“Orthodoxy” as a cause of early theological-political divisions Cover Image

“Pravovjernost” kao uzrok ranomuslimanskih teološko -političkih podjela
“Orthodoxy” as a cause of early theological-political divisions

Author(s): Adnan Silajdžić, Samir Beglerović
Subject(s): Politics and religion, History of Islam
Published by: Fondacija “Baština duhovnosti”
Keywords: creed; orthodoxy; Revelation; Muhammad, p.b.u.h.; confessionality; Ahmad ibn Hanbal; Kharijites; Murjites; community of believers (Ummah); ahl al-sunnah we al-jama’ah; Shahrastani;

Summary/Abstract: In the paper, the authors discuss the basic issues of the content of Islamic belief which had emerged in the early Islamic classics. The paper seeks to examine critically the socio-religious aspects of the emergence of the first questions of creed (aqa’id), i.e., belief, and theearly theological schools (Hanbali, Kharijite, Murjites) which articulated them in separate and shorter unites (creeds). The paper further discusses the question of the extent to which“belonging to the Muslim community” influenced the profiling of the content of the articles about belief, i.e., the first aqa’id creeds, and consequently to that, an early Muslim commitment to a confessional form of “orthodoxy”, which is, to a certain extent, contrary to the basic intention of the Holy Qur’an. In the end, it is concluded that the ideological construct of“orthodoxy” (he who is “against this community is not a believer”) was a cause of the early Muslim theological-political divisions which would, without doubt, determine the further development of Muslim doctrines, as evidenced by later works such as Shahrastani’s el-Milal.

  • Issue Year: XII/2021
  • Issue No: 22
  • Page Range: 21-29
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Bosnian