Ash'arism

"Ash'ari" redirects here. For other uses, see Ash'ari (disambiguation).

Ashʿarism or Ashʿarī theology^[1] (/æʃəˈriː/;^[2] Arabic: الأشعرية, romanized: al-Ashʿariyya)^[3] is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology (others being Maturidism and Atharism), founded by the Arab Muslim scholar, Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer (mujaddid), and scholastic theologian Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī in the 9th–10th century.^[5] It established an orthodox guideline,^[8] based on scriptural authority,^[10] rationality,^[14] and theological rationalism.^[18]

Al-Ashʿarī established a middle way between the doctrines of the Atharī and Muʿtazila schools of Islamic theology, based both on reliance on the sacred scriptures of Islam and theological rationalism concerning the agency and attributes of God.^[1][4][9] Ashʿarism eventually became the predominant school of theological thought within Sunnī Islam,^[3][4][19] and is regarded as the single most important school of Islamic theology in the history of Islam.^[3]

The disciples of the Ashʿarī school are known as Ashʿarites,^[20] and the school is also referred to as the Ashʿarite school,^[21] which became one of the dominant theological schools within Sunnī Islam.^[24] Ashʿarī theology is considered one of the orthodox creeds of Sunnī Islam,^[26] alongside the Atharī^[27][28] and Māturīdī.^[4][19]

Amongst the most famous Ashʿarite theologians are al-Nawawi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Ghazali, al-Suyuti, Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Ibn 'Asakir, al-Subki, al-Taftazani, al-Baqillani, and al-Bayhaqi.^[29] Scholars and scientists who were affiliated with the Ash'ari school included al-Biruni, Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn al-Nafis, Ibn Battuta, and Ibn Khaldun.^[30][31]

History

 

Al-Zaytuna Mosque in Tunis, one of the most important centers of Islamic learning that contributed to the dissemination of Ashʿarī thought in the Maghreb.^[32]

Founder

Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī was born in Basra,^[33] Iraq, and was a descendant of Abū Mūsa al-Ashʿarī, which belonged to the first generation of Muhammad's closest companions (ṣaḥāba).^[34] As a young man he studied under al-Jubba'i, a renowned teacher of Muʿtazilite theology and philosophy.^[35][36] He was noted for his teachings on atomism,^[37] among the earliest Islamic philosophies, and for al-Ashʿarī this was the basis for propagating the view that God created every moment in time and every particle of matter. He nonetheless believed in free will and predestination, elaborating the thoughts of Dirar ibn 'Amr and Abu Hanifa into a "dual agent" or "acquisition" (iktisab) account of free will.^{[38][page needed]}

While Al-Ashʿarī opposed the views of the rival Muʿtazilite school, he was also opposed to the view which rejected all debate, held by certain schools such as the Zahiri ("literalist"), Mujassimite (anthropotheist), schools for their over-emphasis on taqlid (imitation) in his Istihsan al‑Khaud:^[39] But instead, Imam Al-Ash'ari affirmed the ambiguous verses in the Qur'an (such as those about the hand and eye's) without a "how" (modality) and without a meaning(meaning, he consigned the meaning to Allah(God)), which is called Tafweed. He also allowed another orthodox way of dealing with the ambiguous verses in the Qur'an called Ta'wil (interpretation based on the arabic language and revelation)..

A section of the people (i.e., the Zahirites and others) made capital out of their own ignorance; discussions and rational thinking about matters of faith became a heavy burden for them, and, therefore, they became inclined to blind faith and blind following (taqlid). They condemned those who tried to rationalize the principles of religion as 'innovators'. They considered discussion about motion, rest, body, accident, colour, space, atom, the leaping of atoms, and Attributes of God, to be an innovation and a sin. They said that had such discussions been the right thing, the Prophet and his Companions would have definitely done so; they further pointed out that the Prophet, before his death, discussed and fully explained all those matters which were necessary from the religious point of view, leaving none of them to be discussed by his followers; and since he did not discuss the problems mentioned above, it was evident that to discuss them must be regarded as an innovation.

Development

Ashʿarism became the main school of early Islamic philosophy whereby it was initially based on the foundations laid down by al-Ashʿarī, who founded the Ashʿarite school in the 10th century based on the methodology taught to him by the Kullabi movement that used rational argumentation to defend Sunni creed. However, the Ashʿarite school underwent many developments throughout history, resulting in the term Ashʿarī being extremely broad in its modern usage (e.g., differences between Ibn Furak (d. AH 406) and al-Bayhaqi (d. AH 384)).^[40][41]

For example, the Ashʿarite view was that comprehension of the unique nature and characteristics of God were beyond human capability. The solution proposed by al-Ashʿarī to solve the problems of tashbih and ta'til concedes that the Supreme Being possesses in a real sense the divine attributes and names mentioned in the Quran. Insofar as these names and attributes have a positive reality, they are distinct from the essence, but nevertheless they don't have either existence or reality apart from it.

The inspiration of al-Ashʿarī in this matter was on the one hand to distinguish essence and attribute as concepts, and on the other hand to see that the duality between essence and attribute should be situated not on the quantitative but on the qualitative level—something which Muʿtazilite thinking had failed to grasp.^[42] Ashʿarite theologians were referred to as the muthbita ("those who make firm") by the Muʿtazilites.^[43]

Beliefs

Two popular sources for Ash'ari creeds are Maqalat al-Islamiyyin and Ibana'an Usul al-Diyana.^[44]

God and God's attributes

Ashʿarites also hold beliefs about God's attributes that are unique to Him, such as:^[45]

• Existence;
• Permanence without beginning;
• Endurance without end;
• Absoluteness and independence;
• Dissimilarity to created things;
• Oneness;
• God is all-powerful, willful, knowing, living, seeing, hearing, and speaking (signifying attributes).

God and relationship with humans

The Ashʿarī school of Islamic theology holds that:

• God is all-powerful (omnipotent).
• Good is what God commands – as revealed in the Quran and the ḥadīth — and is by definition just; evil is what God forbids and is likewise unjust.^[46] Right and wrong are in no way determined intuitively or naturally, they are not objective realities.^[47] (Divine command theory)
• Because of Divine omnipotence, there are no "natural laws" (of things like thermodynamics or gravity), because such laws would put limitations on His actions. There are, however, Divine "customs", whereby "certain so-called 'effects'" usually follow certain "causes" in the natural world.^[48]
• Also because of Divine power, all human acts—even the decision to raise a finger—are created by God. This had caused controversy earlier in Islamic history because human acts are what humans are judged for when being sent to heaven (jannah) or hell (jahannam). Ashʿaris reconciled the doctrines of free will, justice, and divine omnipotence, with their own doctrine of kasb ("acquisition"), by which human beings "'acquire' responsibility for their actions,^[49] although these "actions are willed and created by God".^[48] Humans still possess free will (or, more accurately, freedom of intention) under this doctrine, although their freedom is limited to the power to decide between the given possibilities God has created.^[28] (This doctrine is now known in Western philosophy as occasionalism.)
• The Quran is the uncreated word of God, that is, it was not created by God, but like God has always been. It can also be said to be created when it takes on a form in letters or sound.^[49]
• The unique nature and attributes of God cannot be understood fully by human reason and the physical senses.^[46]
• Reason is God-given and must be employed over the source of knowledge.^{[28][clarification needed]}
• Intellectual inquiry is decreed by the Quran and the Islamic prophet Muhammad, therefore the interpretation (tafsīr) of the Quran and the ḥadīth should keep developing with the aid of older interpretations.^[50]
• Only God knows the heart, who belongs to the faithful and who does not.^[51]
• God has "absolute freedom" to "punish or reward as He wills",^[48] and so may forgive the sins of those in Hell.^[52]
• Support of kalām (rationalistic Islamic theology).

Prophets and the unseen

Ashʿarites further affirm that Muslims beliefs include:

• In all the prophets and messengers of Islam, from Adam to Muhammad.^[22]
• Jesus will return to earth and defeat the Dajjal^[53]
• Belief in the angels.^[22]
• Including the angels of the grave (Munkar and Nakir).^[54]
• That Satan tempts man, contrarily to the Mu'tazila and Jahmiyya (the mention of the latter two branches only appears in Ibana).^[55]
• Paradise and hell.
• That prayers for dead Muslims and almsgiving reach them.^[56]
• During sleep, visions can be seen and they have an interpretation ("interpretation" only found in Ibana).^[57]
• The existence of sorcerers and that magic is a reality in the world.^[58]
• That jinn are real and able to physically possess people, although not mentioned in the works above, many Ash'arites consider this as part of the aqida.^[59]

Ashʿarism and reason

It is said that in the early period, Ash'arites followed a method that combined reason and revelation.^[60] This is in contrast to the assertation by some Ash'arites that those who believe without thinking (mukallid) cannot be true believers.^[61] This view indicates that believing in religion without using reason and thought is considered invalid according to them.

The later period some Ash'arites prioritized reason and relegated revelation to a secondary position, stating that revelation could never contradict reason.^[62] Examples of these include al-Juwayni, al-Ghazali, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, and Qadi Baydawi. The majority of the Ash'arites went further, stating that only reason provides certain knowledge, while revelation is merely a matter of conjecture and cannot provide knowledge or certainty.^[63] Because of these views, they were criticized by the Salafis.^[64]

Contrary to this, some within the school, such as al-Taftazani, have sometimes stated that revelation also represents knowledge, while Ibn al-Tilimsanī criticized al-Razī, asking what grounds legal rulings if all revelation were mere conjecture, stating that revelation cannot entirely be based on conjecture.^[65]

Later Ashʿarism

 

Sa'id Foudah, a leading contemporary Ashʿarī scholar of kalām (Islamic systematic theology).

Nicholas Heer writes that later Ashʿarite theologians "increasingly attempted to rationalize Islamic doctrine" from about the 12th century onwards. Theologians such as al-Taftāzānī^[66] and al-Jurjānī ^[67] argued that the Islamic sacred scriptures (the Quran and the ḥadīth) "must be proven to be true by rational arguments" before being "accepted as the basis of the religion". Educated Muslims "must be convinced on the basis of rational arguments".^[68] A series of rational proofs were developed by these Ashʿarite theologians, including proofs for "the following doctrines or propositions":

1. The universe is originated;
2. The universe has an originator or creator;
3. The creator of the universe is knowing, powerful and willing;
4. Prophecy is possible;
5. Miracles are possible;
6. Miracles indicate the truthfulness of one who claims to be a prophet;
7. Muhammad claimed to be a prophet and performed miracles.^[68]

Criticism

The medieval Muslim scholar Ibn Taymiyyah criticised the Ashʿarī theology as (in the words of one historian, Jonathan A. C. Brown) "a Greek solution to Greek problems" that should "never" have concerned Muslims.^[69] Both Ibn Taymiyyah and Shah Waliullah Dehlawi rejected the lack of literalism in Ashʿarī "speculative theology" and advocated "Literal acceptance of God's description of Himself".^[70]

In contrast, German scholar Eduard Sachau affirms that the Ashʿarī theology and its biggest defender, al-Ghazali, was too literal and responsible for the decline of Islamic science starting in the 10th century. Sachau stated that the two clerics were the only obstacle to the Muslim world becoming a nation of "Galileos, Keplers, and Newtons".^[71]

Ziauddin Sardar states that some of the greatest Muslim scientists of the Islamic Golden Age, such as Ibn al-Haytham and Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, who were pioneers of the scientific method, were themselves followers of the Ashʿarī school of Islamic theology.^[72] Like other Ashʿarites who believed that faith or taqlid should be applied only to Islam and not to any ancient Hellenistic authorities,^[73] Ibn al-Haytham's view that taqlid should be applied only to the prophets and messengers of Islam and not to any other authorities formed the basis for much of his scientific skepticism and criticism against Ptolemy and other ancient authorities in his Doubts Concerning Ptolemy and Book of Optics.^[74]

See also

• 2016 international conference on Sunni Islam in Grozny
• 2020 International Maturidi Conference
• Islamic schools and branches
• List of prominent Ash'aris

Notes

1. 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. New York: SUNY Press. pp. 124–126. ISBN 978-0-7914-6800-5. LCCN 2005023943.
2. "al-Ashʿari". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
3. 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. 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 978-0-19-969670-3. LCCN 2016935488.
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6. 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. JSTOR 604336. LCCN 12032032.
7. Glassé, Cyril, ed. (2003) [1989]. "Ashʿarī". The New Encyclopedia of Islam (3rd Revised ed.). California and Maryland: AltaMira Press. pp. 61–63. ISBN 978-0-7591-0190-6. OCLC 1291928025.
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9. 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. ISBN 978-0-86078-978-9. LCCN 2006935669. S2CID 169898034.
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11. 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. S2CID 219026357.
12. Halverson 2010, pp. 14–15.
13. Weeks, Douglas. "The Ideology of Al Muhajiroun." Al Muhajiroun. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2020. 103-140.
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28. Hughes 2013, pp. 193–194.
29. Hamad al-Sanan, Fawziy al-'Anjariy, Ahl al-Sunnah al-Asha'irah, pp.248-258. Dar al-Diya'.
30. "The Myth of Intellectual Decline: A Response to Shaykh Hamza Yusuf". 27 November 2017. Ibn Khaldun on Philosophy: After clarifying what was meant precisely by philosophy in the Islamic tradition, namely the various schools of peripatetic philosophy represented either by Ibn Rushd or Ibn Sina, it should be clear why Ibn Khaldun was opposed to them. His critique of philosophy is an Ash'ari critique, completely in line with the Ash'aris before him, including Ghazali and Fakhr al-din al-Razi, both of whom Ibn Khaldun recommends for those who wish to learn how to refute the philosophers
31. Sardar, Ziauddin (1998), "Science in Islamic philosophy", Islamic Philosophy, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, retrieved 2008-02-03
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33. John L. Esposito, The Islamic World: Abbasid-Historian, p 54. ISBN 0195165209
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36. Allard, Michel. . Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2020-10-29. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
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40. . Archived from the original on 2018-06-03. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
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44. Richard McCarthy The theology of al-ash'ari 1953 Appendix IV
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46. John L. Esposito The Oxford History of Islam Oxford University Press 2000 ISBN 978-0-199-88041-6 p. 281
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53. Richard McCarthy The theology of al-ash'ari 1953 p. 250
54. Richard McCarthy The theology of al-ash'ari 1953 p. 250
55. Richard McCarthy The theology of al-ash'ari 1953 p. 252
56. Richard McCarthy The theology of al-ash'ari 1953 p. 251
57. Richard McCarthy The theology of al-ash'ari 1953 p. 251
58. Richard McCarthy The theology of al-ash'ari 1953 p. 251
59. Islam, Migration and Jinn: Spiritual Medicine in Muslim Health Management. (2021). Deutschland: Springer International Publishing.
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62. CÜVEYNÎ, Ebu'l-Me'âlî: Kitâbü'l-İrşâd. Çvr. Prof. Adnan BALOĞLU. T.D.V. Yayınları, Ankara 2016. p. 292.
63. CÜRCÂNÎ, Seyyid Şerîf: Şerhü'l-Mevâkıf, Trcm. Prof.Dr. Ömer TÜRKER, Türkiye Yazma Eserler Kurumu Başkanlığı Yayınları, İstanbul, 2015, c. I, p. 440
64. YAVUZ, Yusuf Şevki: Eş'ariyye, TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, İstanbul, 1995, c. XI, s. 453.
65. İBNÜ't-TİLİMSÂNÎ, Abdullah: Nşr. Mahmud Avvad SALİM: Şerhu Me'âlimi Usûli'd-Dîn, Daru'l-Kütübi'l-Mısriyye, Kahire, 2011. p. 125-26.
66. See the article “al-Taftāzānī” by W. Madelung in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. X, pp. 88-89
67. See the article “al-Djurdjānī” by A.S. Tritton in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. II, pp. 602-603
68. Heer, Nicholas (n.d.). "A LECTURE ON ISLAMIC THEOLOGY" (PDF). University of Washington Faculty. pp. 10–11. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
69. Brown, Jonathan A. C. (2014). Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy. Oneworld Publications. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-78074-420-9. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
70. Brown, Jonathan A. C. (2014). Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy. Oneworld Publications. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-78074-420-9. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
71. Muzaffar Iqbal, Science and Islam, p. 120. From the Greenwood Guides to Science and Religion Series. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. ISBN 9780313335761
72. Sardar, Ziauddin (1998), "Science in Islamic philosophy", Islamic Philosophy, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, retrieved 2008-02-03
73. Anwar, Sabieh (October 2008), "Is Ghazālī really the Halagu of Science in Islam?", Monthly Renaissance, 18 (10), retrieved 2008-10-14
74. Rashed, Roshdi (2007), "The Celestial Kinematics of Ibn al-Haytham", Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 17 (1), Cambridge University Press: 7–55 [11], doi:10.1017/S0957423907000355, S2CID 170934544

Bibliography

• Frank, Richard M. (2016) [2008]. Gutas, Dimitri (ed.). Classical Islamic Theology: The Ash'arites. Texts and Studies on the Development and History of Kalam. Variorum Collected Studies Series. Vol. III. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-86078-979-6. LCCN 2008927099. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
• 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.
• Hughes, Aaron W. (2013). "Constituting Identities: Beliefs and Schools". Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 183–202. ISBN 978-0-231-53192-4. JSTOR 10.7312/hugh16146.13. Retrieved 1 November 2020.

External links

• Who are the Ash'arites? 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine Dar al-Iftaa Al-Missriyyah
• The Ash'ari's School of Theology 2018-01-04 at the Wayback Machine Dar al-Iftaa Al-Missriyyah
• Ashariyys – The Knights of Knowledge and the Pioneers of Success – sunna.info