The Prohibition of Studying Works on Speculative Theology (Kalam)

ابن قدامة المقدسي

Muwaffaq-ud-Deen Ibn Qudaamah (1147-1223) was an ascetic, jurisconsult and traditionalist theologian of the Hanbali school mainly resident in Damascus. His Tahreem-un-Nazar fee Kutub-Ahl-il-Kalaam is an attack on the "rationalist" views of the earlier jurist of Baghdad, Ibn 'Aqeel (d. 119). Ibn Qudaamah took the traditionalist position that speculative theology (Kalaam) and allegorical interpretation (ta'weel) were innovations and ipso facto not permissible. The edition is based on the unique Hyderabad MS.