Ḥāl (theory of "states" in theology) - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Thiele, Jan
Leiden
Brill
(2,582 words)
The term ḥāl ( "state," pl. aḥwāl ) was introduced into kalām (rationalist theology ) by the Muʿtazilī Abū Hāshim al-Jubbāʾī (d. 321/933). Modern scholarship has proposed various interpretations of its meaning and function. Ahmed Alami suggested that the concept of ḥāl was an element of a new ontology that broke radically with the conception of God as absolutely transcendent. There is, however, a broader scholarly consensus that the theory of ḥāl was an attempt to resolve the theological problem posed by God's multiple attributes. 1. The theory of ḥāl