The Integrative Approach in Islamic Thought

Instrumental and Cognitive Irja’ in Early Islamic Thought

Abstract

The adoption of the integrative approach in studying the formation and development of Islamic theology in its foundational stage has yielded important results. This research paper seeks to apply the integrative approach to study one of the most important issues raised by Islamic theology in its early moments, namely the issue of postponement of judgement of Sinners (irja). The paper assumes that there are two fundamentally different dimensions of Irja', one of which is the "instrumental Irjaa'" that was formulated to justify postponing judgment on the perpetrator of a major sin, and had clear political goals at its inception. The second dimension is what we call "cognitive Irjaa'," which aims to demonstrate that the general Creator's knowledge is not sufficient  for salvation, which requires the belief in Allah as the Lord, Muhammad as the Messenger, and what he brought as the truth. The study concludes that instrumental Irjaa followed a justificatory trajectory that had political goals centered on postponing judgment on the perpetrator of major sins, while cognitive postponement emerged for polemical purposes with followers of other religions and was not initially a controversial issue among Muslims themselves. The study also confirms that the two types of Irjaa have Islamic origins and were not influenced by any external factors, contrary to what some dogmatists and orientalists claim. The paper emphasizes that adopting the integrative approach in studying Islamic intellectual sources is a methodological, epistemological, and civilizational necessity that contemporary Islamic thought and culture urgently need, as they have been dominated by the tendency towards unification, fragmentation, and disintegration that have weakened the strength and content of Islamic thought.