What is the Non-Existent?A Research on the Concept of the Ma‘dūm in Sayf al-Dīn al-Āmidī

This article aims to examine the problem of what ma‘dūm is, which has been one of the most heated debate topics from the early time of Islamic Theology, in the example of Sayf al-Dīn al-Āmidī (d. 631/1233) who was one of the most eminent thinkers of Ash‘arī school of thought. In this context, it seeks answers to the following questions: “What is the non-existent? “Is it possible to know the non-existent?” “Is the non-existent a thing as the Mu‘tazila claim?” In doing so, following the method of al-Āmidī, different answers of these questions and their philosophical basis are analysed. As a result, whether the issue of ma‘dūm, which was one of the division points between the Mu‘tazila and Ahl al-Sunnah, was a literal discussions or fundamental difference is revealed.