Theology and Society in the Second and Third Centuries of the Hijra. Volume 3. A History of Religious Thought in Early Islam

567 Pages·2018·2.346 MB·English

by  Josef Van Ess

Theology and Society in the Second and Third Centuries of the Hijra
Volume 3
Handbook of Oriental Studies
Handbuch der Orientalistik
section one
The Near and Middle East
Edited by
Maribel Fierro (Madrid)
M. Şükrü Hanioğlu (Princeton)
Renata Holod (University of Pennsylvania)
Florian Schwarz (Vienna)
VOLUME 116/3
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ho1
Theology and Society
in the Second and Third Centuries
of the Hijra
A History of Religious Thought in Early Islam
VOLUME 3
By
Josef van Ess
Translated from German by
Gwendolin Goldbloom
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Translated from Josef van Ess, Theologie und Gesellschaft im 2. und 3. Jahrhundert Hidschra. Eine Geschichte
des religiösen Denkens im frühen Islam. © Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin, Boston. All rights reserved.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016047963
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 0169-9423
isbn 978-90-04-34203-3 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-35640-5 (e-book)
Copyright 2018 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi,
Brill Sense and Hotei Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided
that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive,
Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change.
This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
Fritz Meier
on his 80th birthday
(10 June 1992)
Rudolf Sellheim
on his 65th birthday
(15 January 1993)
⸪

Contents
Part C
The Unification of Islamic Thought and the Flowering of
Theology
1 Baghdad  ................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
1.1 Local Tradition. Madāʾin  ................................................................................................................... 5
1.2 Religious Policy under al-Manṣūr and al-Mahdī  ............................................... 9
1.2.1 The Rāwandiyya  ........................................................................................................................... 10
1.2.1.1 The ‘Abbasid Shīʿa’  ............................................................................................ 18
1.2.2 Persecution of Heretics  ......................................................................................................... 21
1.2.3 The Religious Dialogue with the Patriarch Timothy and the
Relationship with the Christians  ............................................................................... 23
1.2.4 The Relationship with the Shīʿa and the Increasing Strength
of the Sunnites ................................................................................................................................. 30
1.3 The Rise of the Muʿtazila  ................................................................................................................. 33
1.3.1 Ḍirār b. ʿAmr  ...................................................................................................................................... 34
1.3.1.1 Ḍirār’s Role as a Theologian. His Works  ............................... 37
1.3.1.2 His Ontology  ............................................................................................................ 40
1.3.1.2.1 The Connection with Antiquity  .............................. 45
1.3.1.3 The Image of Man  ............................................................................................ 48
1.3.1.4 God’s māhiyya and Man’s Sixth Sense  .................................... 52
1.3.1.5 The Sources of True Knowledge  ..................................................... 55
1.3.1.5.1 ‘Scripturalist’ Theology  .................................................... 56
1.3.1.6 Ḍirār’s Political Theory  ............................................................................... 59
1.3.1.7 Ḍirār’s Pupils  ........................................................................................................... 64
1.3.2 Muʿammar  .......................................................................................................................................... 68
1.3.2.1 Muʿammar’s System  ....................................................................................... 72
1.3.2.1.1 Muʿammar’s Atomism and His Natural
Philosophy  ....................................................................................... 73
1.3.2.1.2 The maʿnā Theory  .................................................................. 80
1.3.2.1.3 Anthropology  ............................................................................... 90
1.3.2.2 Followers  ...................................................................................................................... 95
1.4 The Time Following the Fall of the Barmakids .................................................... 100
1.4.1 Hārūn al-Rashīd and the Shīʿa .................................................................................... 100
1.4.2 The Influence of Popular Piety  .................................................................................... 106
viii contents
1.4.3 Popular Theology  ........................................................................................................................ 115
1.4.3.1 Bishr b. al-Muʿtamir  ....................................................................................... 115
1.4.3.1.1 Bishr’s System  .............................................................................. 124
1.4.3.1.1.1 The tawallud Theory  ......................... 125
1.4.3.1.1.2 God’s Will and His Divine
Grace (luṭf)  ................................................... 131
1.4.3.1.1.3 Faith and Sin  ............................................... 136
1.4.3.1.1.4 Political Theory  ....................................... 139
1.4.3.2 Ṣūfiyyat al-Muʿtazila  ...................................................................................... 141
1.4.3.2.1 Murdār  ................................................................................................ 145
1.4.3.2.2 Anthropomorphic Tendencies  ................................. 154
2 Divided Empire and Civil War  ................................................................................................................ 158
2.1 The Uprising of Abū l-Sarāyā  ...................................................................................................... 161
2.2 Ma ʾmūn and ʿAlī al-Riḍā  .................................................................................................................... 165
2.3 Theologians with Ties to al-Ma ʾmūn. Thumāma b. Ashras  .................. 171
2.4 The Anti-Caliphate of Ibrāhīm b. al-Mahdī  ............................................................. 186
2.4.1 Bishr b. al-Marīsī  ......................................................................................................................... 189
2.4.2 The Execution of Muḥammad b. al-Furāt  ..................................................... 203
2.4.3 Ismāʿīl al-Jawzī  ............................................................................................................................... 204
2.5 Ma ʾmūn’s Return to Baghdad  ..................................................................................................... 206
2.5.1 Faḍl b. Sahl’s Murder. Muways b. ʿImrān  ........................................................ 206
2.5.2 The Death of ʿAlī al-Riḍā  .................................................................................................... 211
3 Al-Ma ʾmūn in Baghdad. The Flowering of Muʿtazilite Theology  ............ 214
3.1 Ma ʾmūn’s Intellectual Profile. Intellectual Life at Court
in Baghdad  .......................................................................................................................................................... 215
3.2 The Great Muʿtazilite Systematists  ..................................................................................... 225
3.2.1 Abū l-Hudhayl  ................................................................................................................................. 225
3.2.1.1 Biographical Information  ....................................................................... 226
3.2.1.2 His Works  ..................................................................................................................... 237
3.2.1.3 Abū l-Hudhayl’s Teachings  .................................................................... 241
3.2.1.3.1 The ‘Physics’  ................................................................................... 241
3.2.1.3.1.1 Body and Accidents.
Atomism  ........................................................... 241
3.2.1.3.1.2 Createdness and the Proof of
the Existence of God
e contingentia mundi  ........................ 248
3.2.1.3.1.3 Permanent and Non-
Permanent Accidents  ...................... 251
Contents ix
3.2.1.3.1.4 The Theory of Motion  ..................... 252
3.2.1.3.1.5 The Position of Earth
in Space  ............................................................. 257
3.2.1.3.1.6 Air and Light  ............................................... 259
3.2.1.3.1.7 Accidents without
Substratum  .................................................... 259
3.2.1.3.1.8 Sameness and Differentness  ... 263
3.2.1.3.2 Anthropology  ............................................................................... 264
3.2.1.3.2.1 The Unity of the Person  ............... 264
3.2.1.3.2.2 Human Action  .......................................... 266
3.2.1.3.2.3 Perception and Knowledge  ...... 270
3.2.1.3.2.4 Resurrection and Afterlife  ......... 275
3.2.1.3.2.5 Satan and the Demons ................... 285
3.2.1.3.3 Questions of Hermeneutics
and Criteriology  ........................................................................ 286
3.2.1.3.3.1 Quranic Exegesis  ................................... 286
3.2.1.3.3.2 The Truth of the Prophetic
Tradition ........................................................... 287
3.2.1.3.3.3 Juristic Methodology  ........................ 290
3.2.1.3.4 The Image of God  ................................................................... 291
3.2.1.3.4.1 Uniqueness and
Omnipresence  .......................................... 291
3.2.1.3.4.2 The Doctrine of the
Attributes  ........................................................ 293
3.2.1.3.4.3 Omnipotence and the Plan of
Salvation  ........................................................... 298
3.2.1.3.4.4 Creating and Creation  .................... 302
3.2.1.3.4.5 Divine Speech  ........................................... 305
3.2.1.3.5 The Theory of Sin  .................................................................... 309
3.2.1.3.6 Political Theory  .......................................................................... 313
3.2.1.4 His Legacy  ................................................................................................................... 314
3.2.2 Naẓẓām  ................................................................................................................................................... 320
3.2.2.1 Naẓẓām as a Poet and Man of Letters  ..................................... 327
3.2.2.2 Naẓẓām as a Theologian  ........................................................................... 332
3.2.2.2.1 The ‘Physics’  ................................................................................... 334
3.2.2.2.1.1 Deliberations on Atomism.
Infinite Divisibility and the
Theory of ‘The Leap’  ......................... 334
3.2.2.2.1.1.1 Models from Antiquity  ... 350
x contents
3.2.2.2.1.2 General Theory of Motion.
The Concept of iʿtimād  .................. 351
3.2.2.2.1.3 The Theory of Bodies  ....................... 359
3.2.2.2.1.3.1 The Theory of Mixture  ... 364
3.2.2.2.1.3.2 Combustion  ............................... 371
3.2.2.2.1.3.3 Further Effects of Fire  .... 375
3.2.2.2.1.3.4 The Other Elements  ......... 376
3.2.2.2.1.4 The Connection to
Contemporary Medicine  ............. 381
3.2.2.2.1.5 Sensory Perception  ............................. 383
3.2.2.2.1.5.1 Sight. Colour Theory  ....... 383
3.2.2.2.1.5.2 Hearing. Acoustics  ............ 387
3.2.2.2.1.5.3 The Other Sensory
Perceptions  ................................. 389
3.2.2.2.1.6 Motion as an Accident  ................... 391
3.2.2.2.1.7 The Nature and Objective of
Naẓẓām’s Theory  .................................... 393
3.2.2.2.2 Anthropology  ............................................................................... 401
3.2.2.2.2.1 The Spirit  ......................................................... 401
3.2.2.2.2.2 Spirit and Body  ........................................ 406
3.2.2.2.2.3 Human Action  .......................................... 409
3.2.2.2.3 Knowledge  ....................................................................................... 412
3.2.2.2.3.1 ‘Necessary’ and ‘Acquired’
Knowledge  ..................................................... 412
3.2.2.2.3.2 The Reliability of Tradition  ...... 415
3.2.2.2.3.3 The Issue of ijmāʿ  .................................. 417
3.2.2.2.3.4 Renouncing the Conclusion
by Analogy. Juristic Special
Opinions  ........................................................... 419
3.2.2.2.3.5 Recourse to the Quran and the
Decadence of the ṣaḥāba  ........... 422
3.2.2.2.4 Theology  ............................................................................................ 425
3.2.2.2.4.1 Dealing with Non-Muslims  ...... 425
3.2.2.2.4.1.1 The Dualists and the
Dahriyya  ....................................... 425
3.2.2.2.4.1.2 The Jews  ......................................... 428
3.2.2.2.4.1.3 The Christians  ........................ 430
3.2.2.2.4.2 Systematic Theology  ......................... 432
3.2.2.2.4.2.1 God’s ‘Attributes
of Essence’  ................................... 432