KALĀM. In common usage kalām signifies speech, language, sentence, proposition, words, but in the field of Muslim religious thought it has two particular meanings: the word of God (kalām Allāh) and the science of kalām (ʿilm al-kalām), which may be understood as dogmatic theology or more precisely the defensive apologetics of Islam. Apart from a few preliminary remarks on kalām as the word of God, the present article is devoted to kalām in the latter sense.

Etymology and Definitions

Kalām Allāh is mentioned several times in the Qurʾān (for example, sūrahs 2:75, 9:6, 48:15). God spoke to the Prophets (2:253). He "spoke clearly to Moses" (4:164, 7:143, and elsewhere). However, one finds neither kalām nor mutakallim (speaking) in the list of the most beautiful names of God (asmāʾ Allāh al-ḥusnā). Rather, it was the theologians...