Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the ...

Dimensions of the Islamic Intellectual Tradition 125
tion while making use of dialectic. He composed more than ninety
works, many of which have survived. Among the most famous are al-
Ibånah ‘an u„¶l al-diyånah (Elucidation concerning the Principles of
Religion), in which he sought to draw to his side the extreme “traditionalists,”
who were opposed to the use of dialectic in matters of
religion; Kitåb al-luma‘ (The Book of Light), which contains the principles
of Ash‘arite kalåm; and Maqålåt al-islåmiyy¥n (Doctrines of the
Muslims), a later work, which sets out to describe the views of various
theological schools and sects. 5
Al-Ash‘ar¥ sought to charter an intermediate course between two
extremes: that of Mu’tazilite rationalists, who made revelation subservient
to reason, and that of “externalists” of different persuasions,
who rejected the role of reason completely and remained satisfied
with the purely external meaning of the verses of the Quran and the
teachings of the ¡ad¥th. One of the great Ash‘arite theologians of later
centuries, al-Juwayn¥, stated in fact that al- Ash‘ar¥ was not really a
theologian (mutakallim) but a reconciler of the two extreme views prevalent
in Islamic society at his time.
To combat the extreme views of the day, al-Ash‘ar¥ held, against
the view of the Mu‘tazilites, that the Divine Attributes were real but
added that they were not like human attributes as claimed by the
anthropomorphists. He believed that on the Day of Judgment man
could see God, but without there being an incarnation (÷ul¶l) of God
in a human or nonhuman form. He believed that the Quran was
uncreated and eternal, yet its ink and paper, individual letters and
words were created. Again in contrast to the Mu‘tazilites and their
extreme opponents on this matter (the Murji‘ites), al-Ash‘ar¥ believed
that the Muslim who sins is in God’s Hands and can be forgiven by
God and go to paradise, or he can be punished in hell for a temporary
period. Also against the view of Mu‘tazilites, who believed that the
Prophet could not intercede for Muslims before God, and the extreme
Shi‘ites, who believed that the Prophet and ‘Al¥ could intercede for
Muslims on their own, al-Ash‘ar¥ held that the Prophet could intercede
on behalf of a sinner but with God’s permission.
Altogether, al-Ash‘ar¥ sought to create a moderate position in
nearly all the theological issues that were being debated at that time.
He made reason subservient to revelation and negated the free will of
man in favor of a voluntarism that deprives man of his creative free
will and emphasizes the omnipotence of God in a way that according
to many schools goes beyond even the text of the Quran. In the Sacred
Book, on the one hand, God’s omnipotence and omniscience are
constantly emphasized, and, on the other, human beings are held