The " unqualifiedness" (bila kaif) view, and its existential and conceptual reading

The “unqualifiedness” (bila kaif) view is the theory of two Hadithi approaches and Ash’arites in order to avoid assimilationism in divine attributes. The term “bila kaif (unqualified)” has rarely been used by the early Hadithis, but the idea has been frequent in solutions to the problem of the assertive divine attributes. Abu al-Hassan Ash’ari, as the one who revived the Hadithi thought in the fourth century, and his followers have also employed this idea to solve the problem of assimilation. The Salafides, because of their methodological and formal following of the predecessors, have recently employed this idea in order to explain their view about the unity of divine names and attributes. But how similar are their uses of this idea to solve the problem of assimilation? This paper seeks to examine the Ash’arite and Salafide approaches to the use of the idea of “unqualifiedness”.