Explaining the Plural Ways of Rational Knowing of God in the Islamic Tradition: from Reductionism to the Comprehensiveness

Muslim theologians have presented a full description of the multiplicity of God's existence proofs and the ways of His rational knowledge in the Islamic tradition. They also explained the secret of this plurality in different ways as follows: 1. the plurality of ways is based on the plurality of wayfarer's talents; 2. the plurality of ways is based on cognitive powers of wayfarers; 3. The plurality of ways is the result of the various concepts abstracted from the essence of God; 4. The plurality of ways is based on the plurality of Divine Names and Attributes. The first and the second explanations are subjective explanations seeking the secret of plurality in the side of knower but the third and forth ones are objectives. Exploring them deeply, this paper shows that, individually observed, each one of these ways is involved in an impermissible reductionism and the fallacy of one-sided assessment. So a comprehensive approach, i.e. a combination of both subjective and objective ways, is the only accurate approach in this regard. Therefore these four explanations are collectively the secret of plurality of ways of proving and knowing God.