The discipline of Kalām focuses on deriving the theological principles of the Islamic religion outlined in the Qur’an and defending these principles against other philosophical and theological world-views. Kalām analyses the Islamic conception of belief (called tawhid in the Qur’an) and other central articles of faith in Islam, including Divinity (uluhiyya), Prophethood (nubuwwa), and Afterlife (ma‘ad). The Department has two sub-fields: History of Kalām and Systematic Kalām. In the former, there are courses on the formative period and conditions of the discipline, the main theological paradigms
and principles that have emerged throughout its history, and the like. Islamic theological schools (Murji’a, Jabriyya, Mu‘tazila, Ash‘ariyya, Maturidiyya, Shi‘a, etc.) are investigated from a comparative perspective. In the latter sub-field, there are courses on classical theological issues such as divinity, prophethood, afterlife, the human being, morality, and reason and revelation, as well as contemporary theological topics such as secularism, atheism, reincarnation, religion and science, religion and politics, democracy, human rights, and the environment.