THE PRESENTATION OF NON-ISLAMIC DOCTRINAL BELIEFS IN MUHAMMAD IBN ABDULKARIM AL-SHAHRASTANI'S NIHĀYAT AL-IQDĀM

Аннотация

In this article, information is given about “Nihayat al-Iqdam” by the great scientist Imam Abul Fath Shahrastani (1076-1153), who lived and created in the “The Great Seljuk Empire”(1037-1194),and theanalysis ofthe beliefs of thereligions included in thework isgiven. Keywords: Shahrastani, ʿAqīdah (Creed), Belief, Philosophy, Christianity, Judaism, al-Milal waʾl-Niḥal,Huduth (Origination), Universe, Creation. Imam al-Shahrastani, who held an exceptional place in the intellectual and scholarly landscape of medieval Central Asia, was born in 1076 in the city of Shahristan, located between the cities of Merv and Khwarazm. The scholar devoted the core of his academic activity to the study of the history and doctrines of religions. In this regard, he authored his famous work al-Milal waʾl-Niḥal (Religions and Sects). Nevertheless, he also engaged deeply with the science of kalām (Islamic theology). His work Nihāyat al-Iqdām is considered one of the significant sources on ʿaqīdah (creed) and kalām. The full title of the book is Nihāyat al-Iqdām fī ʿIlm al-Kalām ("The Ultimate Steps in the Science of Kalām"), and it is regarded as Shahrastani’s second major and well-known work after al-Milal waʾl-Niḥal. This book is also referred to as Nihāyat al-Iqdām fī al-Uṣūl. It covers various issues related to Islamiccreed, primarily relying onrational (ʿaql-based)arguments. Thescholar explainsthe purposeofwriting his work as follows: “In this book, I have not committed myself to merely reporting the subjects of kalām. Rather, I have committed myself to addressing the problems related to rational matters, and to clarifying the levels of the kalām scholars in their knowledge of rational—rather than transmitted— sciences” [1:277]. The primary feature that distinguishes this work from other theological treatises is that the author included only those topics that he personally encountered most frequently and debated during his life. The Turkish researcher Hakan Coşar, in his study, concludes that Nihāyat al-Iqdām was written from a philosophical perspective. Hestates: “The work was composed withphilosophical reflection, inwhich the views ofAristotle, al-Fārābī, al-Kindī, and Ibn Sīnā on existence, divinity, necessary being (wājib al-wujūd), and origination (ḥudūth)are criticized” [2]. The researcher attributes this critical stance to the fact that, during Shahrastani’s time, philosophy had reached its peak under theinfluence ofMuʿtazilitethought. The researcher’s views are quite convincing, as the scholar devoted much of his life to philosophy. He regarded Imam al-Ghazālī and Ibn Sīnā as his intellectual mentors. Moreover, he authored a philosophical treatise titled Muṣāraʿat al-Falāsifa (The Struggle with the Philosophers).In Nihāyat al-Iqdām, he also included key philosophical issues of his time and responded to them using rational arguments. Today, several manuscript copies of Nihāyat al-Iqdām are preserved. The majority of these are located intheRepublic ofTurkey, including:  Bayezid State Library (Ms. No. 2154and No. 1192), 89 INTERNATIONAL MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL FOR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT SJIF2019:5.2222020:5.5522021:5.6372022:5.4792023:6.5632024:7,805 eISSN:2394-6334 https://www.ijmrd.in/index.php/imjrd Volume12,issue06(2025)  Hacı SelimAğaLibrary (Ms. No. 666andNo. 964),  Köprülü(Hoca RagıpPasha) Library (Ms. No.1169),  Süleymaniye Library (Ms. No. 3164,No. 14698,and No. 35168),  Topkapı Palace Museum Library (Ms. No. 1845),  Istanbul University Library (Ms. No. 5225and No. 5224). Additionally, copies are held in several European libraries, including:  TheNational Library ofFrance (Ms. No. 1246),  TheBodleian Library at Oxford (Ms. No. 356), and  ThePrussian StateLibrary in Berlin (Ms. No. 579). Based on three of these European manuscripts, the first modern edition of the work was published in 1934bytheBritish orientalist Alfred Guillaume(1888–1965). The work consists of twenty chapters and incorporates the methodologies of the classical Sunni kalām tradition. In each chapter, the author provides a distinct title and begins by presenting the views of philosophers, the Muʿtazilites, and other theological schools on the topic under discussion. Hethen outlines theperspectives of Sunnischolars. In this book, written after al-Milal waʾl-Niḥal, the author adopts a comparative approach to the doctrinal views of Islamic sects—distinct from the method used in his earlier work—and defends Sunni ʿaqīdah from the standpoint of Ashʿarite theology. He responds to sectarian theological concepts with rational arguments. In many sections of Nihāyat al-Iqdām, the opinions of key Ashʿarite figures such as Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī (873–936), Abū Bakr al-Bāqillānī (940–1013), Abū Isḥāq al-Isfarāʾīnī (949–1047), and Imām al-Juwaynī (1028–1085)are introduced with thephrase “The Peopleof Truth say...”. In various parts of the work, the reference to “our master” (ustādh) is understood to mean Abū Isḥāq al-Isfarāʾīnī; “our shaykh” refer