Baber Johansen

24
It is not hidden to anyone that the acts follow rational judgments
(anna li l-afÝÁli aÎkÁman Ýaqliyya)—i.e., perceived by the mind
(mudraka bi l-Ýaql)—such as [the acts] being accidents, existing
on a site [i.e., a body], different from substance [i.e., not being
themselves bodies], and that they form events [in space]
(akwÁn) 77 while in rest and while in movement, and the like of
these. The [scholar] who knows these judgments is called a
theologian (mutakallim), not a jurist. But the explanation of the
legal qualifications of these acts as obligatory, forbidden,
reprehensible, and recommended is only entrusted to the jurist. 78
GhazÁlÐ leaves no doubt that theology, in his judgment, is the most
rational and the most universal discipline. He lists a number of
disciplines that he identifies with either universal or particular
knowledge. Among these disciplines he mentions theology, applied law,
the methodology of the law, the discipline that collects, authenticates and
classifies the transmissions from the Prophet, and, finally, exegesis
(tafsÐr). He then states:
The universal discipline (al-Ýilm al-kullÐ)—among the religious
disciplines—is theology. The other disciplines such as fiqh and its
[methodological] foundations, and the transmission from the
Prophet, and the exegesis (of revealed texts) are particular, partial
[forms of] knowledge: the exegete only looks into the meaning of
the Book [i.e. the QurÞÁn], in particular; the transmitter of ÎadÐth
only looks into the methods of establishing [the authenticity and
the meaning of] the ÎadÐth in particular; the jurist does not look
into anything but the legal qualifications of the acts of the legally
capacitated person (mukallaf), in particular, and the scholar [in
the field of uÒÙl al-fiqh] (al-uÒÙlÐ) only looks into the indicants of
the legal norms in particular. It is the theologian (mutakallim)
who looks into the most general of all things and that is the
existent world (al-mawjÙd). He subdivides the existent first into
the eternal (qadÐm) and that what came into existence in time
(ÎÁdith). Then he divides what was created into substance