The epistemology of religious belief in classical Islamic theology

Abstract

This work aims to consider the major trends of religious epistemology within the classical theological traditions of Islam. In doing so, it aims to “translate” these classic medieval perspectives into the idioms, language and conceptual framework of contemporary religious epistemology. Of prime concern, are those traditions within Islam that closely overlap with broadly theistic evidentialist perspectives, and those which broadly overlap with reformed epistemological perspectives. In considering these different epistemological trends of the Islamic theological tradition i.e., the Mu’tazilite, Ash’arite, Maturidite and Hanbalite schools, the thesis also aims to attempt to fit these perspectives within the context of contemporary normative epistemological theories. In navigating through the differences between these schools and traditions, the thesis aims at constructing a theological and epistemological synthesis which brings all of these perspectives together into one coherent view.