Vers une théologie islamique du dialogue interreligieux ? Une lecture critique d’al-kalām al-ǧadīd de ʿAbd al-Ǧabbār al-Rifāʿī

Abstract

Since the 1980s, a number of Muslim intellectuals have identified with, or called for, the development of a new kalām. Among them, the philosopher ʿAbd al-Ǧabbār al-Rifāʿī has authored an introductory work on this emerging discipline, in which he advocates an epistemological rupture and the abandonment of traditional kalām, which, in his view, is incapable of addressing the questions posed by modernity. This article seeks both to contribute to the scholarly understanding of an author still little known in the West, and to assess the theoretical framework he proposes in light of interreligious dialogue. Indeed, if traditional kalām is fundamentally shaped by a defensive and apologetic posture — rendering it ill-suited to engage in interreligious dialogue in a constructive manner that respects the faith of the other without seeking their conversion — does the new kalām, as articulated by al-Rifāʿī, succeed in laying the foundations for an Islamic theology of interreligious dialogue? This guiding question will serve as the basis for our evaluation.