Mu'tazilite theologian and member of the Shafi'i school (935–1025)
Abu al-Hasan ʿAbd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad ibn Khalil ibn ʿAbdallah al-Hamadani al-Asadabadi (935 CE – 1025 CE) was an Islamic jurist and hadith scholar who is remembered as the
Qadi al-Qudat (Chief Magistrate) of the
Buyid dynasty and the last great scholar of the
Mu'tazilite school of Islamic theology, and a reported follower of the
Shafi‘i school.[1][2] Abd al-Jabbar means "Servant of
al-Jabbar (the Almighty)."[3] The
Mu'tazila call him "Qadi al-Qudat" (قاضي القضاة) and do not give this title to anyone else.[4]
He was born in
Asadabad near
Hamadan,
Iran. He settled in
Baghdad, until he was invited to
Rey in 367
AH/978 CE by its governor,
Sahib ibn Abbad, a staunch supporter of the
Mu'tazila theological movement . 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.
Qadi ʿAbd al-Jabbar's
magnum opus, the Kitab al-mughni fi abwab al-tawhid wa l-ʿadl (Book of the plenitude on the topics concerning unity and justice), often shortened to al-Mughni, is a comprehensive twenty volume "
summa" of Mu'tazilite theology of the same magnitude as
St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica and
Summa Contra Gentiles.[1] It presented
Mu'tazili thought under the two headings of God's oneness (tawhid) and his justice (adl). 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).[5]
Works
Qadi Abd al-Jabbar was the author of more than 70 books.[6]
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.)[7][8]
Tathbit Dala’il
Abd Al-Jabbar produced an anti-Christian polemic text Tathbit Dala’il Nubuwwat Sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, (‘The Establishment of Proofs for the Prophethood of Our Master Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم’).[9]
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.
References
^
abMartin, Richard; Woodward, Mark; Atmaja, Dwi (1997). Defenders of Reason in Islam: Mu'tazilism from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. Oneworld. p. 49.
^Jane Dammen McAuliffe. Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān. 2003, volume 3. Page 439. Article by Claude Gilliot.
^Juan Eduardo Campo. Encyclopedia of Islam (2009). Page 515. "The Quran states, “The most beautiful names belong to God (Allah) so call on him by them; but shun such men as use profanity in his names: for what they ... of God), Abd al-Salam (Servant of Peace), or Abd al-Jabbar (Servant of the Powerful)."