The theological views of Ebu Abdillah el-Kalhâti

Throughout the history of Islamic thought, matters of belief and creed have been continuously elucidated and debated. Following the conquests during the era of the four caliphs, the borders of the Islamic state expanded, and people of different religions began to live under the umbrella of the Islamic state. This process led to frequent discussions among Muslims. These discussions highlighted the need to establish the principles of Islamic belief. The differing views of various sects and the resulting theological diversity first emerged in the dichotomy of actions and faith. The Kharijites' practice of excommunicating those who committed major sins, the Mu'tazila's unique understanding of predestination, and the proliferation of such views created a need for Muslims to determine universally accepted principles of faith.Amid these discussions, the science of Kalam emerged. Kalam deals with the principles of belief. The main topics of Kalam are theology, prophethood, and eschatology. Theology covers the existence and oneness of Allah, His attributes, the relationship between faith and actions, and the acts of Allah. The subject of prophethood addresses the prophets, the nature of prophethood, and the prophethood of Muhammad. Eschatology explains the afterlife, the Day of Judgment, and the states of the afterlife.In this study, we aimed to examine the views of Ibadiyya on Kalam, specifically through the works of Kalhati. We summarized Kalhati's life by addressing these main topics and attempted to explain his views under the headings of theology, prophethood, and eschatology. Abu Abdillah al-Kalhati's work "al-Kashf wa'l-Bayan" was used as a significant source reflecting his theological views. We conducted a detailed investigation of Ibadiyya's views on Kalam and concluded that some of Kalhati's views, as an important scholar for Ibadiyya, deserve further detailed examination.