The Arabic phrase ''Bila Kayf'', also pronounced as ''Bila Kayfa'', ( ar, بلا كيف) is roughly translated as "without asking how", "without knowing how or what", or "without modality" which means without considering how and without comparison.
[ Literally, "without how" but figuratively as "in a manner that suits His majesty and transcendence". in ]Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
over apparent questioning in āyāt (verses of the Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
) by accepting without questioning. The concept is referred as Quranic literalism or Islamic literalism.
An example is the apparent contradiction between references to God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
having human characteristics (such as the "hand of God" or the "face of God") and the concept of God as being transcendental. The position of attributing actual hands or an actual face to God was known in Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
as tajsim or tashbih (corporealism or anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.
Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
).
Another was the question of how the Quran could be both the word of God, but never have been created by God because (as many hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
testified) it has always existed.
History
Al-Ashʻarī (c. 873–936) originated the use of the term in his development of the orthodox Ash'ari
Ashʿarī theology or Ashʿarism (; ar, الأشعرية: ) is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology, founded by the Muslim scholar, Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer, and scholastic theologian Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī in the ...
theology against some of the paradoxes of the rationalist Muʿtazila
Muʿtazila ( ar, المعتزلة ', English: "Those Who Withdraw, or Stand Apart", and who called themselves ''Ahl al-ʿAdl wa al-Tawḥīd'', English: "Party of ivineJustice and Oneness f God); was an Islamic group that appeared in early Islamic ...
. Instead of explaining that God has a literal face, which would anthropomorphize God, he explained that the earliest Muslims simply accepted the verses as they stand - without asking how or what.[
Another source credits ]Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Dhuhli ( ar, أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل الذهلي, translit=Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal al-Dhuhlī; November 780 – 2 August 855 CE/164–241 AH), was a Muslim jurist, theologian, ascetic, hadith traditionist, and ...
, founder of the Hanbali
The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools (''madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal ...
school of fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
(Islamic jurisprudence) as the original creator of the doctrine.
Interpretation
The term "bi-la kayf" is the belief that the verses of the Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
with an "unapparent meaning" should be accepted as they have come without saying how they are meant.
See also
* Tanzih
''Tanzih'' ( ar, تنزيه) is an Islamic religious concept meaning transcendence. In Islamic theology, two opposite terms are attributed to Allah: ''tanzih'' and ''tashbih''.
The latter means ''"nearness, closeness, accessibility".''
However ...
* Biblical literalism
Biblical literalism or biblicism is a term used differently by different authors concerning biblical hermeneutics, biblical interpretation. It can equate to the dictionary definition of wikt:literalism, literalism: "adherence to the exact letter ...
* Bibliolatry
Bibliolatry (from the Greek βιβλίον ''biblion'', "book" and the suffix -λατρία ''-latria'', "worship") is the worship of a book, idolatrous homage to a book, or the deifying of a book. It is a form of idolatry. The sacred texts of some ...
* Superstitions in Muslim societies
Superstition is an excessively credulous belief in supernatural causality: the belief that one event is the cause of another without any physical process linking the two, such as astrology, omens, witchcraft, and apotropaic magic. According to Ras ...
* Quranic inerrancy
Quranic inerrancy is a doctrine central to the Muslim faith that the Quran is the infallible and inerrant word of God as revealed to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel in the 7th century CE.
Modernist approach
Influenced by Jamal al-Din al-Afg ...
References
External links
Literalism and the Attributes of Allah by Sheikh Nuh Keller
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal by Sheikh Nuh Keller
{{Islamic theology , state=collapsed
Islamic terminology
Arabic words and phrases
Islamic theology
Allah