Islam and Islamic Studies: Theological and Methodological Perspective

Abstract

The article deals with the explication of the theological grounds of various movements of Islam. Considering the phenomenological prerequisites for the existence of a number of Islamic religious schools, the author reveals a system of methodological principles of the attitude of Sunni, Shiʻi and Muʻtazili communities to Islamic doctrine and law. The prospects for applying the theological method of rationalistic effort, iǧtihād, to the study of the intraconfessional diversity of the Islamic Ummah, are described in the paper. According to author’s point of view, the developed typology of iǧtihād will allow religious scholars to systematize and generalize information about Muslim faith, as well as build a convincing reconstruction of Muslim religious experience.