Abul Hasan Ali ibn Ismail al-Ash’ari was born in Basrah (in modern Iraq) into a distinguished Muslim family which traced its lineage back to Abu Musa al-Ash’ari, who was a prominent companion of the Prophet. Ismail, the father of al-Ash’ari was a learned and highly respected citizen of Basrah. He died when al-Ash’ari was still a youngster, and this forced his family into poverty. Young al-Ash’ari thus suffered considerable personal hardship until his mother married Abu Ali Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Jubbai, who was one of the foremost students of Wasil ibn Ata. Based at the Mu’tazilite Basrah headquarters, al-Jubbai was widely revered as one of the great exponents of Mu’tazilism. Brought up and educated under the guidance and care of a leading figure of philosophical rationalism, al-Ash’ari mastered Arabic grammar, literature, Islamic sciences and the philosophical and theological doctrines of Mu’tazilism from an early age. As a teacher and writer, Abu Ali al-Jubbai was a powerful exponent of Mu’tazilism, but he was not noted for his debating or oratory skills. Raised and nurtured in the home of Mu’tazilism, al-Ash’ari became a committed and proficient exponent of Mu’tazilite beliefs and doctrines. Indeed, he mastered philosophical rationalism sufficiently enough to engage in debates and discussions concerning the finer points of Mu’tazilite philosophy and theology when he was barely twenty years old. His vast erudition and debating skills soon earned him much acclaim, even during Abu Ali al-Jubbai’s own lifetime. Thus everyone expected al-Ash’ari to follow in the footsteps of his aged teacher, mentor and step-father and become a champion of Mu’tazilism after the latter’s death.
When al-Jubbai died in Basrah in 915, al-Ash’ari was forty-two and already widely recognised as one of the most learned and accomplished Mu’tazilite theologians of his generation. Although there were other respected Mu’tazilite scholars around at the time (including Abul Hashim, the son of al-Jubbai, who lived in Basrah and was considered to be a skilful interpreter of Mu’tazilism; Abul Hussain al-Khayyat and Abul Qasim al-Balkhi, both of whom were based in Baghdad), al-Ash’ari was considered to be far superior to all of them on account of his mastery of the finer points of Mu’tazilite philosophy and theology. Furthermore, in comparison with the other Mu’tazilite thinkers of the time, he was a better debater and orator especially when it came to defending Mu’tazilism against its traditionalist foes. In short, al-Ash’ari was in a league of his own and following Abu Ali al-Jubbai’s death, he became the undisputed leader and champion of this philosophical creed.
Whilst everyone expected al-Ash’ari to succeed al-Jubbai as the pre-eminent leader of Mu’tazilism, events took an unexpected turn. According to al-Ash’ari, the Prophet Muhammad appeared to him in a dream and instructed him to champion the cause of Islamic orthodoxy, rather than that of Mu’tazilism. This Prophetic intervention proved decisive as far as al-Ash’ari was concerned. Although he considered himself to be a defender of the Mu’tazilite creed, the Prophet’s repudiation of Mu’tazilite beliefs and practices shook al-Ash’ari to his core. He thus confined himself to his house for about two weeks, enduring a period of intense soul-searching and coming to terms with his new experience. After nearly forty years of learning, refining, mastering and hair-splitting debates and discussion on the finer points of Mu’tazilite philosophy and theology, it all now appeared to him to be false and spurious. Otherwise why would the Prophet of God appear to him in a dream and show him the way forward? Suddenly, it was as if al-Ash’ari woke up from a deep sleep, only to discover that he had already spent four decades of his life studying and championing the cause of an un-Islamic creed. According to al-Ash’ari, the unexpected visitation from the Prophet, coupled with the Divine light (nur) and blessing (barakah) which was bestowed on him, enabled him to come to terms with his predicament. After fifteen days of deep reflection, intense introspection and intellectual realignment, he emerged from his house on a Friday afternoon – prior to salat al-jumu’ah (or Friday congregational prayer) – and went straight to the central mosque in Basrah, which at the time was packed to its maximum capacity. He stepped onto the minbar (pulpit) and delivered an historic announcement. This announcement was to mark the beginning of the end for philosophical rationalism and the resurgence of Islamic traditionalism.
In his unique and inimitable style, al-Ash’ari proclaimed: ‘He who knows me, knows who I am, and he who does not know me, let him know that I am Abul Hasan Ali al-Ash’ari; that I used to maintain that the Qur’an is created, that eyes of men shall not see God, and that the creatures create their actions. Lo! I repent that I have been a Mu’tazilite. I renounce these opinions and I take the opportunity to refute the Mu’tazilites and expose their inconsistencies and turpitude.’
His public repudiation of Mu’tazilism represented a milestone in Islamic intellectual history, for the battleline between Islamic orthodoxy and philosophical rationalism now became clear – especially as the Mu’tazilite rationalists lost one of their most formidable champions. Prior to his conversion to Islamic orthodoxy, the Mu’tazilites dealt with the traditionalists’ attacks on their creed with ease, but following his conversion, he became their intellectual tormentor par excellence, as the Mu’tazilites found themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. As expected, a reinvigorated al-Ash’ari then launched a systematic and full-blown attack on the philosophical and theological foundations of their creed. Having studied Mu’tazilite ideas and thought under the guidance of its prominent thinkers (like Abu Ali al-Jubbai), and mastered the art of philosophical and theological discourse, he now became the Mu’tazilites most formidable intellectual adversary. Unable to answer his cogent and stinging philosophical and theological assaults on the very foundations of their school of thought, the Mu’tazilites suddenly found themselves stranded in an intellectual no-man’s land.
Al-Ash’ari’s repudiation of Mu’tazilism was both comprehensive and monumentally effective. He composed more than ninety books and treatises on all aspects of Islamic beliefs (aqida) and theology (kalam), in refutation of the Mu’tazilite creed, and aspects of Islamic epistemology and philosophy. And in so doing, he developed a powerful synthesis between reason (aql) and revelation (wahy), and philosophical rationalism and Islamic beliefs and religious dicta. His most famous books included al-Ibana an-Usul al-Diniyya (The Delineation of Religious Principles), Kitab al-Luma (The Luminous Book) and Maqalat al-Islamiyyin (Beliefs of Muslims). In these, and other books, he provided a systematic interpretation and exposition of core Islamic theological beliefs and concepts based on his profound knowledge and understanding of the original Islamic scriptural sources on the one hand, and thorough acquaintance with the methods of the philosophers and the speculative theologians on the other. Like his al-Ibana, al-Ash’ari’s Maqalat was rated very highly by the scholars of Islam, so much so that Ibn Taymiyyah wrote in his Minhaj al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah (Towards Prophetic Methodology) that he had not come across another book like it.
As philosophical rationalists, the Mu’tazilites believed in the pre-eminence of human intellect; that is to say, they considered Divine revelation (wahy) to be subservient to human reason (aql). Not surprisingly, they interpreted fundamental Islamic concepts – the Oneness of God (tawhid), Divine Names and Attributes (al-asma wa’l sifat), and the nature of the Qur’an – from a purely rationalistic perspective. The traditionalists not only considered such an interpretation of Islam to be unorthodox and blameworthy, they also considered the Mu’tazilites to be heretics and innovators in religious matters. Led by eminent Islamic scholars like Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the traditionalists vehemently opposed the philosophical interpretation of Islamic theological matters. They considered the ‘external’ (zahiri) meaning of the Divine revelation (the Qur’an) and the Prophetic traditions (hadith) to be sufficient for human guidance. By contrast, al-Ash’ari considered both of these views to be wrong and extreme. Instead, he took the middle path and argued that revelation and reason were equally indispensable for formulating a balanced interpretation and understanding of Islamic thought and worldview. He therefore devoted all his time and energy to reconciling these two extreme views, which at the time competed for the hearts and minds of the Muslims.
Refuting the Mu’tazilite belief that Divine Attributes were not real, and