However...

However, should these differences turn into entrenched positions, bigotry, and irrational inclinations, and the individual effort becomes obsessed with degrading others, without a real attempt to reform the approach, it would lead to disastrous results. The Shia (Shi’ite) school of thought makes it obligatory on the mukallaf [compos mentis: The person obligated to observe the precepts of religion] to follow a living jurist (mujtahid).

For their part, the jurists must exert themselves, through scholarship, to arrive at independent judgements, being vigilant as not to fall under the sway of the legal opinions of bygone generations of jurists and great personas. This ijtihad [lit. exertion: the process of arriving at judgements on points of religious law, using reason and the principles of jurisprudence “usul al-fiqh”] and independent thinking would inevitably cause difference in opinion.

However, this particular issue is responsible for giving the Shia jurisprudence the extra edge, survival, and continuity. In its general outlines, difference is not a bad thing. What is condemnable is that difference resulting from ill intentions and evil ulterior motives of those who seek to sow discord among Muslims.

Questions such as exploring the history of Islamic thought and the differences that came to the fore as a result of ill intentions and prejudice, the differences of opinion that emanated from rational thinking, and whether or not we should consider all issues of kalaam as fundamental and juridical issues as peripheral are outside the scope of these lessons.

Before starting to discuss the schools of kalaam , we have to allude to the fact that a group of Muslim scholars were diametrically opposed to embarking on kalaam or rational study in the questions of fundamentals of religion. They branded this type of scholarship an impermissible deed and a heresy, or innovation ( bida’a ). This group is known as “ ahlul hadith ”, or the proponents (scholars) of hadith (tradition).

On top of the list of outstanding scholars of this group was Ahmed bin Hanbal [d.245/833], the founder of the Hambalite Sunni juridical school of thought. The Hanbalites are archenemies of any sort of kalaam , be it Mu’tazilite or Asha’rite, let alone Shiite. They are also known for their contraposition on philosophy and logic. The Hanbalite, Ibn Taymiyyah [d.728/1327], the well-known jurist passed a fatwa (edict) forbidding the involvement in scholastic theology ( kalaam ) and logic (mantiq).