Systematic theology

[Grace Seeker]

Does Islam have anything that might be called a systematic theology? That is have scholars (or other Islamic authors) taken the whole of the Qur'an and Hadith to produce a single coherent theology that touches on all of one's beliefs regarding Allah, the nature of humankind, the relationship of and responsibility of people to/for one another, discussion of how one is to live and the rewards of living a righteous life, the punishment of the unrighteous, and other things that are considered relevant topics to a life of Islam? What are some of the more readable books (in English) that may be available today? I would want something that depends on the Qur'an and Hadith for developing its theology and cites those references, not one that cites subsequent scholars or other interpretors or Islamic thought.


How about concordances? Are there good exhaustive concordances for the Qur'an and Hadith that reference English translations?

[doorster]

do you mean something like these 2

1) tafsir ibn kathir
http://www.qtafsir.com/
http://abdurrahman.org/qurantafseer/tafsirkathir.chm

2) Ma’ariful Quran (the very best up to date) at
islamibayanaat.com/EnglishMarefulQuran.htm

[Umar001]

Does Islam have anything that might be called a systematic theology? That is have scholars (or other Islamic authors) taken the whole of the Qur'an and Hadith to produce a single coherent theology that touches on all of one's beliefs regarding Allah, the nature of humankind, the relationship of and responsibility of people to/for one another, discussion of how one is to live and the rewards of living a righteous life, the punishment of the unrighteous, and other things that are considered relevant topics to a life of Islam? What are some of the more readable books (in English) that may be available today? I would want something that depends on the Qur'an and Hadith for developing its theology and cites those references, not one that cites subsequent scholars or other interpretors or Islamic thought.


How about concordances? Are there good exhaustive concordances for the Qur'an and Hadith that reference English translations?

Bismillah, wa SalaatuWa Salam Ala Rasulullah,

Peace be upon those who follow guidance,

Hope all is well dear Seeker of Grace. I do not know how sucessful you may be in your quest. There are works, I believe, but I dont think they are as accesible as we may wish.

The works which have been penned in our time, it appears to me, rely on the works/understanding/teachings/guidance of reliable scholars of the times before us. Because the best generations are the 1st the 2nd and the 3rd. So our scholars now days will take from the Qur'an and Sunnah, based on the understanding of those scholars of those times and those who followed them in righteousness. So you may have books now, i.e. the Sound Creed of Shaykh Al Fawzan, which rely on Qur'an and Sunnah, but utilise the knowledge of previous scholars.

For the earlier writings, which is something which you may have wanted to read, I think one would have to know some Arabic, and that is the problem for us, me and you. I have heard people say, without learning Arabic one can only take a basic understanding of the Religion, I think that is true.

But, I will tell you this, I don't know if there is such a thing as a book which touches upon all those matters. I know there are books which touch upon all those matters, but I dont know if there is a book. Furthermore, there are books which touch upon important matters, but they speak of issues which needed to be spoken of at that time, due to arguements between the people.

And Allah knows best.

Regards,

Eesa

[Grace Seeker]

I wonder if any of those first generation books you mentioned might be available in translation?

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[Umar001]

What I will say is that there may be a possability that the earlier books were later abdsorbed into later books. An example from the field of Hadith;

Al Bukhari's collection contains many ahadith, some of which may have been found in earlier works on hadith or collections of sayings on a topic. So now, we use Bukhari's work which has absorbed the earlier works.

I think there was a period where the knowledge became easier to compile and was thus compiled into bigger more 'standard' compilations.

Allah knows best.