ʿAbd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbar al-Hamadani al-Asadabadi, Abu ʿl-Hasan (935 – 1025) was a
Mu'tazilite theologian, and a reported follower of the
Shafi‘i school. Abd al-Jabbar means "servant of the powerful." He was born in
Asadabad near
Hamadan,
Iran. He settled in
Baghdad, until he was invited to
Rey Rey may refer to:
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*The ...
in 367
AH/978 CE by its governor,
Sahib ibn Abbad
Abu’l-Qāsim Ismāʿīl ibn-i ʿAbbād ibn-i ʿAbbās ( fa, ابوالقاسم اسماعیل بن عباد بن عباس; born 938 - died 30 March 995), better known as Ṣāḥib ibn-i ʿAbbād (), also known as Ṣāḥib (), was a Persian sc ...
, a staunch supporter of the
Mu'tazila. He was appointed chief
Qadi of the province. On the death of ibn 'Abbad in 995 CE, Abd al-Jabbar was deposed and arrested by the Buyid Amir,
Fakhr al-Dawla, because of a slighting remark made by him about his deceased benefactor. He died later in 415
AH/1025 CE.
His comprehensive "
summa
Summa and its diminutive summula (plural ''summae'' and ''summulae'', respectively) was a medieval didactics literary genre written in Latin, born during the 12th century, and popularized in 13th century Europe. In its simplest sense, they might ...
" of speculative theology, the ''Mughni'', presented
Mu`tazili
Muʿtazila ( ar, المعتزلة ', English: "Those Who Withdraw, or Stand Apart", and who called themselves ''Ahl al-ʿAdl wa al-Tawḥīd'', English: "Party of ivineJustice and Oneness f God); was an Islamic group that appeared in early Islamic ...
thought under the two headings of God's oneness (
tawhid) and his justice (
adl
Adl ( ar, عدل, ) is an Arabic word meaning 'justice', and is also one of the names of God in Islam. It is equal to the concept of ''Insaf'' انصاف (lit. sense of justice) in the Baháʼí Faith.
Adil ( ar, عادل, ), and Adeel ( ar, ...
). He argued that the
Ash'arite separation between the eternal speech of God and the created words of the
Qur'an made God's will unknowable.
He and his Mu’tazilite circle were contemporaries of Ibn Sina, better known in the West as
Avicenna
Ibn Sina ( fa, ابن سینا; 980 – June 1037 CE), commonly known in the West as Avicenna (), was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic G ...
.
Works
He was the author of more than 70 books.
* Kitāb Al-Mughnī Fī Abwāb Al-Tawḥīd wa Al-'Adl ( المغني في أبواب التوحيد والعدل )
* Sharḥ to Ibn Khallād's Kitāb al-Uṣūl (which is lost)
* Sharḥ al-Uṣūl al-Khamsa (شرح الاصول الخمسة) ('The Explication of the Five Principles'). (While this is lost, this book received commentaries by two
Zaydi authors, which have survived.)
''Tathbit Dala’il''
Abd Al-Jabbar produced an anti-Christian polemic text ''Tathbit Dala’il Nubuwwat Sayyidina Muhammad,'' (‘The Establishment of Proofs for the Prophethood of Our Master Mohammed’).
['Abd al-Jabbar, Tathbit dalailal- nubuwwa, ed. 'A. 'Uthman, 2 vols., Beirut 1966]
English translations
* ''Critique of Christian Origins: a parallel English-Arabic text'', edited, translated, and annotated by Gabriel Said Reynolds and Samir Khalil Samir, Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2010.
Notes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad
935 births
1025 deaths
Mu'tazilites
Shafi'is
10th-century Muslim scholars of Islam
People from Hamadan Province
10th-century jurists
11th-century jurists