Muslim Philosophers on the Relation between Ilahiyyat in its Broad Sense and its Narrow Sense Askari Solymani Amiri

The two terms “ilahiyyat in its broad sense” and “ilahiyyat  in its narrow sense” concerns two sections of first philosophy both dealing with God and His attributes. The question is what relation is there between these two sections. Is the latter a part of the former being separated from it for the precedence of its subject matter? Or, does it constitute a separate discipline in parallel lines with the former? Namely, is it possible to consider the latter as an independent discipline of knowledge, so that both constitute two separate sections of the first philosophy?Some philosophers preferred the former view but others the latter. Those with the latter view hold that the subject matters of the questions of “ilahiyyat  in its narrow sense” are the same as some of those of “ilahiyyat  in its broad sense’. However, their methods are different. Furthermore, according to the logical criteria in the division of different sciences, philosophers hold that “ilahiyyat  in its narrow sense” does not fall under “ilahiyyat  in its broad sense”. Mulla Sadra has demonstrated that the two ilahiyyat  stand in parallel lines and each with different method constitutes a section of the first philosophy but both deal with being qua being.