Ilm al-Kalam

ʿIlm al-Kalām (Arabic: علم الكلام‎, literally "science of discourse"), often foreshortened to kalām, is an Islamic science born out of the need to establish and defend the tenets of Islamic faith against doubters and detractors. A scholar of kalām is referred to as a mutakallim (plural mutakallimūn) as distinguished from philosophers, jurists and scientists. There are many possible interpretations as to why this discipline was originally called "kalām"; one is that the widest controversy in this discipline has been about whether the Word of God, as revealed in the Qur'an, can be considered part of God's essence and therefore not created, or whether it was made into words in the normal sense of speech, and is therefore created.
One of the earliest systematic theological school to develop was Mu'tazila, in the mid 8th century. Mu'tazila emphasized reason and rational thought, positing that the injunctions of God are accessible to...