Religious Epistemology: A comparative study of Ghazi Azud al-Din Iji and Allameh Helli's views

Religious epistemology is nothing but the result of the epistemological approach to the religious beliefs. In the Islamic tradition the theologians have been much more concerned to presenting a coherent framework for religious epistemology than philosophers. This paper tries to explain and compare the epistemological views of two prominent Islamic theologian; Qadi Adod al-Din al-Ijee and Allamah al-Hilli. This comparative study shows that though there are many similarities between the views of these two theologians، their essential difference is about the mode of the obligation of thinking about God (al-Nazar)، while al-Ijee defends a kind of legal obligation of al-Nazar، Allamah al-Hilli endorses its rational obligation.