The Nature of Latif ul-Kalam and its Place in the Knowledge of Kalam

By studying the previous kalami work, we find that "Latif ul-Kalam" (the Subtle theology) is a title which is used against "Jalil ul-Kalam" (the great theology) and shows a certain categorizing in the discussions of Kalam knowledge. But what is the subtle issues, its features and its place in knowledge of Kalam, are the worthwhile questions that have been considered less. Historical-theological studies show that in the first Islamic civilization periods, the theologians, in addition to being responsible to answer the religious and theological issues of their own religion, considered themselves to be responsible for research and responding to general and fundamental knowledge questions before other Muslim scholars. Later, in the knowledge of Kalam, to address these issues, there was a special part in which they addressed general, fundamental and non-theological issues and discussed it in the introduction of the knowledge of Kalam in order to explain and substantiate different issues of Kalam by these subtle issues. These issues are referred to as "Latif ul-Kalam", which is versus the belief issues that are generally categorized as "Jalil ulkalam". The issues of "Latif ul-Kalam" are categorized in three sections: cosmological, act-study, and epistemological issues.