The Position of Philosophy and Theology in the Conceptualization of God in Sheikh Mofid and Khajeh Nasiral-Din al-Toosi

Abstract
Sheikh Mofid (deceased 413 AH/1022) is a representative of Imami theology from the Theological School of Baghdad II with a rational approach. Khajeh Nasir Toosi (597-672 AH) is a representative of Imami theology from the theological school of ‘Holleh’ with a philosophical approach and has its own independent method compared to the Imami theologians of its predecessors. In Islamic philosophy and theology, God is called by various names and the concepts used in philosophy for God's specific name are different from the word. Sheikh Mofid was a theologian who used the Mu'tazilites, and his view of God is rational in the religious concept. He calls God ‘Allah’. However, Nasir al-Din al-Toosi is among philosophers and theologians with the view that God is a benefit to both. He has used the term ‘Maker’ (Saane), ‘Creator’, ‘Bari’, ‘God’ (Allah) as well as the ‘Necessary Being’ for God, which are conceptually different.
The aim of this study is to determine the place of philosophy and theology in the conceptualization of God in two Imami theologians in two centuries and different methods and how they are influenced by theology and philosophy and religion to conceptualize God. The question is: To what extent is the concept of God in Sheikh Mofid and Nasir al-Din al-Toosi theological and philosophical? According to Sheikh Mofid, in the content structure, the discussion of ontology and its importance for theology in explaining the conceptualization of God has been very low and the name used is ‘God’.
In Al-Nakt al-I'tiqadiyah, which is suspected of being attributed to him, the author uses the concept of ‘obligatory existence’ in combining the theological approach. In Avaeil al-maghlat, the author speaks of ‘the creator’ (Mojid) and ‘maker’ (Mohdis). But the author delivers the creator (Mojid) to Allah. Because of his belief in Togifi of names, it has limited himself to the religious and theological use of conceptualization for God. Khajeh Nasir, based on ontology to talk about God, considers the absolute name of God to be ‘Allah’, which is a Qur'anic, theological, religious, and Islamic name. But in the conceptualization of God, he is strongly influenced by philosophy, and the name he chooses for God with a decisive influence on philosophy, which he explains in his numerous sources, is ‘Necessity’ (Vojoob). Based on the philosophical foundations of "existence, bound existence and absolute existence, Necessity and Possibility, and the intrinsic and non-essential necessity”, the issue of obligatory existence is discussed.
 In Sheikh Mofid's methodology, the rational method and listening are used. In proving the existence of God, he uses theological rational arguments in the argument of occurrence and uses the possibility in the argument that does not make Him needless of the philosophical method. In discussing attributes, he pays attention to both intellect/hearing (Samaa) and revelation. In attributes that he cannot use reason to analyze, he uses hearing and narration, but with the help of interpretation, he explains their attributes not by returning to the true meaning of the attributes, but by interpreting the meanings of the attributes.
Khajeh Nasir also uses the argument of ‘Necessity and Possibility’ in philosophical and theological discourse to prove the existence of God. In the theological discourse, it is based on the criterion of genesis (Hodous), and in the philosophical approach, it is based on the criterion of ‘possibility’ and especially ‘the existence of possibility’ for the need for cause and existence. In explaining the proof of necessity and possibility, he also uses Quranic verses. In Tajrid ol-eiteqad and Fosoul in explaining attributes and returning attributes to the necessity of existence, there is a philosophical approach because it uses Necessary of Being to explain attributes. But in the attributes he uses for God, he obtains permission from the Shari'a with a Toghifi approach. He has considered the application of attributes to God to be conditional on the permission of Sharia and his method is negative and positive, which is used in philosophy and theology to speak of God.
According to all that has been said, Sheikh Mofid is a theologian who rationalizes the word and his method is rational but he accepts reason in interaction with revelation and does not believe in the independence of reason. Khajeh is a theologian-philosopher who uses philosophy to explain God and to conceptualize God. The diversity of specific names of philosophy for the conceptualization of God is less common in Khajeh to discuss God and he is confronted with the text of philosophy and theology before him and the religious text (the Qur'an) and ignores the Greek philosophy. Although he is familiar with the philosophical concepts of ‘cause and effect’ as well as ‘power and action’, he does not use cause to conceptualize God. Khajeh emphasizes only the concept derived from Farabi and Avicenna. However, in the case of the to be Toghifi of names and attributes for God, he obtains his permission from the Shari'ah. The same is true of Sheikh Mofid. Therefore, Khajeh uses philosophy to explain theology and for him, philosophy is used to discuss God without contradicting the Shari'a and sharia is the basis that determines the limits of his philosophical explanation. According to Sheikh Mofid, the intellect has the same position. It can operate within the realm of religion and serve religion.