Discussions on the nature of faith among ashʿarites in the context of categories: The example of al-Taftâzânî

Faith is one of the fundamental concepts that has been debated and defined in various ways, since the earliest periods of Islam. At the beginning of the debates, the definition of faith was shaped predominantly by certain discussions, such as disbelief (kufr), the relationship between one's faith and deeds, and whether faith increases and decreases. During the later period (of the mutaʾakhkhirūn), philosophy and logic were incorporated into Islamic theology (kalam) leading its content to diversify and expand. One of the topics which theologians engaged with during this period was the "Theory of Categories." These categories, initially proposed by Aristotle to express the division and classification of existence, were eventually included in theological texts, influencing the nature of various topics. One such topic is the quiddity of faith. This thesis will investigate the effect of the categories on the understanding of faith from the perspective of Ash'-arite theologians. From amongst the Ash'-arite theologians, the views of Taftāzānī, will be highlighted. This study pursues three overarching questions. The first of them is whether there is continuity in the Asharite understanding of the quiddity of faith. The second is about the changes of the definitions of the quiddity of faith after the inclusion of the theory of categories within the field of kalam. Finally, this study will identify and investigate issues that were affected by this inclusion. While there are numerous academic studies on the quiddity of faith within the discipline of kalam, none of these scrutinize the theory of categories within this discussion. This thesis distinguishes itself by focusing on how the inclusion of the theory of categories within kalam affected theologians' understandings of the quiddity of faith.