PART III
Theology.
CHAPTER I
The three principles in the development; first religious
questionings; Murji'ites, Kharijites, Qadarites; influence of Christianity; the Umayyads
and Abbasids; the Mu'tazilites; the Qualities of God; the Vision of God; the creation of
the Qur'an.
BEFORE entering upon a consideration of the development of the theology of Islam, it
will be well to mark clearly the three principles which run continuously through that
development, which conditioned it for evil and for good and which are still working in it.
In dealing with jurisprudence and with the theory of the state, we have already seen
abundantly how false is the current idea that Islam has ceased to grow and has no hope of
future development. The organism of Islam, like every other organism, has periods of rest
when it appears to have reached a cul de sac and to have outlived its life. But after
these periods come others of renewed quickening and its vital energy pours itself forth
again alter et idem. In the state, we saw how the old realms passed into
decrepitude and decay, but new ones rose to take their places. The despotism by the grace
of God of
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