فصلنامه تحقیقات کلامی
پیاپی 5 (تابستان 1393)

Islamic theology is one of the Islamic sciences that enjoys both a source of intellect and hadith while deduction of Islamic theological teachings. Intellect has a variety of functions in the field of Islamic theology: theoretical, experimental, analytical and defensive function. The present article is concerned with the "practical function". Proof of good and evil actions is among the most important functions of practical intellect in the field of Islamic theology. In this regard a variety of issues is extracted from it. There are some examples in this paper that are proved through the rule of rational good and evil. The practical intellect also extracts various theological issues according to the rule of grace, avoidance of probable losses, obligatory gratitude to the divine bounteousness, and dependence of incumbent things on recommended ones.

After evaluating and presenting an exact report of Mulla Sadra’s view and Allameh Tabatabai’s one about the will of God, the authors of the paper try to offer a theory closer to traditions. Mulla Sadra considers the will of God as the attribute of the essence and tantamount to the knowledge of the best order. Allameh Tabatabai, due to the philosophical weakness of the Mulla Sadra’s theory and also due to its conflict with traditions that regard the will of God as created, attribute of action and other than the knowledge and love of God, has offered another theory that considers the will of God as attribute of action and a prerequisite for the God's power. According to the third theory, which we think is concluded by the hadith, the divine providence, which is derived from divine wisdom, goes between the knowledge and power and the will of God. As a result the will of God brings about fate and destiny and consequently causes the external realization of an action. From a negative point of view, this theory is in consistent with the Allameh Tabatabai’s theory but is in contrary to it from a positive point of view.

The concept of "interest" and some terms like grace and credit play a pivotal role in explaining the initial pains. In analyzing the concept of interest in theological approach, the overall concept is intended while in verses of the Quran and hadith is mostly pointed to the examples of interest such as reward, God’s trial, perfection, and so on. Islamic theologians expressed four views about the role of interest in goodness of initial pains. According to the first view, divine action is deemed the same as interest which can not be measured by the yardstick of human reasoning and nothing be required of God as well. The second view says that the interest has no role in goodness of initial pains and God’s compensation is enough for its goodness. The third view says that the interest is deemed a sufficient condition for goodness of initial pains and does not require compensation. The third view deems God’s compensation necessary in spite of necessity of interest for goodness of initial pains. As a result of these challenges the author of the present paper concludes the fifth view saying that the constant accompaniment of interest is a requisite for all initial pains, although it is not enough in some initial pains.

The present paper is concerned with a hdith on the issue of Bada: “Allah never had Bada in anything like he had in the case of Ismail”. This hadith has a firm relation to an exclusive belief to the Shia, i.e. Bada. An investigation of the chain of documents suggests that the tradition is mostly seen in Imami sources with a mursal or maqtu chain. Zaid Nursi’s Asl is the only reliable document but some rijal scholars have rejected his own reliability. Since Ibn Abi Umayr has quoted from Nursi’s Asl, Imami Shia have accepted it. No word in this hadith suggests the Imamat of Ismail [son of Imam Jafar Sadiq (a.s)]. But due to Zaidi’s intentional interpretation of the hadith and using this interpretation by other Islamic sects, it has historically been a matter of dispute. The content analysis of the hadith suggests the fact that this tradition has no relation to the Imamat of Ismail and even Ismailis themselves did not pay much attention to it for the contradiction between this hadith and the principles of their faith.

Each of the proponents of kalam competency theory have cited the Quran to prove their theory whether the competency is with action or before action. This article, a descriptive study based on the work of theologians, has a critical view of the theologian’s Quranic reasons in a variety of theological schools. Mutazili theologians cite the Quran 7:117 as their reason for accepting the competency before action. Citing the Quran 9:42 Ahl al-Hadith and Ashaira accepted the competency with action. They were followed by Maturidies except in unbearable obligation. Imami theologians have accepted both of them. It seems that there is no explicit mention of the two theories in the Quran and theologians have imposed their interpretations on the verses of the Quran.

This paper deals with the most important cases in which scholars of theology have cited the Quran 2:256 as their proof. The noble verse has been cited in two cases: 1. In the case of acts of God, such as rule of grace, legislation and obligations in case of free will and divine trial; 2. In the case of human beings (whether they Infallible Imams or other people); including discussion of the Infallibility of Imams and the Prophet’s duty as well as issues such as the denial of imitation, freedom of thought and conscience for all human beings. Finally, this paper deals with the "Religious Pluralism and Rejection of Determinism " that is concerned with the opinions and views of various theological schools of thought (old and new). It can be concluded that the most important issue in this regard is the " Rejection of Determinism and Acceptance of Free Will" that according to it other forms of reasoning take shape.

"Social Theology" is a branch of Islamic Social Sciences, which is concerned with deduction, explanation and defense of Islamic teachings and views on social issues. Islamic theologians throughout history and in light of the maximal approach to religion have paid attention to all aspects of religion in all aspects of human social life there, even though their social heritage was not included in a separate field. Social researches first popped in Europe and America in response to social conditions of the West and Christianity and then appeared in other Islamic lands. Social theology in comparison with other social sciences, due to the distinctive features of the methodology, cosmology and anthropology, has the ability to develop and flourish in theorizing the problems of society.