A Content Analysis of Debates over Monotheism between Imām al-Ṣādiq and Ibn Abī-l-‘Awjā’

The problem of “monotheism”—and skepticisms concerning it—has been one of the most important questions throughout the human history, and Messengers of God exerted tremendous efforts to respond to, and account for, the problem. In the present research, by deploying the method of content analysis, we try to rediscover how the creator as well as the oneness of God are proved in Imām al-Ṣādiq’s debate with Ibn Abī-l-‘Awjā’.
Ibn Abī-l-‘Awjā’ was a well-known disbeliever and materialist in the period of Imām al-Ṣādiq, and they had a number of serious debates concerning a variety of religious matters. The novelty of our research is the deployment of the method of content analysis with a qualitative approach as an interdisciplinary method for the extraction, classification, and categorization of the findings of the research. The findings show that Imām al-Ṣādiq exploited a variety of methods and principles in his account of the problem of monotheism, which are based on rational rules as well as sensory-experiential rules. Obviously, the extraction of Imām al-Ṣādiq’s scholarly encounter with skeptics can provide a right pattern for today’s debates and argumentations with opponents.