reasoning in theology. God's nature is beyond human comprehension and should be accepted as transmitted. Human actions are created by God, and moral responsibility is understood in the context of submission to divine command, rather than philosophical justification.
Ahmad ibn Hanbal is the foundational figure of this school, whose resistance to the Muʿtazilite doctrine of the created Quran exemplified its commitment to scriptural authority. Later, scholars like Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya developed this approach further, often engaging with rationalist schools only to refute them.
Ithna Ashʿariyya (Twelver Shiʿi Imami Theology)
Twelver Shiʿi theology, or Ithna Ashʿariyya, centers on the belief in twelve divinely appointed Imams who are seen as the true heirs of the Prophet. The Imams possess ʿisma or infallibility, and are regarded as the perfect interpreters of revelation. God's essence in this school is considered beyond human comprehension, yet His attributes such as justice and wisdom (ʿadl and ḥikma) are affirmed in a way that emphasizes moral coherence.
The school insists on the compatibility of divine justice with human freedom. Unlike Ashʿarism, which accepts predestination in a more rigid sense, Twelver theology allows for real human agency, often drawing on Muʿtazili frameworks. It also places strong emphasis on tawḥid (divine unity), not only in belief but in practice, where any association with created beings in worship or metaphysical dependence is rejected.
Philosophical engagement is prominent in this tradition. Thinkers like Shaykh al-Mufid, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, and Allama al-Hilli incorporated philosophical reasoning and modified kalām methods into Shiʿi theology, contributing to a robust metaphysical framework. In the Safavid period, this theology was further influenced by mystical philosophy, particularly ḥikmat al-mutaʿāliyah.
Ismaʿili (Shiʿi Esoteric Theology and Philosophy)
Ismaʿili theology presents a deeply esoteric and symbolic understanding of God and reality. God is seen as absolutely transcendent and unknowable in His essence, beyond all attributes and categories. From this unknowable source emanates the First Intellect (al-ʿaql al-awwal), which begins the cosmological hierarchy. This emanative process (fayḍ) continues through successive levels of being, including the Soul (nafs), the Universal Intellect, and the cosmic order.
Central to Ismaʿili thought is the concept of taʾwīl, or inner interpretation. Scripture contains exoteric (ẓāhir) and esoteric (bāṭin) meanings, and true understanding requires initiation and guidance by the ḥujja or proof of God, who is the Imam of the age. The Imam is both a metaphysical principle and a living person, who embodies divine knowledge and acts as a bridge between God and creation.
Thinkers like Jaʿfar al-Sadiq, Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani, and Nasir Khusraw contributed to this philosophical and symbolic vision. The Fatimid and Alamut periods were rich with Ismaʿili theological development, drawing on Neoplatonism and integrating it with Islamic cosmology and religious practice.
Sufism (Islamic Mysticism)
Sufism is the inner, experiential dimension of Islam that emphasizes the realization of divine presence through purification of the heart and the path of love. Its theology centers on the idea of tawḥid not merely as belief, but as lived experience. In advanced stages, the seeker comes to realize that there is no existence but God's (lā mawjūd illā Allāh), a formulation closely associated with the doctrine of Wahdat al-Wujūd, or Unity of Being.
Sufism describes the journey of the soul through stages such as fanāʾ (annihilation of the self), baqāʾ (subsistence in God), and waṣl (union). These experiences are not metaphors but ontological transformations in the consciousness of the mystic. God's names and attributes are seen as facets through which the divine manifests in creation. The cosmos is a mirror reflecting the hidden treasures of the divine, as symbolized in the famous hadith: "I was a hidden treasure, and I loved to be known."
Figures such as Junayd of Baghdad, al-Hallaj, Ibn Arabi, and Rumi exemplify the diversity within Sufism, ranging from sober mysticism to ecstatic expressions of divine love. Ibn Arabi's metaphysical system, in particular, has been highly influential, offering a detailed cosmology rooted in the unity of being and divine self-disclosure (tajallī).
Mashsha’i (Peripatetic Philosophy)
The Mashsha’i school, also known as Islamic Peripatetic philosophy, draws heavily on the works of Aristotle, interpreted through the lens of Neoplatonism. It presents a hierarchical and rational vision of reality, beginning with the Necessary Being (God) who exists by necessity and causes all other beings through emanation. The First Intellect emanates from God, followed by successive intellects, each responsible for a celestial sphere, until reaching the Active Intellect that governs the sublunar world.
In this view, God does not know particulars through sensory experience but knows them as universals through their causes. Human knowledge, too, ascends through abstraction, moving from the senses to the intellect, and ultimately striving to unite with the Active Intellect. The soul is immaterial and survives death; its perfection lies in attaining knowledge and intellectual union with the divine order.
Major figures include al-Farabi and Ibn Sina. Al-Farabi presented a political and cosmological philosophy rooted in metaphysical principles, while Ibn Sina developed a detailed ontology that distinguishes between wujūd (existence) and māhiyya (essence), a distinction that became foundational in later Islamic metaphysics.
Ishraqi (Illuminationist Philosophy)
Founded by Suhrawardi, the Ishraqi or Illuminationist school offers a vision of reality structured around light. All existence is degrees of light, descending from the Light of Lights (Nūr al-Anwār), which is the absolutely simple and self-subsisting source of all being. The metaphysics of light replaces the Aristotelian framework with a more intuitive and symbolic cosmology.
The cosmos unfolds through tajallī or self-disclosure, not mere emanation. Higher lights (pure intellects) illuminate lower levels of being, including souls and bodies. Knowledge is not only rational but also experiential and luminous. Suhrawardi insisted on inner purification and spiritual vision (mushāhada) as means to truth, blending philosophy with mystical insight.
Suhrawardi drew on Zoroastrian symbols, Neoplatonic hierarchy, and Platonic intuition. His fusion of philosophy and mysticism set the stage for later synthesis in Iranian philosophy, particularly through the Safavid-era thinkers.
Hikmat al-Mutaʿāliyah (Transcendent Theosophy)
The school of Hikmat al-Mutaʿāliyah, or Transcendent Theosophy, was founded by Mulla Sadra in Safavid Iran. It integrates insights from Peripatetic philosophy, Illuminationism, and Sufism into a metaphysical system centered on wujūd (existence) as the primary reality. Unlike earlier schools that prioritized essence, Mulla Sadra asserted the primacy of existence (aṣālat al-wujūd) and viewed all beings as degrees of intensity within a single continuum of being.
God is the purest and most intense form of existence, while creation unfolds through a dynamic process called substantial motion (al-ḥaraka al-jawhariyya), in which the very substance of things is in motion toward greater perfection. Reality is not static but constantly transforming. Knowledge is achieved through ḥuḍūrī (presence) and shuhūd (witnessing), not just discursive reasoning.
Mulla Sadra’s system harmonizes mystical experience with rational metaphysics, offering a vision of God as the ground of being who reveals Himself through gradations of existence. His writings mark a high point in Islamic metaphysical thought and continue to influence contemporary Shiʿi theology and philosophy.
Together, these schools reflect the profound diversity of Islamic thought on God, existence, and the human condition. Whether through the dialectical precision of Ashʿarism, the rational openness of Maturidiyya, the textual fidelity of Hanbali-Athari theology, the esoteric symbolism of Ismaʿilism, or the mystical metaphysics of Sufism and Illuminationism, each tradition offers a distinct yet interconnected vision of the divine. Mulla Sadra’s Hikmat al-Mutaʿāliyah draws together many of these threads into a comprehensive synthesis, uniting reason, revelation, and inner experience. All these traditions converge on a shared affirmation: that the quest for God is ultimately a quest to understand the very fabric of reality and the meaning of our place within it.
Special thanks to @hayyanist @Alisafinas1 @aikterapiyar
Splendid!