ABSTRACT
A Shiite kalam does exist. The word kalam designates the method of discursive exposition in which the resources of the dialectic inherited from the Greek philosophers are put at the service of the religious concepts posited by the Quran and the Qadith {tradition}. The exclusive mutakallim represents the type of the exoteric theologian. Nevertheless, the same religious theme which can be discussed from the exoteric point of view of the kalam, can also be handled with all the resources of mystical theosophy, ofwhich the metaphysics of Sufism offers, as we have seen, notable examples. The same thinker may combine in himself both the abilities of a mutakallim and those of the philosopher and mystical theosopher, who is not contentto dwell on concepts alone. This is most commonly the case in Shiism, and one of the main reasons for it may be found to lie in the teaching itself of the holy Imams. Nasir al-Din Tfisi is a case in point.
