Regardless of what you feel about Kalam, you need to understand how we should be framing these discussions now in light of how Zindiqs are becoming more and more emboldened in their distortions.
And IT's core contention was true rationality cannot contradict the divine texts in his criticism of rationalists.
It's something both Asharis and Maturidis have said in a different manner.
The Asma Wa Sıfat and Istighatha debates are different matters which we will address in our own time.
But for now, it's important to establish a clear understanding of the legacies of Ibn Taymiyyah and Al Ghazali.
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1. Razi still holds on to the basic Ashari positions on Sıfat.
2. No Ashari on this planet today or in the existence of history ever believed that their books are in any shape or form superior to the Quran. Because that would be heresy.
And here is the key part.
He doesn't explicitly forbid others from reading the works he apparently condemned.
The Wasiyya argument by the Hanabila while it has certain basis, does not tell us the whole story.
Another important article(Arabic) analyzing his Wasiyya.
Both the Asharites and the Hanbalites have their respective agendas when it comes to this issue.
Imam Razi is one of the most scholar oc prominent of all time.
There is good reason to believe Abu Hanifa censured Kalam because obstinate people were engaging in it for vain reasons.
Rather than establishing clarity it was becoming ego contests.
This is something that has been echoed by many scholars through the centuries.
Al Ghazali's Al Munqidh Min Dalal was directed at the misuse of not just Kalam but all other sciences.
Similarly Razi's repentance not an explicit condemnation of Kalam. Rather he laments the lack of time he dedicated to Ibadah.
Similar repentance tales are often directed at rulers like Aurangzeb by modernists who claim that Aurangzeb repented his religious zeal or that he was secretly impious.
These repentance tales are appeals to emotion. Not rooted in facts.