Bila Kayf

Arabic phrase

The Arabic phrase Bila Kayf, also pronounced as Bila Kayfa, (بلا كيف) is roughly translated as "without asking how", "without knowing how or what", or "without modality" which means without considering how and without comparison. It was a way of resolving theological problems in Islam in āyāt (verses of the Quran) by accepting without questioning. The concept is referred as Quranic literalism or Islamic literalism. An example is the apparent "contradiction" between references to God having human characteristics (such as the "hand of God" or the "face of God") 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 tajsim or tashbih (corporealism or anthropomorphism). Another was the question of how the Quran could be both the word of God, but never have been created by God because (as many hadith testified) it has always existed.

Al Ashʻarī (c. 873–936) 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 what.

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 or what is meant, i. e. not attributing a specific meaning to them.