Bi-la kaifa


The Arabic phrase bilā kayfa, also bilā kaifa, is roughly translated as "without asking how", or "without how" which means without modality. It was a way of resolving theological problems in Islam over apparent questioning in āyāt by accepting without questioning.
An example is the apparent contradiction between references to God having human characteristics and the concept of God as being transcendental. The position of attributing actual hands or an actual face to God was known in Arabic as ملجمة mujassimah "corporealist" or مشبه mušabbih "anthropomorphist".
Another was the question of how the Qurʻan could be both the word of God, but never have been created by God because it has always existed.

History

originated the use of the term in his development of the orthodox Ash'ari theology against some of the paradoxes of the rationalist Muʿtazila. Instead of explaining that God has a literal face, which would anthropomorphize God, he explained that the earliest Muslims simply accepted the verses as they stand - without asking how or why. This view was held by the vast majority of Sunni Muslims from the first generations of Islam.
Another source credits Ahmad ibn Hanbal, founder of the Hanbali school of fiqh as the original creator of the doctrine.

Interpretation

The term "bi-la kayf" is the belief that the verses of the Qur'an with an "unapparent meaning" should be accepted as they have come without saying how they are meant.