Effecting Ashari’s Understanding of Being on His Epistemology

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Effecting Ashari’s Understanding of Being on His Epistemology

Journal Title: Mütefekkir - Year 2018, Vol 5, Issue 9

Abstract

Abul-Hasan al-Ash'ari (d. 324/936) used the principle of the infiniteness of God’s will and power as the cornerstone of his perception of Kalam. This principle, by its very nature, requires the world to be in a state that does not accept the obligatory causality because it was the result of these attributes of God. Therefore it does not seem to be consistent to have a God that his will and power is unquestionable and a universe that is not entirely relying on that God. Imam Ash'ari, since he was a theologian, used the comparison of the unknown to known as a reasoning method from Mutaqaddimûn era. Since this method requires taking universe as a starting point, it also makes it necessary for universe to have a structure of its own. Otherwise, there won't be a logical ground for us to make it an argument for metaphysical field. Having an objective structure of its own means that universe which has been created, is not open to Divine intervention at any time and therefore it has a partial causality within. Since the notion of a God which does whatever he wants and does not have to do anything because of a necessity, is not able to accept the causality in the universe, Ash'ari uses a reasoning method that won’t lead to obligatory causation. In this article, the effort of Ash'ari to find a solution for this problem he faced and the effects of this effort to the theology field are aimed to be laid down.

Authors and Affiliations

Hüseyin KAHRAMAN

Keywords

al-Ashari al-Qadir al-Mukhtar Causality and Syllogism

EP ID EP617209
DOI 10.30523/mutefekkir.441641
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