Ash'arism () is a school of theology in Sunni Islam named after Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, a Sunni jurist, reformer (mujaddid), and scholastic theologian, in the 9thâÂÂ10th century. It established an orthodox guideline, based on scriptural authority, rationality, and theological rationalism. It is one of the three main schools alongside Maturidism and Atharism.
Al-Ash'ari established a middle way between the doctrines of the Atharë and Muÿtazila schools of Islamic theology, based both on reliance on the sacred scriptures of Islam and theological rationalism concerning the agency and attributes of God. Ashÿarism eventually became the predominant school of theological thought within Sunnë Islam, and is regarded as the single most important school of Islamic theology in the history of Islam.
The disciples of the Ash'ari school are known as Ashÿarites, and the school is also referred to as the Ashÿarite school, which became one of the dominant theological schools within Sunnë Islam. Ash'ari theology is considered one of the orthodox creeds of Sunnë Islam, alongside the Atharë and MÃÂturëdë.
Amongst the most famous Ashÿarite 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. 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. An Islamic philosopher who was particularly attacked by the Ashÿari school is Avicenna, on various accounts, notably his philosophical theology, his logic and his physics.
Abà « al-Ḥasan al-Ashÿarë was born in Basra, Iraq, and was a descendant of Abà « Mà «sa al-Ashÿarë, which belonged to the first generation of Muhammad's closest companions (á¹£aḥÃÂba). As a young man, he studied under al-Jubba'i, a renowned teacher of Muÿtazilite theology and philosophy. He was noted for his teachings on atomism, among the earliest Islamic philosophies, and for al-Ashÿarë 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.
While Al-Ashÿarë opposed the views of the rival Muÿtazilite 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 alâÂÂKhaud: But instead, Imam Al-Ash'ari affirmed the ambiguous verses in the Qur'an (such as those about the hand and eyes) without a "how" (modality) and without a meaning (meaning, he consigned the meaning to God), a practice known as tafwid. 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).
Ashÿarism became the main school of early Islamic philosophy whereby it was initially based on the foundations laid down by al-Ashÿarë, who founded the Ashÿarite 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 Ashÿarite school underwent many developments throughout history, resulting in the term Ashÿarë being extremely broad in its modern usage (e.g., differences between Ibn Furak (d. AH 406) and al-Bayhaqi (d. AH 384)).
For example, the Ashÿarite view was that comprehension of the unique nature and characteristics of God were beyond human capability. The solution proposed by al-Ashÿarë 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. In so far 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-Ashÿarë 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 levelâÂÂsomething which Muÿtazilite thinking had failed to grasp. Ashÿarite theologians were referred to as the muthbita ("those who make firm") by the Muÿtazilites.
Two popular sources for Ash'ari creeds are Maqalat al-Islamiyyin and Ibana'an Usul al-Diyana.
Ashÿarites also hold beliefs about God's attributes that are unique to them, such as:
The Ashÿarë school of Islamic theology holds that:
Ashÿarites further affirm that Muslims beliefs include:
It is said that in the early period, Ash'arites followed a method that combined reason and revelation. This is in contrast to the assertion by some Ash'arites that those who believe without thinking (muqallidoon) cannot be true believers. This view indicates that believing in religion without using reason and thought is considered invalid according to them.
Contrary to this, some within the school, such as al-Taftazani, have sometimes stated that revelation also represents knowledge, while Ibn al-Tilimsanë criticized al-Razë, asking what grounds legal rulings if all revelation were mere conjecture, stating that revelation cannot entirely be based on conjecture.
Nicholas Heer writes that later Ashÿarite theologians "increasingly attempted to rationalize Islamic doctrine" from about the 12th century onwards. Theologians such as al-TaftÃÂzÃÂnë and al-JurjÃÂnë argued that the Islamic sacred scriptures (the Quran and the ḥadëth) "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". A series of rational proofs were developed by these Ashÿarite theologians, including proofs for "the following doctrines or propositions":
The medieval Muslim scholar Ibn Taymiyyah criticised the Ashÿarë theology as (in the words of one historian, Jonathan A. C. Brown) "a Greek solution to Greek problems" that should "never" have concerned Muslims. Both Ibn Taymiyyah and Shah Waliullah Dehlawi rejected the lack of literalism in Ashÿarë but later Ibn Taymiyya wrote in his book Majmu' Al-Fatawa that Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari turned away from the Mu'tazzili creed and came back to the creed of Ahlus Sunnah which shows the unity in Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jammah." In contrast, German orientalist scholar Eduard Sachau says that the Ashÿarë 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".
Ziauddin Sardar states that some of the greatest Muslim scientists of the Islamic Golden Age, such as Ibn al-Haytham and Abà « RayhÃÂn al-Bërà «në, who were pioneers of the scientific method, were themselves followers of the Ashÿarë school of Islamic theology. Like other Ashÿarites who believed that faith or taqlid should be applied only to Islam and not to any ancient Hellenistic authorities, 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.