Who are the Ashʿarīs?

Deleted L · Jul 19, 2022

The word ‘Ashʿarī’ refers to the one who follows the teachings of Imām Abū al-Ḥasan al- Ashʿarī in doctrine, not by way of blind conformism (taqlīd) but out of complimentary guidance. Imām Abū al-Ḥasan al- Ashʿarī is the one who believed and upheld the teachings of the Righteous Predecessors, holding their banner so that those who may see it can be guided by it.

An ascription to him (and his teachings) is like the ascription to Imām Abū Ḥanīfah, Imām Mālik, Imām al-Shāfi’ī and Imām Aḥmad in legal rulings. even though they disagreed with regard to the methods of extrapolation and derivation of rulings, they were still united on the foundations that served as the centre of their rulings, and as the sources that facilitated them.

In the same manner, Imām Abū al-Ḥasan al- Ashʿarī holds a similar position in the facets of the Foundations of the Religion (uṣūl al-dīn) for he only took from the Noble Qur’ān and the Exalted Sunnah, and walked the path of the Predecessors, and ascribed himself to it. His existence [in the Islamic world] is only exacted as it is because he illuminated that very path, and attributed himself to it as its spokesman. He propagated the truth to the Nation when the people of innovation were attempting to eradicate its distinguished position [within the Nation].

Imām Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī said:

Know that Abū al-Ḥasan did not innovate his own solitary view and nor did he develop a new doctrine; the sole crux [of his actions] was the repetition of the doctrine of the Predecessors and a defence of the path of Companions of the Messenger of Allāh. Therefore, an ascription to him is effectively only due to it being an expression of the fact that he believed in the path of the Predecessors and was considered a spokesman for it. He held firmly to it and established proofs and evidence for it. And so, the one who followed him in the endeavour of those proofs became known as an Ashʿarī.

Then, he said, clarifying that this path encompasses the Nation:

And Shaykh al-Islām ʿIzz al-Dīn ibn ʿAbd al-Salām mentioned that his doctrine – meaning the doctrine of Imām Ashʿarī – was agreed upon by the Shāfi’ī’s, the Māliki’s, the Ḥanafī’s and the erudite Ḥanbalī’s. Those who supported this view from the people of his time was the Shaykh of the Māliki’s at the time, Abū ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥājib, and the Shaykh of the Ḥanafis, Jamāl al-Dīn al-Ḥasiri.

Hāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī said – and he was from the third generation from amongst those who followed Imām Ashʿarī:

Until it reached the era of our Shaykh, Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī for he did not create any invention in the religion of Allāh nor did he implant within it any innovation. Instead, he took the statements of the Companions, those who succeeded them and those after them from the Scholars in the matters of the foundation of the religion and complimented them with the addition of commentary and explanation; and by demonstrating that what they said and came by them from the Divine Law regarding foundational principles was sound rationally.
This was contrary to what the people of Desires thought in that some of it (i.e. the Law regarding foundational principles) was unable to withstand rational criticism. His explanations were a substantiation for that which was previously not explicated by the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah and served as a supplementation to the statements of previous scholars such as:

Abū Ḥanīfah and Sufyān al-Thawrī from the people of Kufā;

al-Awzāʿī and others from the people of the Levant;

Mālik and Shāfiʿī from the people of the Ḥaramayn, as well as those who followed their examples from the Hijāz and other cities;

Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and others from the people of Ḥadīth;

Layth ibn Saʿd and others;

Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muhammad ibn Isma’īl al-Bukharī and Abū al-Husayn Muslim ibn al-Hajjāj al-Nisāpuri, the two Imāms of the people of transmission and the authors of the Sunans around which the Sacred Law revolves around.

Ḥafiz ibn ‘Asākir said:

And we do not accept [the claim] that Abū al-Ḥasan founded a fifth doctrine, and [we assert] that he only established the doctrine of the Ahl al-Sunnah which was made obscure by the people of innovation; and that he explicated the previous statements of the four Imām’s and others in that which left room for expansion; and that he recovered the signposts of the religion which had been obliterated by the falsehood of the transgressors. Our ascription to him in the path of monotheism is not an identity to us blindly following him nor us depending on him solely. Rather, we agree with him in what he affirmed in matters of Tawḥīd for his soundness in the usage of various proofs – not in the search of a blind conformism.
Those amongst us who attribute themselves to his doctrine only do so to distinguish themselves from the people of innovation who do not agree with Imām Ashʿarī’, such as the Muʿtazilah, the Jahmiyyah, the Karrāmīyyah, the anthropomorphist’s, the Sālimiyyah and other like groups from the entirety of innovative sects and groups who hold discarded and misguided beliefs. Imām al-Ashʿarī’ was tasked with the refutation of these groups; [he did this] to the extent that he restrained their expansion and exposed their misguidance to the people uneducated of the extent of their innovations.
Regarding the Four Imāms, then we do not assert that they differed in matters regarding the fundamentals of religion but that they were united in the belief of the monotheistic nature of God and the transcendence of His Entity, and the negation of an assimilation for the Pre-Eternal One (Sublime and Exalted is He). Al-Ashʿarī’ was upon their unified path regarding the foundations of the religion; and so, there is no refutation upon the one who ascribes himself to him in this regard. And the one who renounces the sound doctrine [of Imām Ashʿarī’’s] cannot hope for success – if the affirmation of transcendence and the relinquishment of assimilation is considered Ashʿarism then the Monotheists in their complete entirety are Ashʿarī’s; false accusations will never cause even a slight debilitation against a people believing in Divine Oneness.”
Ponder on how he established the ascription to Imām al-Ashʿarī’ being antithetical to the people of innovation and desires, and that those who ascribe themselves to him are on the [way of] the Righteous Predecessors, the Four Imāms and their likes.

And he also said:

And they – meaning the Ashʿarī’s – are adherents of the Book and the Sunnah; they renounce that which are causes for dissension; they maintain patience in their religion upon times of trials and tribulations; the victorious ones in face of their enemies whilst also abstaining from revenge and feuds.
They do not renounce their adherence of the Qur’ān and the transmitted proofs; nor do they observe an absolute dependence on the rational faculties like the Muʿaṭṭilah and the Qadarīyyah. Rather, they unite the usage of the Transmitted Proofs and the rational evidence in matters regarding the foundations.
They withhold themselves from the extremism of the Mu’tazilah and disassociate themselves from the way of the Mu’aṭṭilah; they discard the negligence of the anthropomorphists and those who assimilate; they expose the false doctrines of misguided sects through the utilisation of proofs; they deny the doctrine of the Jahmiyyah and they eschew the Karrāmīyyah and Sālimīyyah; they establish the falsity of the statements of the Qadarīyyah and they deny the doubts of the Jabarīyyah.
And so, their doctrine is the most precautionary of doctrines; its fountain spews the sweetest of drinks; their positions are the noblest of positions; their ranks are the greatest of ranks – the efforts of the one who seeks to slander and defame them has no efficacy upon them in the slightest nor can the wounds attempted by one who injures be seen upon them.

And Imām al-Murtaḍā al-Zabīdi said:

And let it be known that the two Imāms, Abū al-Ḥasan and Abū Manṣūr facilitated goodness within Islam and did not innovate any single view; they did not found a new doctrine but only repeated the doctrine of the Predecessors and defended the way of the Companions of the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ; they debated those with innovations and misguidance until they were cut down and fled in absolute defeat.”

These are the Ashāʿirah – the followers of the Imām Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī’.

Hamad al-Sinān & Fawzī al-ʿAnjarī; Ahl al-Sunnah al-Ashāʿirah, Shahādah ʿUlamā al-Ummah