The Evolution of Imami Theology in Hillah School

The field of knowledge of Hillah showed itself in the 6th to 8th centuries AH and brought about great changes in various sciences such as jurisprudence, theology, etc., and the presence of great theologians such as Sadid al-Din Homsi (d. 600 AH), Ibn Maysam Bahrani (d. 699 AH), Khajeh Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (d. 672 AH) from outside that geographical area and the rise of great figures such as Ibn Idris Halli (d. 597 AH), Mohaqqeq Helli (d. 676 AH), and … From the same region. Hillah Theological School, while being influenced by Baghdad and Rey Theological School and influencing the schools of Najaf and Jabal Amel, has three scientific courses. The first period is manifested in personalities such as Sadid al-Din and Mohaqqeq Helli. Despite benefiting from the words of Baghdad, Sadid al-Din did not harmonize the general order of his book al-Munqiz Min Al-Taqlid with the book of al-Dakhira Seyyed Morteza (d. 436 AH), and these changes indicate a change in the theological literature of the first period of Hillah School. The first period can be called the period of benefit and entry of intellectual topics. This school, which was basically the inheritor of the theology of the Baghdad school, was gradually transferred to the school of Hillah with the arrival of Sadid al-Din in Hilla, different theology and literature.

The second period is the philosophical theological tendency that was crystallized in Khajeh Nasir al-Din and Ibn Meytham, and with his arrival, the next step of Hillah School was taken. In this step, an attempt was made to defend the Imami theology based on the peripatetic philosophical literature and Khajeh, while using the model of the Ash’arites and Fakhr Razi, used the principles and public affairs of philosophy, but in special matters, they stood firm on the theological beliefs of the Imamiyya. The third period, which is the narrative intellectual tendency and is the continuation of the second period, is summarized in Allameh Helli, Fakhr al-Muhaqiqin, the first martyr and Fazel Miqdad. During this period, a new theological movement was formed, headed by Allama Hali, and the Imami theology, despite using philosophical ideas in the works of theologians, showed more resistance to the philosophizing of theology, and along with rational arguments, They also used quotations to prove verbal concepts. This dissertation is a fundamental research and its method is a descriptive-analytical one that deals with the subject of evolution in different dimensions of Hillah theological school, such as evolution in method and approach, and in some cases evolution in literature, as well as evolution in issues and subjects. Theology in the general sense and theology in the special sense are compared by the theologians of Hillah in these historical periods. Topics such as cause and effect, action and activity, necessity and possibility, and the issue of occurrence and step, are among the items that were discussed as an example from the collection of theological titles in the general sense. But in theology in the special sense or (the same as Jalil al-Kalam) which is the main theological topics, despite the changes in the field of cognition and precision of theology in favor of philosophical literature, but the effect in this part is small so that the theologians at the beginning and end of school, Was not much different among these topics such as the necessity of opinion and knowledge, evidence to prove the creator, anthropology and below the nature of the soul and algebra and authority, the title and section of theology topics in a special sense that evolve in the words of researchers of Hillah school has been examined.