Between Cordoba and Nīsābūr: The Emergence and Consolidation of Ashʿarism (Fourth–Fifth/Tenth–Eleventh Century)

This chapter discusses the history of Ashʿarism in the fourth to fifth/tenth to eleventh centuries. Ashʿarism was, besides Māturīdism, the most important school of Sunni kalām. After the decline of Muʿtazilism, it became the predominant theological school, primarily among the adherents of the Shāfiʿite and the Mālikite school of law. There is a wide scholarly consensus that Ashʿarism entered a new phase in the sixth/twelfth century, marked by an increasing influence of Avicennan philosophy, a transition generally associated with the prominent thinker Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī. This chapter focuses on theologians that preceded this methodological shift. It first charts the rise of Ashʿarism, highlighting the contributions of three key figures to the elaboration and broader dissemination of the school’s teachings: Abū Bakr Ibn Fūrak, Abū Isḥāq al-Isfarāʾīnī, and Abū Bakr al-Bāqillānī. It concludes with an assessment of Ashʿarism under the patronage of Niẓām al-Mulk.The preparation of this chapter has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under REA grant agreement no 624808.Peer reviewe

The Jewish and Muslim Reception of ʿAbd al-Jabbār’s Kitāb al-Jumal wa-l-ʿuqūd: A Survey of Relevant Sources

The Muʿtazila was not an exclusively Muslim phenomenon, since their teachings were also adopted by medieval Jewish savants. In recent years, a number of Muʿtazilī works were rediscovered or substantially completed by adopting a comparative methodology, which was based on both Muslim and Jewish sources. This article deals with a lost work composed by qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār, entitled al-Jumal wa-l-ʿuqūd. I will give an overview of the sources in Zaydī and Karaite collections that provide us with a more detailed picture of the dissemination of the text. On the basis of quotations by later theologians, I will propose a hypothesis on the content of al-Jumal wa-l-ʿuqūd. I will then discuss a possible relationship between ʿAbd al-Jabbār’s text and a manuscript from the Firkovitch collection in the National Library of Russia, which has recently been identified as a work entitled Taʿlīq al-Jumal wa-l-ʿuqūd.

Notes sur l’ašʿarisme d’Abū l-Walīd al-Bāǧī

Cet article fut préparé dans le cadre d’un M4HUMAN Fellowship accordé par la fondation Gerda Henkel.Peer reviewe

Conceptions of Self-Determination in Fourth/Tenth-Century Muslim Theology: al-Bāqillānī’s Theory of Human Acts in Its Historical Context

[EN] Man's individual responsibility is a very central notion in Muslim theology. Rational foundations for moral responsibility presuppose, however, that man has in some way control over his actions. It was therefore of central concern to theologians to formulate theories of action that were coherent enough to account for human self-determination. This article examines al-Bāqillānī's reflections on human acts and attempts to contextualise his thought within the discussions of his time. I will briefly review the Muʿtazilites’ theory of freedom of action, against which the Ašʿarite school developed its own position. I will then outline the fundamentals of the opposing standpoint adopted by Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ašʿarī, who proposed to base human self-determination on voluntariness. Finally, I will discuss how al-Bāqillānī drew on and further developed al-Ašʿarī's ideas. Based on the extant volumes of al-Bāqillānī's Hidāyat al-mustaršidīn, I argue that he attempts to coherently organise the school's understanding of the famous theory of “acquisition” (kasb) by affirming two fundamental principles: a) that human acts are created by God and b) that there is nevertheless a real correlation between man and his “acquired” acts.[FR] La responsabilité individuelle de l’homme est une notion centrale en théologie musulmane. Or une justification rationnelle de notre responsabilité morale présuppose que nos actes sont d’une certaine manière sous notre contrôle. Pour les théologiens, il était donc important de formuler une théorie de l’acte humain qui tienne compte de l’autodétermination humaine. Cet article analyse les réflexions d’alBāqillānī sur le sujet de l’acte humain dans le contexte des discussions qui eurent lieu en son temps. Je récapitulerai brièvement la théorie muʿtazilite du libre arbitre, théorie à laquelle s’opposa l’école ašʿarite en formulant sa propre position. Ensuite, j’esquisserai les fondements du point de vue d’Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ašʿarī qui proposa de baser l’autodétermination humaine sur la volontarité. Finalement, je discuterai comment al-Bāqillānī développe sa théorie en partant des idées d’al-Ašʿarī. Sur la base des volumes préservés de la Hidāyat al-mustaršidīn d’al-Bāqillānī, j’argumenterai qu’il envisage de donner plus de cohérence à la célèbre théorie d’“acquisition” (kasb) en soutenant deux principes: a) l’acte humain est créé par dieu; b) malgré cela, il existe une corrélation réelle entre l’homme et son acte “acquis”This research was supported by the Gerda Henkel Foundation’s M4HUMAN programmePeer reviewe

Abū Hāshim al-Jubbāʾī’s (d. 321/933) theory of ‘states’ (aḥwāl) and its adaption by Ashʿarite theologians

This chapter discusses the notion of ‘states’ (aḥwāl) in Muʿtazilite and Ashʿarite theology. The concept was borrowed from linguistics by the Muʿtazilite theologian Abū Hāshim al-Jubbāʾī (d. 321/933). It helped him to explain the nature of God’s attributes without asserting the existence of co-eternal beings in God. The conception of attributes as ‘states’ became a central doctrine among Abū Hāshim’s followers, the so-called Bahshamiyya school. The theory of aḥwāl was first rejected by Ashʿarite theologians. With Abū Bakr al-Bāqillānī (d. 403/1013), however, an important representative of the school eventually came to use the term within the framework of his theory of attributes. Later, Abu l-Maʿālī al-Juwaynī (d. 478/1085–6) also followed al-Bāqillānī in adopting the notion of ḥāl.This chapter was prepared within the framework of a M4HUMAN fellowship awarded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation.Peer reviewe

A propos de l’attribution du ms. Ambrosiana ar. F 122, fol. 35b: un fragment d’un texte zaydite du Yémen

L’étude de l’histoire intellectuelle des zaydites a connu un essor exceptionnel grâce à de nombreux projets de catalogage de collections de manuscrits yéménites. En ce qui concerne les bibliothèques situées au Yémen, les efforts de publication des fonds de manuscrits remontent aux années quarante du siècle dernier : en 1942, fut publiée une première liste des manuscrits conservés dans la Bibliothèque orientale (« al‑Maktaba al‑šarqiyya »), au sein la Grande Mosquée de Ṣanʿāʾ, une bibliothèque..

Impact scores of invasive plants are biased by disregard of environmental co-variation and non-linearity

Prioritisation of high-impact species is becoming increasingly important for management of introduced species (‘neobiota’) because of their growing number of which, however, only a small fraction has substantial impacts. Impact scores for prioritising species may be affected by the type of effect model used. Recent studies have shown that environmental co-variation and non-linearity may be significant for effect models of biological invasions. Here, we test for differences in impact scores between simple and complex effect models of three invasive plant species (Heracleum mantegazzianum, Lupinus polyphyllus, Rosa rugosa). We investigated the effects of cover percentages of the invasive plants on species richness of invaded communities using both simple linear effect models (‘basic models’) and more complex linear or nonlinear models including environmental co-factors (‘full models’). Then, we calculated impact scores for each invasive species as the average reduction of species richness predicted by basic and full effect models. All three non-native species had negative effects on species richness, but the full effect models also indicated significant influence of habitat types. Heracleum mantegazzianum had uniform linear effects in all habitats, while effects of L. polyphyllus interacted strongly with habitat type, and R. rugosa showed a marked non-linear relationship. Impact scores were overestimated by basic effect models for H. mantegazzianum and R. rugosa due to disregard of habitat effects and non-linearity, respectively. In contrast, impact of L. polyphyllus was underestimated by the basic model that did not account for the strong interaction of invader cover and habitat type. We conclude that simple linear models will often yield inaccurate impact scores of non-native species. Hence, effect models should consider environmental co-variation and, if necessary, non-linearity of the effects of biological invasions on native ecosystems