This thesis examines the religious policy of the caliph al-Mutawakkil ala Allah, the tenth Abbasid caliph, (232-247/847-861). The study focuses on the following headings: the main features of al-Mutawakkil's life and reign; his attitude towards 1) the Ahl al-Kitab, 2) the orthodox Muslims, 3) the Mu'tazila, 4) the Shi'a, and 5) the Sufis. It is suggested that although al-Mutawakkil's policy toward each of these groups was governed by his own strong orthodoxy, the policy was conditioned chiefly by political factors.

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Notre travail de thèse consiste donc à exposer et analyser la pensée critique de ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī sur laquelle il n’existe aucune recherche ou presque en langue française en dépit de son importance évidente dans le monde arabe. Nous nous concentrons tout particulièrement sur la partie la plus récente de son apport critique, et donc sur la critique culturelle. En examinant de plus près les recherches déjà entreprises sur le projet critique de ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī dans le monde arabe, nous remarquons deux hypothèses avancées :- La première hypothèse serait que ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī aurait deux projets critiques différents, voire même opposés : d’un côté, la critique linguistique (ou littéraire) et de l’autre, la critique culturelle. - La deuxième hypothèse considère notre auteur s’intéresserait à la critique culturelle dès ses premiers travaux consacrés à la critique linguistique.Dans notre thèse, nous proposons une troisième hypothèse selon laquelle ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī aurait un seul et un même projet critique cohérent. En outre, ce projet a deux facettes : la critique linguistique littéraire et la critique culturelle. Ce qui distingue la pensée critique de ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī est l'évolution perpétuelle. Nous montrerons que le critique saoudien n'est pas passé subitement de la critique littéraire à la critique culturelle mais qu’il a plutôt suivi une évolution progressive. De plus, nous verrons que dans son nouveau projet critique, al-Ġaḏḏāmī ne se contente pas seulement d’étudier le discours littéraire mais analyse plutôt tous les types de discours. À partir de notre hypothèse, nous proposons une relecture, une présentation et une analyse de la pensée critique de ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī. Cependant, nous porterons un intérêt particulier à la partie la plus récente de son apport critique, plus précisément la critique culturelle. Dans cette recherche, nous tenterons de répondre à plusieurs questions telles que :- Comment ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī définit la critique culturelle ? - Qu’est-ce qu’il entend par systèmes culturels ?- Est-ce qu’il va jusqu’à abandonner la critique littéraire avec toutes ses écoles et ses méthodes pour imposer une nouvelle critique ? - Qu’est-ce qui va alors changer dans l’étude d’un texte littéraire lorsqu’il sera considéré comme évènement culturel et non pas simplement comme texte littéraire esthétique ?Pour mener à bien cette recherche, nous avons opté pour un plan évolutif, en trois parties, qui s’inscrit dans une démarche présentative, thématique et comparative. / In this doctoral thesis, we analyze, and then, expose the critical thinking of ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī. To our knowledge, to date, there has been no prior research work done on such a topic within the French context despite its significant importance in the field of critique studies of Arabic literature.We particularly focus on the recent endeavour of his critique project. Upon studying exiting scholars work investigating ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī’s critique project, our findings indicate two main hypotheses. The first hypothesis reflects that ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī’s critique project is of two components. While the first is focused on linguistic criticism, the second is focused on cultural criticism. The second hypothesis indicate that ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī has focused on cultural criticism since the early stages of his scholarly work. These two hypotheses appear to be in contradiction. Our work aims to resolve this contradiction.In this research study, we propose that ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī has a critique project with complementary factettes. These are the linguistic criticism and cultural criticism. In addition, what further distinguishes the ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī ’s critique project is that it is evolutionary in nature. Said differently, ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī did not make shift, or change a position, from one critique type into another. Rather, he integrated both- the linguistic and cultural critique- through an evolutionary process. In his recent project, he expanded his critique view to include not only literary texts but also all other types of discourses.Based on above assumptions, we reassess, analyze, and then, present the critique project of ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī. During this process, we aim to answer the following questions. First, how does ʿAbd Allāh al-Ġaḏḏāmī define cultural critique? The second question, what does a cultural system means from his point of view? The third question, will he abandon all linguistic critique school of thoughts and invent his new school on thought on the same? Lastly, upon studying a literal text, what changes will be applied in case the text is analyzed using a cultural event lens rather than an esthetically literal one? To achieve our objective, we adopt a three-premises evolutionally framework while deploying presentative, thematic, and comparative methods.

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Despite significant differences in the why, how and what of their interpretations of religious, our three authors (Muhammad Abu Zahrah, 'Abd-Allah Diraz and Ahmad Shalabi) understand religions, and in Diraz's case the religious phenomenon in general, through categories specific to an Islamic worldview. Their use of Western scientific methods to apprehend the study of religion is not systematic. It varies from Abu Zahrah's limited use to Shalabi's exuberant use, both being highly subservient to polemical intentions. Only Diraz shows familiarity and appreciation for scientific methods, without however subscribing to the epistemology of science which underlies them. The resulting relationship between the scientific study of religion and the Islamic study of religion, as epitomized in the fusion of my own commitments to the former and my authors' commitments to the latter, proves ultimately irreconcilable. Our respective epistemologies remain answerable to different centres of authority; the subjective self in the first instance and the objectified God, Allah, in the second.

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Controversies among ahl al-hadith and Hanafis had assumed serious proportions by the time of Wali Allah. Reconciliation of legal schools was a practical, rather than a merely theoretical problem. From the very beginning Wali Allah had ahl al-hadith proclivities and from that standpoint he bitterly denounced Hanafïs for deviating from sunnah. At this stage his basic aim was revival of pristine Shari'ah and reform of Hanafi legal doctrines by making them conform to sunnah. Later on, Wali Allah felt the futility of his intemperate opposition to Hanafi school and combined the aim of unifying the ummah with his original aim. He began to stress increasingly the validity of all schools. As for the hanafî school, he tried to reform its doctrines so as to make it harmonise with sunnah by introducing in it a selective process. Later he further widened the scope of his scheme to embrace all Sunni schools. The method he suggested was that of legal eclecticism and the underlying purpose was to reconcile and amalgamate the schools without destroying their entities.

The conception of the unity of God in al-Juwayni, one of the latest thinkers in the early Islamic kalam, is the subject of this thesis. Al-Juwayni, though an Ash'arite thinker was quite often open to Mu'tazilite thought, particularly that of Abu Hashim al-Jubba'i. He was also influenced by the philosophers. / With al-Juwayni the kalam's theory of the unity of God reached its ultimate resolution. That is to say, the theory of the unity of God was based on specific epistemological grounds, in the early period of the kalam. It had assumed its shape, and was therefore open to the possibility for establishing a new approach to the unity of God in the ontological sense. / The first chapter deals with the long historical debate about the unity of God. It introduces many aspects of al-Juwayni's thought, and touches on how al-Juwayni proceeding from an Ash'arite background adopted many of the Mu'tazilite's themes, in its Basrian branch. / The second chapter analyzes the theory of al-Juwayni on these issues and shows his contribution to the notion of the unity of God in his book al-Irshad. / The third is a conclusion which throws light on the possibilities opened by al-Juwayni to approaching the unity of God from different ontological angles. Such possibilities had, infact, emerged in al-Juwaynis thinking when he began to use different concepts, particularly in his book al-'Aqidah al-Nizamiyah. Thus after he provided in al-Irshad that God is existence itself, he generally avoided using the terms atoms and accidents. Instead, he viewed the universe as two kinds, necessary Being and possible beings. In this context the attributes of God as aspects of His essence would play a different ontological role, comprehended in the term al-takhsid s.

This thesis investigates the relationship between third/ninth century Muslim rhetorical exegesis of the Qur'an and the emergence of a stylistically based demonstration of the Qur'an's miraculous inimitability (i'jaz al-qur'an) in the fourth/tenth century. After first introducing the problem to be discussed, it examines relevant aspects of four interrelated disciplines: tafsir, i'jaz al-qur'an, Arabic literary theory and criticism, as well as Arabic grammar. Then the thesis explores the specific understanding of brevity according to the third/ninth century literary critic and exegete, Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889), as found in the chapter of ellipsis and abbreviation (bab al-hadhf wa'l-'ikhtisar) in his Ta'wil mushkil al-qur'an (The Interpretation of the Difficulties of the Qur'an) as a representative example of this relationship. Through this examination of brevity, the thesis argues that the evaluative process involved in the stylistic demonstration of the Qur'an's inimitability, like the formal discipline of Arabic literary theory and criticism, possesses its technical origins within the philological Quranic studies of formative Muslim exegesis.