The World of Islam: Culture, Religion, and Politics

Today, we take a brief look at the important theological debate in early Islam over whether the Qur'an was created in history or rather eternal and uncreated. In our presentation, we discuss important contextual elements and encounter the early Abbasid Caliphs, the Rationalist Mu'tazilite theologians, and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal.

This episode elaborates on three early theological debates in early Islam, namely the leadership of the religious community, the relation of sinful actions to faith, and free will vs. determinism. Among other things, we encounter the Murji'a, the Jabriyya, the Qadariyya, and the Mu`tazila.