Abū l-Hasan al-Ashʿarī

Abū l-Hasan ʿAlī ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ashʿarī ( Arabic أبو الحسن علي بن إسماعيل الأشعري, DMG Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ašʿarī , * around 873 - 874 in Basra ; † 935 in Baghdad ) was an Islamic theologian. The Ashʿarite school of theology is attributed to him. Al-Aschʿarī was descended from Abū Mūsā al-Aschʿarī in the ninth generation . However, his theological opponents doubted that he was descended from this well-known companion of the prophets , and therefore withheld the Nisba al-Ash Aari from him. When they spoke of him, they named him after his grandfather Ibn Abī Bishr .

Life

In his youth, Al-Ashari studied Islamic jurisprudence, Shafiʿite and Hanafi . Both schools of law refer to him as their supporter. At first he belonged to the rational theology school of the Muʿtazila of Basra and studied with Abū ʿAlī al-Jubbā'ī . In the years 912–913, however, he turned away from his teacher and wrote works to refute the Muʿtazilite school. With this he established his own direction of theology. He was also shaped by his study of Christianity, combined with his criticism of Christian teaching.

Works

Ibn ʿAsākir explains in his book “Explanation of the lies of the slanderer about what was charged to the Imam Abū l-Hasan al-Ashʿarī” ( Tabyīn kaḏib al-muftarī fī-mā nusiba ilā ʾl-imām Abī ʾl-Ḥasan al- Ašʿarī ) lists 105 works by al-Asharī. Most of these works are lost. Among those that have survived, the following have received particularly much attention:

• The “Book of Spotlights” ( Kitāb al-Lumaʿ ) with a short preface and ten chapters. Richard J. McCarthy translated the book into English. In Chapter 1, which deals with the existence of God and his attributes, al-Ashʿarī turns against anthropomorphic notions of God and defends the need for philosophical contemplation ( naẓar ) to know the truth. In the latter case, he refers to the example of Abraham , who, as the Koran tells us in sura 6: 76f, only recognized the unity of God in this way. Chapter 2 deals with the Koran and the divine will ( irāda ), chapter 3 is devoted to the proof that the divine will comprises all things created in time ( muḥdaṯāt ). In chapter 4 al- Asari deals with the vision ( ruʾya ) of God, in chapter 5 the concept of the Qadar and in chapter 6 the human agency ( isti istāʿa ). He bases this on the doctrine of the “acquisition” ( iktisāb ) of actions by humans. In chapter 7 al-Ashʿarī deals with holding God to be righteous and unrighteous, in chapter 8 the position of the sinner, in chapter 9 he affirms the teaching that no Muslim believer will be in hell for all eternity, and in chapter 10 he deals with the imamate .

• "The dogmatic teachings of the followers of Islam and the dissent of those who pray " ( Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn wa-ḫtilāf al-muṣallīn ), a doxographic work in which the doctrines of the Islamic sects of the time are presented. Al-Aschʿarī has incorporated earlier works with the same thematic focus, for example the Kitāb al-Maqālāt of the Muʿtazilite Zurqān (d. 891/2). Al-Aschʿarīs work was edited by Hellmut Ritter .

• The "Book of Discussion of the Foundations of Religion" ( Kitāb al-Ibāna ʿan uṣūl ad-diyāna ). The book was translated into English by WC Klein under the title The Elucidation of Islam's foundation (New York 1940, American Oriental Series 19). Its orientation is considerably more traditional than the Kitāb al-Lumaʿ . McCarthy therefore expresses doubts about the authenticity of the work.

• The " Epistle of Advocacy for Occupation with Kalām Science" ( Risālat Istiḥsān al-ḫauḍ fī ʿilm al-kalām ). The authenticity of this work, however, has been questioned.

Doctrine of faith

The Creed from Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn

Al-Ashari was anchored in the Sunni tradition and belonged to a group of theologians whom he calls “our companions” ( aṣḥābunā ) several times in his writings . In his work Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn he summarizes the ʿAqīda ("creed, theological doctrine") of this group, with which he identified himself, as follows:

• They profess to Allah, his angels, his (holy) scriptures, his prophets, what has come from Allah (as revelation) and what reliable (informants) have handed down from the Prophet ...
• They confess that Allah is one, Eternal God ... that Muhammad is his servant and prophet, that paradise is truth and hell is truth ...
• They claim that there is nothing good and nothing bad on earth except what Allah wills, and that things are done according to Allah's will ...
• They further confess that there is no Creator but Allah, that Allah creates people's bad deeds, that Allah creates people's acts, and that people are incapable of creating anything ...
• They claim that the Quran is the word of Allah and uncreated ...
• They claim that on the last day Allah is seen with the eyes ...
• They profess to intercede ( šafā'a ) of God's messengers and cause them to those from his Umma extends the grave sins ( kabā'ir ) have committed [...]
• They further confess that faith consists of word and deed and can increase and decrease, and they do not claim that it is created or that it is uncreated [...]
• They put Abū Bakr in front, then ʿUmar , then ʿUthmān , then ʿAlī and confess that they are the rightly guided caliphs and the most excellent of all people according to the Prophet [...]
• They believe that on feasts, on Fridays and in community, one can pray behind every imam , be he pious or sinful [...],
• They acknowledge the obligation to jihad against the infidels since Allah sent his Prophet to the last crowd to fight against the Jihāl and (still) further ...

The teachings summarized here have great similarities with the creed of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, presented in his ʿAqīda.

More lessons

According to Ibn Fūrak, al-Ashʿari also held the doctrine that the Imamate was limited to the Quraish . In addition, the doctrine of the Kasb (appropriation) goes back to him.

The Ashʿarite school

→ Main article : Ashʿarīya

Al-Ashʿari became the eponym of a theological school after his death . The most famous followers were al-Bāqillānī , Imām al-Haramain al-Juwainī (1028-1085) and Al-Ghazali . Up to the present day he is valued by Sunnis primarily for his position against the Muʿtazila and the Shiites .

literature

Arabic sources

• Ibn Ḫallikān : Wafayāt al-wa-A'yan anbā' abnā' az Zaman . Engl. Transl. William Mac Guckin de Slane . Paris 1843. Vol. II, pp. 227f. Digitized
• Ibn Fūrak: Muǧarrad Maqālāt aš-šaiḫ Abī l-Ḥasan al-Ašʿarī . Ed. Daniel Gimaret. Dār al-Mašriq, Beirut, 1987.

Secondary literature

• Michel Allard: "En quoi consiste l'opposition faite l'opposition faite à al-Ashʿarī par ses contemporains ḥanbalites?" In Revue des Études Islamiques 28 (1960) 93-105.
• Michel Allard: “Un pamphlet contre al-Ašʿarī” in Bulletin d'études Orientales 23 (1970) 129-165.
• RM Frank: Art. "Ash'ari, Al-" in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Online version
• Richard J. McCarthy: The Theology of al-Ash'ari . Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique 1953.
• Joseph Schacht : Islam with the exclusion of the Qur'an . Mohr / Siebeck, Tübingen 1931, pp. 54–61. Digitized
• Fuat Sezgin : History of Arabic Literature . Brill, Leiden 1967, Volume 1, pp. 602-604.
• Wilhelm Spitta: On the history of Abu'l-Ḥasan al-Aśʿarî . Hinrichs, Leipzig, 1876. Digitized by Menadoc
• Arthur Stanley Tritton: Muslim Theology. London 1947, pp. 166-174
• William Montgomery Watt : Free Will and Predestination in Early Islam . London 1948, pp. 135-150
• William Montgomery Watt: The Formative Period of Islamic Thought. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh / Aldine, Chicago 1973, pp. 246-247; 302-312
• William Montgomery Watt: Art: "al-A sh ʿarī, Abu l-Ḥasan" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. I, pp. 694-695a.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Allard: “Un pamphlet contre al-Ašʿarī”. 1970, p. 150f.
2. ^ W. Montgomery Watt (1973), p. 304 and note 112
3. ^ RJ McCarthy (1953), p. 227; W. Montgomery Watt (1973), p. 310.
4. ↑ See McCarthy 211-231.
5. ↑ See McCarthy 5-116.
6. ↑ See McCarthy 9.
7. ↑ See McCarthy 11.
8. ↑ See McCarthy 80.
9. ↑ See McCarthy 103-105.
10. ↑ See McCarthy 107-111.
11. ↑ See McCarthy 112-116.
12. ↑ See Josef van Ess: Theology and Society in the 2nd and 3rd Century Hijra. A History of Religious Thought in Early Islam. Volume IV. Berlin-New York 1997, p. 120.
13. ↑ Abu-l-Ḥasan ʿAlī Ibn-Ismāʾīl al-Ašʿarī: Kitāb Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn wa-ḫtilāf al-muṣallīn. Ed. Hellmut Ritter. Istānbūl: Maṭbaʿat ad-daula 1929–1933. Online ( Bibliotheca Islamica I.).
14. ↑ See McCarthy 232.
15. ↑ Cf. George Makdisi: "Ashʿarī and Ashʿarites in Islamic religious history II" in Studia Islamica 18 (1963) 19-39. Here p. 23.
16. ^ W. Montgomery Watt (1973), p. 311
17. ↑ Cf. al-Ašʿarī: Kitāb Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn . 1929-1931, pp. 290-295 and the translation by Schacht: Der Islam . 1931, pp. 56-60
18. ^ Henri Laoust: La profession de foi d'ibn Baṭṭa. Damascus 1958. § XV.W. Montgomery Watt (1973), pp. 292-294. See also: J. Schacht (1931), pp. 36-39
19. ↑ See Ibn Fūrak: Muǧarrad 1987, p. 184.

Web links

• Literature by and about Abū l-Hasan al-Aschʿarī in the catalog of the German National Library