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Abu Hasan al-Ash'ari

Abu Hasan al-Ash'ari[a] (Arabic: أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن ٱلْأَشْعَرِيّ, romanized: Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī; 874–936 CE) was a Sunni Muslim scholar, jurist of the Shafi'i school, exegete, reformer, and scholastic theologian known for being the eponymous founder of the Ash'ari school of Islamic theology.[1][2][3][4][5]

Al-Ash'ari was notable for taking an intermediary position between the two diametrically opposed schools of Islamic theology prevalent at the time: Atharism and Mu'tazilism.[1][2][4] He primarily opposed the Mu'tazili theologians who advocated the use of rationalism in theological debate and believed the Quran was created, as opposed to uncreated.[1][4] On the other hand, the Hanbalis and traditionists were opposed to the use of philosophy or speculative theology, and condemned any theological debate altogether.[1][4][6]

Al-Ash'ari established a middle way between the doctrines of the aforementioned schools, based both on reliance on the sacred scriptures of Islam and theological rationalism concerning free will and attributes of God.[1][2][4][7] His school eventually became the predominant school of theological thought within Sunni Islam.[3][4][8][9][10] By contrast, Shia Muslims do not accept his theological beliefs, as his works also involved refuting Shia Islam.

Biography

A depiction of Baghdad from 1808, taken from the print collection in Travels in Asia and Africa, etc. (ed. J. P. Berjew, British Library); al-Ashʿarī spent his entire life in this city in the tenth-century

Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī was born in Basra,[11] Iraq, and was a descendant of Abū Mūsa al-Ashʿarī, who belonged to the first generation of Muhammad's closest companions (ṣaḥāba).[12] As a young man he studied under al-Jubba'i, a renowned teacher of Muʿtazilite theology and philosophy.[13][14]

According to the traditional account, al-Ashʿarī remained a Muʿtazilite theologian until his 40th year, when he allegedly saw the Islamic prophet Muhammad in his dreams three times during the month of Ramaḍān. The first time, Muhammad told him to support what was narrated from himself, that is, the prophetic traditions (ḥadīth).[15][16][17] Al-Ashʿarī became worried, as he had numerous strong proofs contradictory to the prophetic traditions. After 10 days, he saw Muhammad again: Muhammad reiterated that he should support the ḥadīth.[16][17] Subsequently, al-Ashʿarī forsook kalām (dialectical theology) and started following the ḥadīth alone. On the 27th night of Ramaḍān, he saw Muhammad for the last time. Muhammad told him that he had not commanded him to forsake kalām, but only to support the traditions narrated from himself. Thereupon, al-Ashʿarī started to advocate in favor of the authority of the ḥadīth reports, finding proofs for these that he said he had not read in any books.[16][17]

After this experience, he left the Muʿtazilite school and became one of its most distinguished opponents, using the philosophical methods he had learned from them in order to refute their theological doctrine.[11] Then, al-Ashʿarī spent the remaining years of his life engaged in developing his views and in composing polemics and arguments against his former Muʿtazilite colleagues. Al-Ashʿarī wrote more than 90 works during his lifetime, little of which have survived to the present day.[1]

Views

After leaving the Muʿtazila school, and joining the side of traditionalist theologians[18] al-Ash'ari formulated the theology of Sunni Islam through Kalam and the usage of the Qur'an and Sunnah, following in the footsteps of Ibn Kullab and confirming the methods of other traditionalists such as Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal a century earlier.[19] He was followed in this by a large number of distinguished scholars of Sunni Islam, many of whom belonged to the Shafi'i school of law.[20] The most famous of these are Abu al-Hasan al-Bahili [ar], al-Baqillani, al-Juwayni, al-Nawawi, al-Ghazali and al-Razi.[21][22] Thus Al-Ash'ari's school became, together with the Maturidi, the main schools reflecting the beliefs of the Sunnah.[20] He is also known to have directly taught the Sufi Ibn Khafif.

In line with Sunni tradition (Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'ah), al-Ash'ari held the view that a Muslim should not be considered an unbeliever on account of a sin even if it were an enormity such as drinking wine or theft. This opposed the position held by the Khawarij.[23] Al-Ash'ari also believed it impermissible to violently oppose a leader even if he were openly disobedient to the commands of the sacred law.[23]

Al-Ash'ari spent much of his works opposing the views of the Muʿtazila school. In particular, he rebutted them for believing that the Qur'an was created and that deeds are done by people of their own accord through their direct creation of them.[20] He also rebutted the Muʿtazili school for denying that Allah can hear, see and has speech. Al-Ash’ari confirmed all these attributes stating that they differ from the hearing, seeing and speech of the creation.[20]

He was also noted for his teachings on atomism.[24]

Legacy

The 18th century Islamic scholar Shah Waliullah stated:

A Mujadid appears at the end of every century: The Mujadid of the first century was Imam of Ahlul Sunnah, Umar bin Abdul Aziz. The Mujadid of the second century was Imam of Ahlul Sunnah Muhammad Idrees Shaafi. The Mujadid of the third century was the Imam of Ahlul Sunnah, Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari. The Mujadid of the fourth century was Abu Abdullah Hakim Nishapuri.[25]

Earlier major scholars also held positive views of al-Ash'ari and his efforts, among them Qadi Iyad and Taj al-Din al-Subki.[26]

According to scholar Jonathan A.C. Brown, although "the Ash'ari school of theology is often called the Sunni 'orthodoxy,' "the original ahl al-hadith, early Sunni creed from which Ash'arism evolved has continued to thrive alongside it as a rival Sunni 'orthodoxy' as well."[27] According to Brown this competing orthodoxy exists in the form of the "Hanbali über-Sunni orthodoxy".[28]

Works

The Ash'ari scholar Ibn Furak numbers Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari's works at 300, and the biographer Ibn Khallikan at 55;[29] Ibn Asāker gives the titles of 93 of them, but only a handful of these works, in the fields of heresiography and theology, have survived. The three main ones are:

  1. Al-Luma' fi al-Radd 'ala Ahl al-Zaygh wa al-Bida' (The Gleams/Illuminations on the Refutation of the People of Deviation/Perversity and Heresies), a slim volume.
  2. Al-Luma' al-Kabir (The Major Book of Sparks), a preliminary to Idah al-Burhan and, together with the Luma' al-Saghir, the last work composed by al-Ash'ari according to Shaykh 'Isa al-Humyari.
  3. Al-Luma' al-Saghir (The Minor Book of Sparks), a preliminary to al-Luma' al-Kabir.[31]

See also

Early Islam scholars

References

Notes

  1. ^ Full name Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Isḥāq al-Ashʿarī (Arabic: أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ بْن إِسْمَاعِيل بْن إِسْحَاق ٱلْأَشْعَرِيّ)

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (2006). "Part 3: Islamic Philosophy in History – Dimensions of the Islamic Intellectual Tradition: Kalām, Philosophy, and Spirituality". Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy. Albany, New York: SUNY Press. pp. 124–126. ISBN 9780791468005. LCCN 2005023943.
  2. ^ a b c d Frank, Richard M. (2020) [2007]. "Al-Ashʿarī's conception of the nature and role of speculative reasoning in theology". In Frank, Richard M.; Gutas, Dimitri (eds.). Early Islamic Theology: The Muʿtazilites and al-Ashʿarī – Texts and Studies on the Development and History of Kalām, Vol. II (1st ed.). London and New York: Routledge. pp. 136–154. doi:10.4324/9781003110385_8. ISBN 9780860789789. LCCN 2006935669.
  3. ^ a b Javad Anvari, Mohammad (2015). "al-Ashʿarī". In Madelung, Wilferd; Daftary, Farhad (eds.). Encyclopaedia Islamica. Translated by Melvin-Koushki, Matthew. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/1875-9831_isla_COM_0300. ISSN 1875-9823.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Thiele, Jan (2016) [2014]. "Part I: Islamic Theologies during the Formative and the Early Middle period – Between Cordoba and Nīsābūr: The Emergence and Consolidation of Ashʿarism (Fourth–Fifth/Tenth–Eleventh Century)". In Schmidtke, Sabine (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 225–241. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696703.013.45. ISBN 9780199696703. LCCN 2016935488.
  5. ^ Hoover, John (2020). "Early Mamlūk Ashʿarism against Ibn Taymiyya on the Nonliteral Reinterpretation (taʾwīl) of God's Attributes". In Shihadeh, Ayman; Thiele, Jan (eds.). Philosophical Theology in Islam: Later Ashʿarism East and West. Islamicate Intellectual History. Vol. 5. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 195–230. doi:10.1163/9789004426610_009. ISBN 978-90-04-42661-0. ISSN 2212-8662. LCCN 2020008682.
  6. ^ Halverson, Jeffry R. (2010). "The Doctrines of Sunni Theology". Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 12–31. doi:10.1057/9780230106581_2. ISBN 978-0-230-10658-1. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  7. ^ Frank, Richard M. (January–March 1989). "Knowledge and Taqlîd: The Foundations of Religious Belief in Classical Ashʿarism". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 109 (1). American Oriental Society: 37–62. doi:10.2307/604336. ISSN 0003-0279. LCCN 12032032.
  8. ^ Henderson, John B. (1998). "The Making of Orthodoxies". The Construction of Orthodoxy and Heresy: Neo-Confucian, Islamic, Jewish, and Early Christian Patterns. Albany, New York: SUNY Press. pp. 55–58. ISBN 978-0-7914-3760-5.
  9. ^ Abdullah Saeed Islamic Thought: An Introduction Routledge 2006 ISBN 978-1-134-22564-4 chapter 5
  10. ^ Juan Eduardo Campo Encyclopedia of Islam New York, NY 2009 ISBN 978-1-438-12696-8 page 66
  11. ^ a b John L. Esposito, The Islamic World: Abbasid-Historian, p 54. ISBN 0195165209
  12. ^ I.M.N. Al-Jubouri, History of Islamic Philosophy: With View of Greek Philosophy and Early History of Islam, p 182. ISBN 0755210115
  13. ^ Marshall Cavendish Reference, Illustrated Dictionary of the Muslim World, p 87. ISBN 0761479295
  14. ^ Allard, Michel. "Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī, Muslim theologian". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2020-10-29. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  15. ^ William Montgomery Watt, Islamic Philosophy and Theology, p 84. ISBN 0202362728
  16. ^ a b c Shaykh Rami Al Rifai (11 September 2015). "Significance of the Ash'ari Aqeedah".
  17. ^ a b c Ibn ‘Asakir. Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari fima Nusiba ila al-Imam Abu'l Hasan al- Ash'ari. pp. 51–52.
  18. ^ Anjum, Ovamir (2012). Politics, Law, and Community in Islamic Thought. Cambridge University Press. p. 108. ISBN 9781107014060. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  19. ^ John L. Esposito, The Oxford History of Islam, p 280. ISBN 0199880417
  20. ^ a b c d "Scholar of renown: Abul-Hassan Al-Ash'ari". 21 May 2001.
  21. ^ Namira Nahouza (2018). Wahhabism and the Rise of the New Salafists: Theology, Power and Sunni Islam. I.B. Tauris. pp. 121–122.
  22. ^ Zhussipbek, Galym and Nagayeva, Zhanar. "Epistemological Reform and Embracement of Human Rights. What Can be Inferred from Islamic Rationalistic Maturidite Theology?" Open Theology, vol. 5, no. 1, 2019, pp. 352. https://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2019-0030
  23. ^ a b Jeffry R. Halverson, Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism, p 77. ISBN 0230106587
  24. ^ Ash'ari - A History of Muslim Philosophy
  25. ^ Izalat al-Khafa, p. 77, part 7.
  26. ^ Fatwa No. 8001. Who are the Ash'arites? - Dar al-Ifta' al-Misriyyah
  27. ^ Brown, Jonathan A.C. (2009). Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World. Oneworld Publications (Kindle edition). p. 180.
  28. ^ Brown, Jonathan (2007). The Canonization of al‐Bukhārī and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunnī Ḥadīth Canon. Leiden and Boston: Brill. p. 137. ISBN 9789004158399.
  29. ^ Beirut, III, p.286, tr. de Slaine, II, p.228
  30. ^ ed. H. Ritter, Istanbul, 1929-30
  31. ^ ed. and tr. R.C. McCarthy, Beirut, 1953
  32. ^ tr. W.C. Klein, New Haven, 1940
  33. ^ McCarthy, Richard J. (1953). The Theology of Al-Ashari. Imprimerie Catholique. p. 232.
  34. ^ Makdisi, George. 1962. Ash’ari and the Asharites and Islamic history I. Studia Islamica 17: 37–80
  35. ^ Ignaz Goldziher, Vorlesungen uber den Islam, 2nd ed. Franz Babinger (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1925), 121;
  36. ^ Richard M. Frank, Early Islamic Theology: The Mu'tazilites and al-Ash'ari, Texts and studies on the development and history of kalām, vol. 2, pg. 172. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, 2007. ISBN 9780860789789
  37. ^ Jackson, Sherman A. “Ibn Taymiyyah on Trial in Damascus.” Journal of Semitic Studies 39 (Spring 1994): 41–85.

External links

Further reading