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Ibn Kullab
9th-century Arab Muslim scholar From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Ibn Kullab (Arabic: ابن كُلاَّب) (d. ca. 241/855) was an early Sunni theologian (mutakallim)[2][3] in Basra and Baghdad in the first half of the 9th century during the time of the Mihna and belonged, according to Ibn al-Nadim, to the traditionalist group of the Nawabit.[Note 1] His movement, also called Kullabiyya,[Note 2] merged and developed into Ash'arism, which, along with Maturidism and Atharism (practically: Hanbalism),[Note 3] forms the theological basis of Sunni Islam.[11]
Ibn Kullab headed a group made up of mainly direct and second generation students of Al-Shafi that included Al-Karibisi, Al-Qalanisi, Al-Muhasibi, Al-Bukhari, Abu Thawr and Dawud-al Zahiri.[12] They were known for their extreme criticism of Jahmis, Mu'tazilis, and Anthropomorphists by using rationalistic methods (Kalam) to defend orthodox creedal points of Sunni Islam.[13] They contradicted the Mu'tazili doctrine of Khalq al-Qur'an (Createdness of the Qur'an) by introducing a distinction between the words of God (Kalam Allah) and its pronunciation.[14]
He was praised by several famous scholars, including Ibn 'Asakir, Taj al-Din al-Subki, Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani, Ibn Qadi Shuhba, Jamal al-Din al-Isnawi, Kamal al-Din al-Bayadi in his Isharat al-Maram, Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi in his work Kitab Usul al-Din, al-Shahrastani in al-Milal wa al-Nihal, and al-Kawthari.[15]
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Name
Abu Muhammad 'Abdallah ibn Sa'id ibn Kullab al-Qattan al-Basri al-Tamimi.[11]
Life
He belonged to the generation of Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ishaq ibn Rahwayh. His precise year of birth is unknown, but he lived in the period of the 'Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun.
Students
It has been said that Dawud al-Zahiri, al-Bukhari and al-Harith al-Muhasibi learned kalam from him, according to al-Dhahabi in his Siyar A'lam Al-Nubala'.[16] It has been reported also that al-Junayd al-Baghdadi was one of his students.[17]
Books
He has a number of works that are documented such as:
- Kitab al-Radd 'ala al-Hashwiyya (meaning the 'crammers,' a term also used for the deviant misguided Anthropomorphists).
- Kitab al-Radd 'ala al-Mu'tazila.
- Kitab al-Sifat (Book of Divine Attributes).
- Kitab in al-Tawhid (Book of Islamic Monotheism).
- Kitab Khalq al-Af'al (Book of the Creation of Human Acts).
These books are lost, however remnants of them can be found in other works such as Maqalat al-Islamiyyin of Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari. He was also quoted by the early Ash'ari scholars such as Ibn Furak (d. 406H).
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Death
He died in 240 AH, or according to some in 241 AH.
See also
Notes
- According to Benjamin Jokisch, those who converted to Islam became known as Nawabit (Neophytes) and formed the fundament of the traditionalist opposition in Baghdad.[8] However it was also used by scholars such as al-Jahiz as a term for a group he and other Mu'tazilites grew increasingly worried at for they were seen as more intellectually able than them and had advanced in Kalam. Al-Jahiz confesses that they have been building up a type of solidarity against the Mu'tazila and have become aggressive against them, claiming to have on their side, "the masses, the recluses, the jurists, the hadith people and the ascetics". Wadad al-Qadi notes that all of those who wrote on them, aside from one, were Mu'tazilites or Mu'tazilite sympathisers and that he finds it curious that none of the Muslim heresiographers mention them as a sect, aside from Ibn al-Nadim, who Wadad would hesitate to call a heresiographer. Wadad concludes, "Indeed, under different names, they are still with us today."[9]
- In contrast, J. Halverson notes: 'Conversely, when we look at Hanbalism too, we can see quite clearly that it is incorrect to consider Hanbalism and “Atharism” to be synonymous. The works of Hanbalite scholars such as Ibn 'Aqil (d. 1119 CE), Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1201 CE), and Najm al-Din al-Tufi (d. 1316 CE), among a few others, reveal instances of distinctly theological ideas occurring within Hanbalism, making it a far more diverse tradition than one may otherwise suspect. However, the overwhelming majority of Hanbalites did indeed fall firmly within the Athari camp with its unyielding rejection of theology. . . The Atharis can thus be described as a school or movement led by a contingent of scholars (ulama), typically Hanbalite or even Shafi'ite, that retained influence, or at the very least a shared sentiment and conception of piety, well beyond the limited range of Hanbalite communities. This body of scholars continued to reject theology in favour of strict textualism well after Ash'arism had infiltrated the Sunni schools of law. It is for these reasons that we must delineate the existence of a distinctly traditionalist, anti-theological movement, which defies strict identification with any particular madhhab, and therefore cannot be described as Hanbalite.'[10]
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References
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