The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1205 page)

 
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(Arab.,
kalima
, ‘word, discourse’). The science (
‘ilm
) of theology in Islam, developed in parallel with ‘ilm ul-
fiqh
(and was originally called
al-fiqh al-akbar
, the greater fiqh). Its roots lie in early attempts to deal with rational questions prompted (or provoked) by
Qur-’
n
—e.g., how can the
qadar
(determining power) of
All
h
be reconciled with the freedom and accountability of humans? The earliest group to bring reason to bear on such issues were the
Mu‘tazilites
. But that inclination to give primacy to reason seemed to others to subordinate the Qur‘
n. Kal
m, therefore, for
al-Ash‘ar
and
al-M
tur
d
became the elucidation and application of the Qur’
n as the absolute (and uncreated) Word of God. The dangers of Kal
m to the uninitiated were signalled by
al-Ghaz(z)
l
, whose reconciliation of philosophy, theology, and simple faith in effect put an end to theological exploration. Those who study theology are known as
mutakallimun
.