Bi-la kaifa
 |
This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (December 2010) |
Bi-la kayfa (Arabic: بلا كيف) is an Arabic phase roughly translated as "without asking how." It addresses the theological problem in Islam of how to deal with verses in the Qur'an that refer to God (Arabic: الله Allah) as having human characteristics such as the Hand of God or the Face of God. These verses are problematic because they give God human characteristics, something which is contrary to the Islamic concept of God as being transcendental. The term was first used by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari in his development of a theological system that would resolve some of the paradoxes[citation needed] in Mu'tazilah thought. Instead of explaining how God can have a face, which would anthropomorphize God, or explaining the verses as metaphorical, which would cast doubt on the literalness of the Qur'an, the verse are simply accepted as they are, without asking how or why.
Contents |
[edit] Example
"The otherness (mukhalafa) of God is presupposed in Islamic thinking from the kur'an [Koran] onward, but only gradually became an explicit article of faith; ... The central position was that of those who said the terms were to be taken neither literally nor metaphorically but bi-la kayf ("without how"), i.e. without specifying their manner or modality, or, as it was sometimes expressed, "in the sense in which God intended them" when He used them in the kur'an. It was emphasized that God was not corporeal and not material, and those who held that view were sometimes called Mudjassima. From the 5th [Anno Hegirae]/11th [Anno Domini] century onwards the followers of al-Ash`ari and other orthodox theologians, but not the Hanabila, largely abandoned bi-la kayf and accepted metaphorical interpretations of anthropomorphic terms." [1]
[edit] Other uses
Bi-la kaifa is also a religious phrase used by the Fremen people in the Dune universe created by author Frank Herbert. It has roughly the same meaning as the word amen and translates literally to "Nothing further need be explained".
