Hanbali View of the Ash'ari Madhhab

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah who has granted understanding of the religion, and prayers and peace be upon our master, our beloved, the Messenger of the Rabb al-'Ālamīn.

Introduction

Recent assertions claim that Ḥanbalī madhhab considers prayer behind Ash'arīs to be invalid. Those who claim this say that the Ash'arī position of the Qur'an equivalent to Jahmī doctrine, and that Ash'arīs believe in the creation of the Qur'an. These claims warrant examination against the madhhab to establish the veracity of its attribution to the madhhab.

Claim 1 – Ash'arīs are from the Jahmiyyah

Al-Buhūtī's Definition of the Jahmiyyah

Al-Buhūtī defines the Jahmiyyah as those who adhere to the creed of Jahm b. Ṣafwān:

Testimony is not accepted from the fāsiq due to actions like zinā and being a dayyūth, or in creed, like being a blind follower in [...] tajahhum with a shadda on the ha', meaning: belief in the madhhab of Jahm b. Ṣafwān.

Ibn Taymiyyah's Rejection of Equivalence

There are also those who say "Whoever claims that the madhhab of Jahm b. Ṣafwān is the madhhab of al-Ash'arī, that they are close, or that they are equal – then he is ignorant of the madhhab of these two groups. The Jahmiyyah say that the Qur'an is created, while al-Ash'arī says that the Qur'an is eternal and human speech is created by the Most Merciful." There is no doubt that the position of Ibn Kullāb and al-Ash'arī and similar scholars who affirm the attributes is not the same position as that of the Jahmiyyah nor the Mu'tazilah. Rather, these scholars have composed written works refuting the Jahmiyyah and Mu'tazilah, and explained the misguidance of those who deny the attributes.

'Abd al-Bāqī's Inclusion of Ash'arīs within Ahl al-Sunnah

'Abd al-Bāqī al-Ba'lī, a student of Manṣūr al-Buhūtī, explicitly states in al-'Ayn wa-l-Athar (pg. 60):

The groups of Ahl al-Sunnah are three: the Ḥanbalīs, the Ash'arīs, and the Māturīdīs.

He states in Insān al-'Ayn (pg. 126):

Some of our scholars mentioned that Imam al-Ash'arī [a] has the creed of, [b] follows, and [c] is in agreement with Imam Aḥmad in his beliefs aligned with the Salaf.

From this, it is known that the Ash'arīs are not to be considered to be from the Jahmiyyah in the madhhab.

Claim 2 – Ash'arīs Deny the Written Qur'an is the Speech of Allah

'Abdullāh b. Aḥmad's Riwāyah on the Lafdh

In al-Asmā' wa-l-Ṣifāt (vol. 2, pg. 20), al-Bayhaqī narrates the following from 'Abdullāh b. Aḥmad:

I heard my father say, "Whoever says my lafẓ of the Qur'an is created – intending the Qur'an – then he is a disbeliever."

The scholars of the madhhab have clarified that this statement was censured out of sadd al-dharā'i', due to its resemblance to an expression used in narrating hadith and the ambiguous meaning it acquired. It is also agreed upon that the voice of the servants is created. Therefore, this statement is not related to the kalām nafsī–kalām lafẓī distinction held by the Ash'arīs.

Clarification of Terminology

In Ma'ūnah Ulī al-Nuhā, Ibn al-Najjār al-Futūḥī defines the Jahmiyyah:

The Jahmiyyah are those who believe that Allah is not mustawīn 'alā 'arshihi, and that the Qur'an written in the Qur'an is not the Speech of Allah, but rather an expression ('ibārah) of it.

'Abd al-Bāqī al-Ba'lī states in al-'Ayn wa-l-Athar (pg. 105):

It has been said: "The one who denies that what is between the two covers is speech only becomes a disbeliever if he says it is created by humans. But if he believes that it is created by Allah and that it indicates to what is Allah's speech ḥaqīqatan or what subsists in His essence – and that it is not itself the attribute established in His essence – then he does not become a disbeliever." This goes against what is apparent: that the Lawgiver rules the disbelief of the one who denies that it is speech immediately without inquiring into the intended meaning. This is because denying the application of the term goes against what is known to be from the religion by necessity and what is indicated by the Sharī'ah and intellect – as transmitted by Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn [Ibn al-Najjar] al-Futūḥī.

From this objection and Ibn al-Najjār's response, we know that the problematic claim of the Jahmiyyah in Ibn al-Najjār's description is that they deny applying the term "Speech of Allah" to what is written in the muṣḥaf. He is not concerned with the details of what it means for what is written in the maṣāḥif to be the Speech of Allah and how that is; what matters is that it is given the name "the Speech of Allah."

In Ḥāshiyat al-Muntahā, al-Khalwatī quotes al-Taftāzānī to explain that the Ash'arīs do call the Qur'an written in the maṣāḥif "the Speech of Allah":

Upon further investigation, the Speech of Allah ta'ālā is a shared term (ism mushtarak) between [a] al-kalām al-nafsī al-qadīm – the meaning of the possessive phrase being: that it exists as an attribute of Allah ta'ālā – and [b] al-lafẓ al-ḥādith al-mu'allaf consisting of chapters and verses – the meaning of the possessive phrase being: that it was created by Allah, and not composed by creation. As for what appears in the expression of some of our mashāyikh that the [second] is only majāz, it does not mean that that [the possessive phrase] was not coined for the al-lafẓ al-mu'allaf. Rather it means that speech (al-kalām), in reality and essentially, is the term (ism) for al-ma'nā al-qā'im bi-l-nafs. The naming of the lafẓ in accordance to the meaning and the coining of the lafẓ for that, is in consideration to the lafẓ's indication of the meaning. Therefore there is no disagreement between them on coining and naming.

Therefore, the description provided by Ibn al-Najjār of the Jahmiyyah does not apply to the Ash'arīs.

Appendix

Ibn al-Najjār's Companionship with al-Sha'rānī

Ibn al-Najjār's statement in Ma'ūnah Ulī al-Nuhā does not explicitly mention the Ash'arīs. Given their prevalence in his time, numerous explicit condemnations would be expected from him and other Ḥanbalī scholars if takfīr was the madhhab's established position. This is notably absent from any of his writings, or any other Ḥanbalī in his era.

Ibn al-Najjār also maintained close relationships with Ash'arī scholars trained in kalām, among them his 40-year companionship with al-Sha'rānī. The madhhab requires disassociation from those who hold to a bid'ah mukaffirah, which further weakens the claim that Ibn al-Najjār considered them to be Jahmiyyah.

View of Ibn Qudāmah on the Ash'arīs

Many who claim the Ḥanbalī position to be takfīr and tafsīq of the Ash'arīs cite the statements of Ibn Qudāmah. There is no doubt that he held a negative opinion of the Ash'arīs and wrote harsh statements against them. However, this assumes that the madhhab uncritically follows Ibn Qudāmah; and for something to be attributed to a madhhab, it must be met with acceptance by its scholars.