Doctrinal Boundaries and Theological Relativism: The Case of Drs. Yasir Qadhi and Haitham al-Haddad

In recent years, some prominent Muslim voices have begun framing long-standing theological debates as little more than “semantic” differences, suggesting that historically opposed creeds may all be equally valid interpretations of Islam. But what happens when this approach, which is rooted in ideas of relativism and modern philosophy meets the classical Islamic tradition?

In Doctrinal Boundaries and Theological Relativism: The Semanticizing of Creed in Recent Teaching, Dr. Ahmed Khater takes a deep dive into this question. He examines the claims of contemporary figures like Dr. Yasir Qadhi and Dr. Haitham al-Haddad, situating their arguments within centuries-old discussions on al-taṣwīb fī al-uṣūl and takāfuʾ al-adillah, which are doctrines historically deemed heretical by mainstream scholarship. The article explores whether reducing creed to “mere semantics” undermines the very foundations of Islamic belief, and how classical scholars responded to similar claims in the past.

Dr. Ahmed Khater was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in legal studies, and attained a second B.A. from Al-Azhar University in Islamic sciences and Arabic language. He received an M.A. from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley with a specialization in Islamic law and legal theory, and a Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union specializing in Islamic law and legal theory. He has received ijazat (licenses) in various Islamic sciences, including ones to teach and narrate the Hanbali school of law. He is an assistant professor of Islamic studies at the Center for Islamic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union and a member of the Core Doctoral Faculty there. He served for many years as an adjunct faculty member specializing in Islamic law and legal theory at the Center for Islamic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union, and was a visiting scholar there. He is an adjunct associate professor of Islamic studies at Saint Mary’s College in California. He works with the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America answering legal questions for their fatwa (legal edict) services, and as an Islamic law consultant, Resident Fatwa Committee secretary, and translator/editor and lecturer. He teaches the traditional Islamic sciences at Zidni Institute, and is the resident scholar of Masjid Annur Islamic Center in California.

He previously was: an assistant professor of Islamic studies at Guidance College, the former dean of the Department of Islamic Studies there, and the head of undergraduate Islamic studies. He was an assistant professor of Islamic law and the dean of the English Faculty of Shariah at the Islamic University of Minnesota. He was a faculty member teaching Islamic law and a member of the academic committee at Mishkah University. He also was a lecturer of Arabic language at the University of California, Berkeley. He previously worked with Al-Azhar University’s English Department of Islamic Studies to edit books and articles for the scholars of Al-Azhar. He was a senior fellow with Yaqeen Institute.