Atharism

While Ashʿarism and Māturīdism are often called the Sunni "orthodoxy", Atharī theology has thrived alongside it, laying rival claims to be the orthodox Sunni faith.[12] In the modern era it has had a disproportionate impact on Islamic theology, having been appropriated by Wahhabi and other traditionalist Salafi currents and spread well beyond the confines of the Hanbali school of jurisprudence.^[13] The works of 19th century Sunni Yemeni theologian Muhammad Al-Shawkani (d. 1839 C.E/ 1255 A.H) has contributed heavily to the revival of traditionalist theology in the contemporary era.^[50][51]

Traditionalist scripturalism also exerts significant influence within the

Beliefs

Part of a series on Aqidah
Six Articles of Belief God Prophets Holy books Angels The Last Judgement Predestination Five Pillars of Islam Shahada Salah Sawm Zakat Hajj Sunni theological traditions Ahl al-Hadith Atharism1 Ilm al-Kalam Ash'arism2 Maturidism3 Mu'tazilism
Shi'a Theology of the Twelvers4,5 Tawhid Adalah Prophecy Imamah Qiyamah Ancillaries of the Faith Salah Sawm Zakat Hajj Khums Jihad Commanding what is just Forbidding what is evil Tawalla Tabarra Seven pillars of Ismailism6 Walayah Tawhid Salah Zakat Sawm Hajj Jihad Theology of the Zaydis
Muhakkima Theology of the Ibadis
Other variants Taṣawwuf7 Liberal and progressive Islam (Quraniyya) Ahmadiyya Nation of Islam
Including: 1 Hanbali school Zahiri school 2 Maliki school Shafi'i school 3 Hanafi school 4 Usuli school, Akhbari school Shaykhi school 5 Alawi Alevi 6 Alavi Bohra ) 7 Various Ṭarīqah  Islam portal
v t e

Athari doctrine is grounded on the following propositions:

• Strict compliance to the sources of Islamic law; i.e., Qur'an, Sunnah and 'Ijma (scholarly consensus)
• Uniformity of foundational creedal principles extracted from these sources
• Deference to qualified
  scholars of hadith capable of deriving rulings from hadith
• Strong hostility towards various forms of
  bid'ah (religious innovations)^[53]

The traditionalists' attitudes towards religious principles led them to differentiate two similar terms: Taqlid and Ittiba. Taqlid which was the practice of blindly following scholars and their opinions (ra'y) without scriptural proofs, was harshly condemned. On the other hand, Atharīs understood Ittiba as following the prophetic teachings by using the scriptural evidences supplied by the scholars. Many traditionalists like Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855), a major scholar who articulated Ijtihad and rejected Taqlid, would use scriptural proofs from the Quran and sunnah but also in some cases rational proofs.^[1][54]

The Athari denunciations of Taqlid would reach its zenith in the writings of the 8th/14th-century theologians

For Atharīs, the validity of human reason is limited, and rational proofs cannot be trusted or relied upon in matters of belief, which makes kalām a blameworthy innovation.^[6] Rational proofs, unless they are Qur'anic in origin, are considered nonexistent and wholly invalid.^[62] However, that was not always the case since a number of Atharīs delved into kalām, whether or not they described it as such.^[63]

Examples of Atharīs who wrote books against the use of kalām

Ahmad ibn Hanbal reportedly stated: "His Attributes proceed from Him and are His own, we do not go beyond the Qur'an and the traditions of the Prophet and his Companions; nor do we know the how of these, save by the acknowledgment of the Apostle and the confirmation of the Qur'an".[69]

Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi stated: "For we have no need to know the meaning which Allah intended by His attributes; no course of action is intended by them, nor is there any obligation attached to them. It is possible to believe in them without the knowledge of their intended sense".^[70]

Categorisation of tawhid

Ibn Taymiyyah seems to have been the first to introduce this distinction.^[74][75]

Not all adherents of the Athari school support the splitting of Tawhid into three parts, as done by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and thus believe it is an innovation.^[76]

Criticism

The 16th-century Ash'arite scholar

Ibn Taymiyyah.^[77]

See also

• List of Atharis

Notes

1. ^ "Athari or traditionalist theological school.. defines the attributes and nature of God based on the literal interpretation of the scripture":
   • Pall, Zoltan (2018). "Introduction". Salafism in Lebanon: Local and Transnational Movements. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. p. 16.
     ISBN 978-1-108-42688-6
     .
   • Abrahamov (2016, pp. 263–279)
2. ^ Although the Hanbalis were fervent advocates of Athari creed, the school maintained broad appeal across the Sunni World throughout history:
   • R. Halverson, Jeffry (2010). "2: The Demise of 'Ilm al-Kalam". Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 34–35.
     ISBN 978-0-230-10279-8
     . The Atharis are often erroneously subsumed under the Hanbalite school of law.. The Hanbalite madhhab, in contrast, largely maintained the traditionalist or Athari position.. the imaginative, narrative-centered, emotive piety of the Atharis must have retained broad appeal in the Sunni Muslim world, albeit within a range of gradations and accompanied by a good deal of religio-cultural accretions or retentions as well.
   • Bishara, Azmi (2022). "1: What is Salafism?". On Salafism: concepts and contexts. Stanford, California, USA: Stanford University Press. p. 2.
     LCCN 2021061200
     . In the writings of the early generations of Hanbalis in the tenth and eleventh centuries CE, they commonly referred to themselves as Ahl al-Athar (People of Narration). The close association of this term with the Hanbali school meant that the Hanbalis themselves came to be known as Aṣḥāb al-Āthār or Athariyyūn (Narrativists). The Athariyyūn followed the example of al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ (the righteous ancestors), namely the companions of the Prophet and the following generations of ("sincere" or "faithful") successors

References

1. ^
   LCCN 2016935488
   .
2. Shafi'ite
   , which retained influence, or at the very least a shared sentiment and conception of piety, well beyond the limited range of Hanbalite communities. This body of scholars continued to reject theology in favor of strict textualism well after Ash'arism had infiltrated the Sunni schools of law. It is for these reasons that we must delineate the existence of a distinct traditionalist, anti-theological movement, which defies strict identification with any particular madhhab, and therefore cannot be described as Hanbalite."
3. ISBN 978-1-8386-0505-6
   .
4. ^ Vlad Ghiță, Adrian (2019). "Revivalismul islamic. Tendinţe înnoitoare" [Islamic Revivalism: Renewing trends]. Theology and Life. 40 (9–12): 143 – via The Central and Eastern European Online Library.
5. LCCN 2021061200
   .
6. ^ ^{a b} Halverson (2010, p. 36).
7. ^
   S2CID 219026357
   .
8. ^ ^{a b} Halverson (2010, pp. 36–37).
9. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Lapidus (2014, p. 130)
10. ^ ^{a b c} Blankinship (2008, p. 53); Lapidus (2014, pp. 123–124)
11. ^ ^{a b} Halverson (2010, p. 35)
12. ^ ^{a b} Brown (2009, p. 180): "The Ash‘ari school of theology is often called the Sunni 'orthodoxy'. But 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."
13. ^ ^{a b} Hoover (2014, p. 625)
14. ^ Hodgson (2009, Kindle loc. 1589); Abrahamov (2016, p. 263)
15. ^ Lucas (2005); Belo (2014); Berkey (2010); Leaman (2008); Hoover (2014).
16. ^ Hodgson (2009, Kindle loc. 8374)
17. ^ Hodgson (2009, Kindle loc. 1551–1624)
18. ^ Leaman (2008, p. 81)
19. ^ Spevack (2014, p. 102)
20. ^ El Omari (2013)
21. ^ Halverson (2010, p. 34); Brown (2009, p. 181)
22. ^ Blankinship (2008, p. 51); El Shamsy (2008, p. 107)
23. ^ Brown (2009, p. 181)
24. ^ Esposito (2014)
25. ^ Leaman (2009)
26. ^ Halverson (2010, pp. 34–35); Laoust (1986, p. 158)
27. ^ Halverson (2010, pp. 35–36); Hoover (2014, p. 626)
28. ISBN 0-7486-1102-9
    . .. pure or extreme traditionalism does not belong exclusively to the Hanbalites, but also to the Shaf'iite, the Malikite and Hanafite scholars
29. ^ Brown (2009b); Shahin (2009)
30. ^ Lauzière (2015, p. 28)
31. ^ ^{a b} Alwani, DeLorenzo & Al-Shikh-Ali 2003, p. 11
32. ^ Taufiq (2019, p. 18)
33. ISBN 978-0-19-976183-8
    .
34. ^ Spevack (2014), pp. 129–130.
35. ^ Lucas 2006, pp. 290–292, 303
36. ^ Stewart 2002, pp. 99–158
37. ISBN 978-0-19-969670-3
    . The first two centuries of the Islamic era witnessed the struggle of four main approaches over the sources of knowledge and their authoritativeness, these being scripturalism, ancient or local traditions, prophetic traditions, and personal or rationalist argumentation. This debate reached its climax by the time of al-Shāfiʿī, who succeeded in persuading his co-religionists to hold the superiority of the prophetic traditions over other devices as a source of legal and theological knowledge and of interpretation of the Qurʾān.
38. ISBN 978-90-04-16241 9
    . ...apart from the services of Malik b. Anas, Muslims rightfully consider Imam al-Shafi'i as the vindicator of traditionalism. It is from this school, too, that the last vigorous reaction of traditionalism against al-ra'y and against its consequences has arisen...
39. ISBN 978-0-19-969670-3
    .
40. ISBN 0-7486-1102-9
    .
41. ^ Campo (2009, pp. 279)
42. ^
    ISBN 978-0-521-80332-8
    .
43. ^ Blankinship (2008, p. 49); Lapidus (2014, p. 130)
44. ^ Blankinship (2008, pp. 49, 51); Lapidus (2014, p. 130)
45. ^ Blankinship (2008, p. 49)
46. ISBN 978-0-521-80332-8
    .
47. ^ Lapidus (2014, pp. 130–131)
48. ^ ^{a b c} Berkey (2003, Kindle loc. 2081–2091).
49. ^ ^{a b} Berkey (2003, Kindle loc. 2700–2717)
50. ISBN 9781838605070
    .
51. ISBN 978-90-8964-451-0
    .
52. ISSN 1570-0607
    .
53. ISBN 978-0-19-969670-3
    .
54. ISBN 9780190948955
    . Ibn Hanbal articulated ijtihad in rejection of taqlid..
55. ISBN 978-90-04-18469 5
    .
56. ISBN 978-90-04-18469 5
    .
57. ISBN 978-0-19-969670-3
    .
58. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-969670-3
    .
59. ^ Agwan & Singh (2000, p. 678)
60. ^ Melchert (2006, p. 154)
61. ^ ^{a b} Halverson (2010, p. 41).
62. ^ Halverson (2010, p. 39).
63. ^ Spevack (2014, p. 45). "However, as discussed below, this was not always the case, as a number of Atharis delved into kalam, whether or not they described it as such."
64. ^ Spevack (2014, p. 76).
65. ^ Halverson (2010, p. 37).
66. ^ Halverson (2010, p. 38).
67. ^ Ali Shah (2012, p. 573)
68. ^ Abrahamov (1996, p. 6)
69. ^ Halverson (2010, p. 42).
70. ^ Waines (2003, p. 122)
71. ^ Halverson (2010, p. 40).
72. ^ Halverson (2010, p. 20).
73. ^ Mason (1973, p. 123)
74. ^ Burrell et al. (2010, p. 111)
75. ^ Ibrahim (2006, p. 106)
76. ISSN 0043-2539
    .
77. ^ Spevack (2016, p. 537)

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External links

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