Ibtina theory
Open-knowledge reference entry

Ibtina theory is a new theory in the field of "logic of understanding religion" and has direct influence on the issues of philosophy of religion. Ibtina theory is a theory for explaining the process and mechanism of "religious knowledge" formation.
Overview
The theory was formulated and developed for the first time by Ali Akbar Rashad in 2009 and considered, studied and criticized by philosophers of religion as a new theory.
Ali Akbar Rashad explained the theory in his book "Logic of Understanding Religion". Moreover, many books and articles have been written and published by Iranian thinkers affected by this theory.
In 2009, an assembly held by National Secretary of Chairs and Forums for Theorization, Critique, Innovation and Debate" (affiliate center of Iranian Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution) to investigate and criticize the claims of this theory; consequently, after numerous debates and discussions it has been announced as a new theory in the field of "logic of Understanding Religion" and "Philosophy of Religious Knowledge".
In the same year, Ali Akbar Rahad was nominated for "eminent theoretician" (Farabi International Award) for his theorizing and then received prizes and awards from UNESCO, ISESCO, Ministry of Science, Research and Technology (Iran) and the President of Iran.
Claims of the theory
Ali Akbar Rashad explained in his books and articles that Ibtina theory it to explain the process and mechanism of religious knowledge formation.
He claims that religious knowledge is "the outcome of Permissible effort to explore religious statements and teachings". In another word (expression), "epistemic system derived from the usage of valid and permissible methodology for exploring religious propositions" is called religious knowledge.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q19839511. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2009.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ibtina theory” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.