The kalām methods of Sayf al-Dīn al-Âmidī

The theologians (mutakallimūn), who deal with issues related to creed and the epistemological and ontological principles underlying them, have addressed these subjects within a certain methodological framework since the early period. Over time, they evaluated these methodologies and attempted to identify the most coherent methods for the discipline of kalām. By the later (mutaʾakhkhirūn) period, they began to base their problem-solving approaches on methods derived from logic. Later kalām methodology (mutaʾakhkhirūn) aims to demonstrate the principles of belief and the issues grounding them by synthesizing Aristotelian logical principles with the metaphysical concepts of the Peripatetic tradition, thereby elevating them to a demonstrative (burhānī) level. Centered around logic, this method clearly articulates the distinctions between conception–assent (taṣawwur–taṣdīq) and certainty–probability (yaqīn–ẓann). As a result, a robust epistemology of kalām emerges, and debates concerning the relationship between evidence (dalīl) and that which it signifies (madlūl) reach an analytic–demonstrative level of reasoning. With Rāzī and Āmidī, the leading figures of the period, this method became systematized and transformed into an institutionalized tradition. This study examines the kalām methodology of Sayf al-Dīn al-Āmidī. Āmidī analyzes the logical and structural foundations of the kalām methods followed by various schools up to his time and seeks to identify the methods that lead to consistent and accurate conclusions. After logically and structurally examining the methods of both the Ashʿarī school to which he belonged and other schools, he identifies the deficiencies or weaknesses of these methods along with their justifications. According to him, it is essential that kalām thought and theories be grounded in concrete and certain proofs, and the ideal method capable of ensuring this is rational methods based on logical rules composed of decisive (qaṭʿī) premises. The aim of this study is to present Āmidī's kalām methodology as a whole by identifying his analyses of the methods employed by the schools within the kalām tradition, his ideas regarding methodology, the inferential methods he adopts, and his fundamental arguments concerning these methods.