Editing Ulama (section)

=== Theology ===
{{Main|Schools of Islamic theology|Kalam}}

[[Kalam|ʿIlm al-Kalām]], the "science of discourse", also termed "Islamic theology", serves to explain and defend the doctrine of the Quran and Hadith.<ref>{{cite book | editor-last=Winter | editor-first=Tim J. |chapter=Introduction |title=The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology| date=2008| publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-78549-5| pages=4–5| edition=3rd}}</ref> The concept of ''kalām'' was introduced during the first Islamic centuries by the [[Muʿtazila]] school.<ref>{{cite book| last=Stelzer | first=Steffen A. J. | chapter=Ethics | editor-first=Tim J. | editor-last=Winter | title=The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology| date=2008| publisher=Cambridge University Press| location=Cambridge, UK| isbn=978-0-521-78549-5| page=165| edition=3rd | chapter-url=https://pmr.uchicago.edu/sites/pmr.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/Stelzer_ClassicalIslamicTheology_Ethics.pdf}}</ref> One of the most prominent scholars of the Muʿtazila was [[Abd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad]] (935–1025 AD). From the 11th century on, the Muʿtazila was suppressed by the Sunni [[Abbasid Caliphate]] and the [[Seljuk Empire]], but it continued playing an important role in the formation of Shia theology. The [[Ash'ari]] school encouraged the use of Kalām as the basis of fiqh, and was followed in this approach by parts of the Shafi'i madhhab. In contrast, the Hanbali and Maliki madhhabs discouraged theological speculation. [[Abu Mansur al-Maturidi]] (853–944 AD) developed his own form of Kalām, differing from the Ash'ari view in the question of Man's free will and God's omnipotence. Maturidi Kalām was often used in combination with Hanafi fiqh in the northwestern parts of the Islamic world.<ref name="Hourani_HAP_P158_160"/>

A distinct school of theology often called [[Traditionalist theology (Islam)|traditionalist theology]] emerged under the leadership of [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal]] in the early centuries of Islam among hadith scholars who rejected rationalistic argumentation.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Lapidus | first = Ira M. | author-link=Ira M. Lapidus | title = A History of Islamic Societies | publisher = Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition) | year = 2014| page=130}}</ref> In the wake of the Ash'arite synthesis between Mu'tazilite rationalism and [[Hanbalite]] literalism, its original form survived among a minority of mostly Hanbalite scholars.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Lapidus | first = Ira M. | author-link=Ira M. Lapidus | title = A History of Islamic Societies | publisher = Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition) | year = 2014| pages=123–124}}</ref> While [[Ash'arism]] and [[Maturidism]] are often called the Sunni "orthodoxy", traditionalist theology has thrived alongside it, laying rival claims to be the orthodox Sunni faith.<ref>*{{Cite book|first=Jonathan A.C. |last=Brown| year=2009 | title=Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World|publisher=Oneworld Publications (Kindle edition) |page=180}}</ref>

Islamic theology experienced further developments among [[Schools of Islamic theology#Shia schools of theology|Shia theologians]].