View source for Ash'arism

{{Short description|Sunni school of Islamic theology}}
{{Redirect|Ash'ari||Ash'ari (disambiguation)}}
{{Expand Arabic|أشعرية|date=November 2020}}
{{Sunni Islam|Sunni Schools of Divinity}}
 [[File:الأشعري.png|thumb|Calligraphy of al-Ash'ari's name]]

'''Ash'arism''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|ʃ|ə|ˈ|r|iː}};<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/a+al+ashari "al-Ashʿari"]. ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]]''.</ref> {{langx|ar|الأشعرية|translit=al-Ashʿariyya}}) is a [[Schools of Islamic theology|school of theology]] in [[Sunni Islam]] named after [[Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari]], a Sunni [[Faqīh|jurist]], [[Mujaddid|reformer]] (''mujaddid''), and [[Kalam|scholastic theologian]],<ref name="Nasr 2006">{{cite book |author-last=Nasr |author-first=Seyyed Hossein |author-link=Seyyed Hossein Nasr |year=2006 |chapter=Part 3: Islamic Philosophy in History – Dimensions of the Islamic Intellectual Tradition: Kalām, Philosophy, and Spirituality |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0ZFkdlCFnYC&pg=PA124 |title=[[Islamic Philosophy from its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy|Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy]] |location=New York |publisher=[[SUNY Press]] |pages=124–126 |isbn=978-0-7914-6800-5 |lccn=2005023943}}</ref> in the 9th–10th century.{{refn|<ref name="Nasr 2006" /><ref name="Islamica 2015" /><ref name="Thiele 2016">{{cite book |author-last=Thiele |author-first=Jan |year=2016 |origyear=2014 |chapter=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) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=70wnDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA225 |editor-last=Schmidtke |editor-first=Sabine |editor-link=Sabine Schmidtke |title=The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology |location=Oxford and New York |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=225–241 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696703.013.45 |isbn=978-0-19-969670-3 |lccn=2016935488}}</ref>}} It established an orthodox guideline,{{refn|<ref>{{cite journal |last=Frank |first=Richard M. |date=January–March 1989 |title=Knowledge and Taqlîd: The Foundations of Religious Belief in Classical Ashʿarism |journal=[[Journal of the American Oriental Society]] |volume=109 |issue=1 |publisher=[[American Oriental Society]] |pages=37–62 |doi=10.2307/604336 |jstor=604336 |issn=0003-0279 |lccn=12032032}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Glassé |editor-first=Cyril |year=2003 |orig-year=1989 |title=[[The New Encyclopedia of Islam]] |chapter=Ashʿarī |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=focLrox-frUC&pg=PA61 |location=California and Maryland |publisher=[[AltaMira Press]] |edition=3rd Revised |pages=61–63 |isbn=978-0-7591-0190-6 |oclc=1291928025}}</ref>}} based on [[Islamic holy books|scriptural authority]],{{refn|<ref name="Nasr 2006" /><ref name="Thiele 2016" /><ref name="Frank 2020">{{cite book |author-last=Frank |author-first=Richard M. |year=2020 |origyear=2007 |chapter=Al-Ashʿarī's conception of the nature and role of speculative reasoning in theology |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tkX1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA76 |editor1-last=Frank |editor1-first=Richard M. |editor2-last=Gutas |editor2-first=Dimitri |editor2-link=Dimitri Gutas |title=Early Islamic Theology: The Muʿtazilites and al-Ashʿarī |series= Texts and Studies on the Development and History of Kalām |volume=II |location=London and New York |publisher=[[Routledge]] |edition=1st |pages=136–154 |doi=10.4324/9781003110385 |isbn=978-0-86078-978-9 |s2cid=169898034 |lccn=2006935669}}</ref>}} [[rationality]],{{refn|<ref name="Nasr 2006" /><ref name="Frank 2020" /><ref name="Hoover 2020">{{cite book |author-last=Hoover |author-first=John |year=2020 |chapter=Early Mamlūk Ashʿarism against Ibn Taymiyya on the Nonliteral Reinterpretation (''taʾwīl'') of God’s Attributes |chapter-url=https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3741348 |editor1-last=Shihadeh |editor1-first=Ayman |editor2-last=Thiele |editor2-first=Jan |title=Philosophical Theology in Islam: Later Ashʿarism East and West |location=Leiden and Boston |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Islamicate Intellectual History |volume=5 |pages=195–230 |doi=10.1163/9789004426610_009 |isbn=978-90-04-42661-0 |s2cid=219026357 |issn=2212-8662 |lccn=2020008682}}</ref>{{sfn|Halverson|2010|pages=14-15}}<ref>Weeks, Douglas. "The Ideology of Al Muhajiroun." Al Muhajiroun. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2020. 103-140.</ref>}} and theological [[rationalism]].{{refn|<ref name="Nasr 2006" /><ref name="Frank 2020" />{{sfn|Halverson|2010|pages=14-15}}<ref>Gyekye, Kwame. "Theology and Law in Islam." (1976): 304-306.</ref><ref>Fah̲rī, Mağīd. Ethical theories in Islam. Vol. 8. Brill, 1991.</ref><ref>Hashas, Mohammed. "Is European Islam Experiencing an Ontological Revolution for an Epistemological Awakening?." American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 31: 4 (2014): 14.</ref>}} It is one of the three main schools alongside [[Maturidism]] and [[Atharism]].

Al-Ash'aris Knowledge was based both on reliance on the [[Islamic holy books|sacred scriptures of Islam]] and theological rationalism concerning the [[Free will in theology#Islam|agency]] and [[Attributes of God in Islam|attributes of God]].<ref name="Nasr 2006" /><ref name="Thiele 2016" /><ref name="Frank 2020" /> Ashʿarism eventually became the predominant school of theological thought within Sunnī Islam,<ref name="Islamica 2015">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2015 |title=al-Ashʿarī |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Islamica |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |location=Leiden and Boston |editor1-last=Madelung |editor1-first=Wilferd |doi=10.1163/1875-9831_isla_COM_0300 |issn=1875-9823 |author-last=Javad Anvari |author-first=Mohammad |translator-last=Melvin-Koushki |translator-first=Matthew |editor2-last=Daftary |editor2-first=Farhad}}</ref><ref name="Thiele 2016" /><ref name="Henderson 1998">{{cite book |last=Henderson |first=John B. |year=1998 |chapter=The Making of Orthodoxies |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FALN_kpyzEUC&pg=PA55 |title=The Construction of Orthodoxy and Heresy: Neo-Confucian, Islamic, Jewish, and Early Christian Patterns |location=New York |publisher=[[SUNY Press]] |pages=55–58 |isbn=978-0-7914-3760-5}}</ref> and is regarded as the single most important school of Islamic theology in the [[history of Islam]].<ref name="Islamica 2015" />

The disciples of the Ash'ari school are known as '''Ashʿarites''',{{refn|<ref name="Nasr 2006" /><ref name="Thiele 2016" /><ref name="Frank 2020" /><ref name="Hoover 2020" />{{sfn|Halverson|2010|pages=14-15}}}} and the school is also referred to as the '''Ashʿarite school''',{{refn|<ref name="Nasr 2006" /><ref name="Thiele 2016" /><ref name="Frank 2020" /><ref name="Hoover 2020" />{{sfn|Halverson|2010|pages=14-15}}}} which became one of the dominant theological schools within Sunnī Islam.{{refn|<ref name="Nasr 2006" /><ref name="Islamica 2015" /><ref name="Henderson 1998" /><ref name=Saeed-chap-5>Abdullah Saeed ''Islamic Thought: An Introduction'' Routledge 2006 {{ISBN|978-1-134-22564-4}} chapter 5</ref><ref>Juan Eduardo Campo ''Encyclopedia of Islam'' New York, NY 2009 {{ISBN|978-1-438-12696-8}} page 66</ref>}} Ash'ari theology is considered one of the orthodox creeds of Sunnī Islam,{{refn|<ref name="Islamica 2015" /><ref name="Thiele 2016" /><ref name="Henderson 1998" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pall|first1=Zoltan|title=Lebanese Salafis Between the Gulf and Europe|date=31 January 2013|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|page=18 |isbn=9789089644510|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-t3RAysVJkC&q=ash%27ari+dominates&pg=PA18|access-date=12 July 2016}}</ref>}} alongside the [[Atharism|Atharī]]{{sfn|Halverson|2010|page=9}}{{sfn|Hughes|2013|pages=193-194}} and [[Maturidi|Māturīdī]].<ref name="Thiele 2016" /><ref name="Henderson 1998" />

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]], [[Taj al-Din al-Subki|al-Subki]], [[al-Taftazani]], [[al-Baqillani]], and [[al-Bayhaqi]].<ref>Hamad al-Sanan, Fawziy al-'Anjariy, ''Ahl al-Sunnah al-Asha'irah'', pp.248-258. Dar al-Diya'.</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://themaydan.com/2017/11/myth-intellectual-decline-response-shaykh-hamza-yusuf/|quote= '''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|title= The Myth of Intellectual Decline: A Response to Shaykh Hamza Yusuf|date= 27 November 2017}}</ref><ref>[[Ziauddin Sardar|Sardar, Ziauddin]] (1998), "Science in Islamic philosophy", ''Islamic Philosophy'', [[Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy]], retrieved 2008-02-03</ref> An Islamic philosopher who was particularly attacked by the Ashʿari school is [[Avicenna]], on various accounts, notably his philosophical theology, his logic and his physics.<ref>Peter Adamson and Andreas Lammer (2020). "Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s Platonist Account of the Essence of Time" In: Ayman Shihadeh and Jan Thiele (eds.) ''Philosophical Theology in Islam. Later Ashʿarism East and West''. Leiden - Boston: Brill, p. 95</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Tunis mosque 1899.jpg|thumb|right|240px|[[Al-Zaytuna Mosque]] in [[Tunis]], one of the most important centers of [[Education in Islam|Islamic learning]] that contributed to the dissemination of Ashʿarī thought in the [[Maghreb]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Pakatchi |author-first=Ahmad |year=2015 |title=Ashʿarīs: the dissemination of Ashʿarī theology |translator-last=Waley |translator-first=Muhammad Isa |editor1-last=Madelung |editor1-first=Wilferd |editor2-last=Daftary |editor2-first=Farhad |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Islamica |location=Leiden and Boston |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |doi=10.1163/1875-9831_isla_COM_0301 |issn=1875-9823}}</ref>]]

=== Founder ===
{{Ash'arism}}
[[Abu Hasan al-Ash'ari|Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī]] was born in [[Basra]],<ref name="John L. Esposito p 54">John L. Esposito, The Islamic World: Abbasid-Historian, p 54. {{ISBN|0195165209}}</ref> [[Iraq]], and was a descendant of [[Abu Musa al-Ashari|Abū Mūsa al-Ashʿarī]], which belonged to the first generation of [[Companions of the Prophet|Muhammad's closest companions]] (''ṣaḥāba'').<ref name="I.M.N. Al-Jubouri p 182">I.M.N. Al-Jubouri, History of Islamic Philosophy: With View of Greek Philosophy and Early History of Islam, p 182. {{ISBN|0755210115}}</ref> As a young man he studied under [[al-Jubba'i]], a renowned teacher of [[Muʿtazila|Muʿtazilite theology]] and [[Early Islamic philosophy|philosophy]].<ref>Marshall Cavendish Reference, Illustrated Dictionary of the Muslim World, p 87. {{ISBN|0761479295}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Allard |first=Michel |title=Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī, Muslim theologian |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abu-al-Hasan-al-Ashari#ref260804 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029094518/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abu-al-Hasan-al-Ashari#ref260804|archive-date=2020-10-29 |access-date=2021-04-01}}</ref> He was noted for his teachings on [[atomism]],<ref name=Hye>{{Cite web |url=http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/hmp/14.htm|author=M. Abdul Hye |title=Ash'arism |website=A History of Muslim Philosophy}}</ref> among the [[Early Islamic philosophy|earliest Islamic philosophies]], and for al-Ashʿarī this was the basis for propagating the view that [[God in Islam|God]] created every moment in [[time]] and every particle of [[matter]]. He nonetheless believed in [[Free will in theology|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.<ref>Watt, Montgomery. Free-Will and Predestination in Early Islam. Luzac & Co.: London 1948.</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2016}}

While Al-Ashʿarī opposed the views of the rival [[Muʿtazila|Muʿtazilite school]], he was also opposed to the view which [[Bi-la kaifa|rejected all debate]], held by certain schools such as the [[Zahiri]] ("literalist"), [[Mujassimite]] ([[Anthropotheism|anthropotheist]]), schools for their over-emphasis on ''[[taqlid]]'' (imitation) in his ''Istihsan al‑Khaud'':<ref name=Hye/> 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). 

{{Blockquote|A section of the people (i.e., the Zahirites and others) made capital out of their own ignorance; [[Debate|discussions]] and [[Rationality|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 '[[Bid‘ah|innovators]]'. They considered discussion about [[Motion (physics)|motion]], [[Rest (physics)|rest]], [[Physical body|body]], [[accident]], [[Color|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 [[Muhammad|Prophet]] and his [[Sahaba|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 [[Ibn Kullab|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)).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Imam Bayhaqi |url=http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/imam_bayhaqi.htm |access-date=2013-02-13|archive-date=2018-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180603114834/http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/imam_bayhaqi.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shafiifiqh.com/imam-abu-bakr-al-bayhaqi/ |title=Imam Abu Bakr Al-Bayhaqi &#124; Shafii Fiqh.com &#124; Shafii Institute |access-date=2013-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130216162405/http://www.shafiifiqh.com/imam-abu-bakr-al-bayhaqi/ |archive-date=2013-02-16}}</ref>

For example, the Ashʿarite view was that comprehension of the [[Attributes of God in Islam|unique nature and characteristics]] of [[God in Islam|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 of God in Islam|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-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 [[Muʿtazila|Muʿtazilite thinking]] had failed to grasp.{{sfn|Corbin|1993|pp=115 & 116|ps=.}} Ashʿarite theologians were referred to as the ''muthbita'' ("those who make firm") by the Muʿtazilites.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fatawa – Who are the Ash'arites?|url=https://www.dar-alifta.org/foreign/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=8001|access-date=2020-10-14|website=Dar al-Ifta al Misriyyah}}</ref>

== Beliefs ==
{{Confusing section|date=November 2023}}
Two popular sources for Ash'ari creeds are ''Maqalat al-Islamiyyin'' and ''Ibana'an Usul al-Diyana''.<ref>Richard  McCarthy ''The theology of al-ash'ari'' 1953 Appendix IV</ref>

=== God and God's attributes ===
Ashʿarites also hold beliefs about God's attributes that are unique to them, such as:<ref>{{Cite book|last=Al Numan ibn Thabit|first=Abu Hanifa|title=Al-Fiqh-Al-Akbar-An-Accurate-Translation|publisher=SunnahMuakada.com|pages=43–44}}</ref>
* 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 in Islam|God]] is all-powerful ([[omnipotence|omnipotent]]).
* Good is what God commands—as revealed in the [[Quran]] and the ''[[Hadith|ḥadīth]]''—and is by definition just; evil is what God forbids and is likewise unjust.<ref name="ReferenceA">John L. Esposito ''The Oxford History of Islam'' Oxford University Press 2000 {{ISBN|978-0-199-88041-6}} p. 281</ref> Right and wrong are in no way determined intuitively or naturally, they are not objective realities.<ref name=brown-2014-53>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Jonathan A. C. |author-link=Jonathan A. C. Brown |title=Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy |date=2014 |publisher=[[Oneworld Publications]] |isbn=978-1-78074-420-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/53 |access-date=4 June 2018 |ref=JACBMM2014 |page=[https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/53 53]}}</ref> ([[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.<ref name="Gibb-Mohammedanism-117">{{cite book |last1=Gibb |first1=H.A.R. |title=Mohammedanism |date=1953 |publisher=Oxford University Press |orig-date=1949 |page=117}}</ref>
* Also because of Divine power, all human acts—even the decision to raise a finger—are created by God. This had caused [[Predestination in Islam#History|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,<ref name=glasse-62-3 /> although these "actions are willed and created by God".<ref name="Gibb-Mohammedanism-117" /> Humans still possess [[Free will in theology|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.{{sfn|Hughes|2013|pages=193-194}} (This doctrine is now known in [[Western philosophy]] as [[occasionalism]].)
* God has created time as a framework for the creation of other things, but He is not limited by it. Duration is dependent on God, yet it is independent and subsists by itself. God is exalted above space and time, and both space and time originate from God.<ref>Peter Adamson and Andreas Lammer (2020). "Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s Platonist Account of the Essence of Time" In: Ayman Shihadeh and Jan Thiele (eds.) ''Philosophical Theology in Islam. Later Ashʿarism East and West''. Leiden - Boston: Brill, p. 118-119</ref>
* The [[I'jaz|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.<ref name=glasse-62-3>Cyril Glassé, Huston Smith ''The New Encyclopedia of Islam'' Rowman Altamira 2003 {{ISBN|978-0-759-10190-6}} page 62-3</ref>
* The unique nature and attributes of God cannot be understood fully by human reason and the physical senses.<ref name="ReferenceA" />
* Reason is God-given and must be employed over the source of knowledge.{{sfn|Hughes|2013|pages=193-194}}{{clarify|reason=poor grammar renders this sentence incomprehensible|date=September 2020}}
* Intellectual inquiry is decreed by the Quran and the [[Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad in Islam|Muhammad]], therefore the interpretation (''[[Tafsir|tafsīr]]'') of the Quran and the ''ḥadīth'' should keep developing with the aid of older interpretations.<ref>Alexander Knysh ''Islam in Historical Perspective'' Taylor & Francis 2016 {{ISBN|978-1-317-27339-4}} page 163</ref>
* Only God knows the [[Qalb|heart]], who belongs to the faithful and who does not.<ref>Ron Geaves ''Islam Today: An Introduction'' A&C Black 2010 {{ISBN|978-1-847-06478-3}} page 21</ref>
* God has "absolute freedom" to "punish or reward as He wills",<ref name="Gibb-Mohammedanism-117" /> and so may forgive the sins of those in [[Jahannam|Hell]].<ref>Ian Richard Netton ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' Routledge 2013 {{ISBN|978-1-135-17960-1}} page 183</ref>
* Support of ''[[Kalam|kalām]]'' (rationalistic Islamic theology).

=== Prophets and ''the unseen'' ===
Ashʿarites further affirm that Muslims beliefs include:
* In all the [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|prophets and messengers of Islam]], from [[Adam in Islam|Adam]] to Muhammad.<ref name=Saeed-chap-5 />
* [[Jesus in Islam|Jesus]] will return to earth and defeat the [[Dajjal]].<ref name=":0">Richard  McCarthy ''The theology of al-ash'ari'' 1953 p. 250</ref>
* Belief in the [[Angels in Islam|angels]].<ref name=Saeed-chap-5 />
* Including the angels of the grave ([[Munkar and Nakir]]).<ref name=":0" />
* That [[Iblis|Satan]] tempts man, contrarily to the Mu'tazila and Jahmiyya (the mention of the latter two branches only appears in ''Ibana'').<ref>Richard  McCarthy ''The theology of al-ash'ari'' 1953 p. 252</ref>
* The reality of Paradise and Hell.
* That prayers for dead Muslims and almsgiving reach them.<ref name=":1">Richard  McCarthy ''The theology of al-ash'ari'' 1953 p. 251</ref>
* [[Barzakh|During sleep]], [[Vision (spirituality)|visions]] can be seen and they have an interpretation ("interpretation" only found in ''Ibana'').<ref name=":1" />
* The existence of sorcerers and that magic is a reality in the world.<ref name=":1" />
* 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''.<ref name="Böttcher–2021">Islam, Migration and Jinn: Spiritual Medicine in Muslim Health Management. (2021). Deutschland: Springer International Publishing.</ref>

== Ashʿarism and reason ==
It is said that in the early period, Ash'arites followed a method that combined reason and revelation.<ref>YAVUZ, Yusuf Şevki. Eş'ariyye. TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, İstanbul 1995. c.XI p. 449</ref> This is in contrast to the assertion by some Ash'arites that those who believe without thinking (''muqallidoon'') cannot be true believers.<ref>BAĞDÂDÎ, Abdulkâhir. Kitabu Usuli'd-Dîn. Çvr. Ömer AYDIN. İşaret Yayınları, İstanbul 2016. p. 291</ref> 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-Tilimsanī criticized al-Razī, asking what grounds legal rulings if all revelation were mere conjecture, stating that revelation cannot entirely be based on conjecture.<ref>İBNÜ't-TİLİMSÂNÎ, Abdullah: Nşr. Mahmud Avvad SALİM: Şerhu Me'âlimi Usûli'd-Dîn, Daru'l-Kütübi'l-Mısriyye, Kahire, 2011. p. 125-26.</ref>

== Later Ashʿarism ==
[[File:Sheikh Said Foudah.png|thumbnail|right|250px|[[Sa'id Foudah]], a leading contemporary Ashʿarī scholar of ''[[Kalam|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<ref>See the article “al-Taftāzānī” by W. Madelung in ''The Encyclopaedia of Islam'', vol. X, pp. 88-89</ref> and al-Jurjānī <ref>See the article “al-Djurdjānī” by A.S. Tritton in ''The Encyclopaedia of Islam'', vol. II, pp. 602-603</ref> argued that the [[Islamic holy books|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".<ref name=heer-lecture-10-11>{{cite web |title=A LECTURE ON ISLAMIC THEOLOGY |last1=Heer |first1=Nicholas |url=http://faculty.washington.edu/heer/theology-sep.pdf |website=University of Washington Faculty |date=n.d. |pages=10–11 |access-date=13 August 2021}}</ref> A series of rational proofs were developed by these Ashʿarite theologians, including proofs for "the following doctrines or propositions":
# The universe is originated;
# The universe has an originator or creator;
# The creator of the universe is knowing, powerful and willing;
# Prophecy is possible;
# Miracles are possible;
# Miracles indicate the truthfulness of one who claims to be a prophet;
# Muhammad claimed to be a prophet and performed miracles.<ref name=heer-lecture-10-11 />

== Criticism ==
{{Criticism section|date=August 2021}}
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.<ref name=brown-62>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Jonathan A. C. |author-link=Jonathan A. C. Brown |title=Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy |date=2014 |publisher=[[Oneworld Publications]] |isbn=978-1-78074-420-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/62 |access-date=4 June 2018 |ref=JACBMM2014 |page=[https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/62 62]}}</ref> Both Ibn Taymiyyah and [[Shah Waliullah Dehlawi]] rejected the lack of literalism in Ashʿarī but later [[Ibn Taymiyya]] wrote in his book fatawa majmu [[Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari]] turned away from mutazili creed and came back to creed of ahlus sunnah which shows the unity in ahlusunnah wal jamaat ." 
In contrast, German orientalist scholar [[Eduard Sachau]] says 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 "[[Galileo Galilei|Galileos]], [[Johannes Kepler|Keplers]], and [[Isaac Newton|Newtons]]".<ref>[[Muzaffar Iqbal]], ''Science and Islam'', p. 120. From the Greenwood Guides to Science and Religion Series. [[Westport, Connecticut|Westport]]: [[Greenwood Publishing Group]], 2007. {{ISBN|9780313335761}}</ref>

[[Ziauddin Sardar]] states that some of the greatest [[Science in medieval Islam|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.<ref name=Sardar>{{Citation|last=Sardar|first=Ziauddin|author-link=Ziauddin Sardar|year=1998 |contribution=Science in Islamic philosophy |title=Islamic Philosophy |publisher=[[Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |url=http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H016.htm |access-date=2008-02-03 }}</ref> Like other Ashʿarites who believed that faith or ''taqlid'' should be applied only to Islam and not to any [[Hellenistic civilization|ancient Hellenistic]] authorities,<ref name=Anwar>{{citation|last=Anwar|first=Sabieh |date=October 2008|title=Is Ghazālī really the Halagu of Science in Islam?|journal=[[Al-Mawrid|Monthly Renaissance]]|volume=18 |issue=10|url=http://www.monthly-renaissance.com/issue/content.aspx?id=1016|access-date=2008-10-14}}</ref> Ibn al-Haytham's view that ''taqlid'' should be applied only to the [[Prophets in Islam|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]]''.<ref>{{Citation|last=Rashed|first=Roshdi |year=2007|title=The Celestial Kinematics of Ibn al-Haytham |journal=Arabic Sciences and Philosophy |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=7–55 [11]|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |doi=10.1017/S0957423907000355 |s2cid=170934544}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[2016 international conference on Sunni Islam in Grozny]]
* [[2020 International Maturidi Conference]]
* [[Islamic schools and branches]]
* [[List of prominent Ash'aris]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book |last=Corbin |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Corbin |date=1993 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UNfgAwAAQBAJ  |title=History of Islamic Philosophy |location=London |publisher=Keagan Paul |isbn=9781135198886 }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Gutas |editor-first=Dimitri |editor-link=Dimitri Gutas |author-last=Frank |author-first=Richard M. |year=2016 |orig-year=2008 |title=Classical Islamic Theology: The Ash'arites. Texts and Studies on the Development and History of Kalam |volume=III |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEX1DwAAQBAJ |location=Abingdon, Oxfordshire |publisher=[[Routledge]] |series=Variorum Collected Studies Series |isbn=978-0-86078-979-6 |lccn=2008927099 |access-date=1 November 2020}}
* {{cite book |author-last=Halverson |author-first=Jeffry R. |year=2010 |chapter=The Doctrines of Sunni Theology |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IYzGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 |title=Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism |location=New York |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |pages=13–31 |doi=10.1057/9780230106581_2 |isbn=978-0-230-10658-1 |access-date=21 January 2022}}
* {{cite book |last=Hughes |first=Aaron W. |author-link=Aaron W. Hughes |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZmGrAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA193 |chapter=Constituting Identities: Beliefs and Schools |title=Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam |pages=183–202 |year=2013 |location=New York |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-53192-4 |jstor=10.7312/hugh16146.13 |access-date=1 November 2020}}

== External links ==
* [http://eng.dar-alifta.org/Foreign/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=8001 Who are the Ash'arites?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305213705/http://eng.dar-alifta.org/Foreign/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=8001 |date=2016-03-05 }} Dar al-Iftaa Al-Missriyyah
* [http://eng.dar-alifta.org/Foreign/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=119&CategoryID=3 The Ash'ari's School of Theology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104081322/http://eng.dar-alifta.org/Foreign/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=119&CategoryID=3 |date=2018-01-04 }} Dar al-Iftaa Al-Missriyyah
* [http://www.sunna.info/Lessons/islam_356.html Ashariyys – The Knights of Knowledge and the Pioneers of Success] – sunna.info

{{Ash'ari}}
{{Ash'ari books}}
{{Islam topics|state=collapsed}}
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[[Category:Ash'ari| ]]
[[Category:Asharis| ]]
[[Category:Sunni Islamic branches]]
[[Category:Kalam]]
[[Category:Islamic theology]]
[[Category:Islamic philosophical schools]]