Ibn Kullab

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Abū Muhammad 'Abdullāh bin Sa'īd bin Muhammad bin Kullāb al-Qattān al-Basrī
أبو محمد عبدالله بن سعيد بن كلاب القطان البصري
Religion Islam
Denomination Sunni[1]
Personal
Born Unknown
Died 240 A.H. = 854 A.D.[2]
241 A.H. = 855 A.D.

Ibn Kullab (Arabic: ابن كُلاَّب‎‎) (d. ca. 241/855) was an early Sunni theologian (mutakallim)[4] 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] Often regarded to be the true founder of the Ash'ari madhab, he was known for his criticism of Jahmis, Mu'tazilis, and Anthropomorphists. He 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 realisation.[7] His movement, also called Kullabiyya,[Note 2] merged into Ash'arism, which, along with Atharism and Maturidism forms the theological basis of Sunni Islam.[9]

Name

Abu Muhammad 'Abdallah b. Sa'id b. Kullab al-Qattan al-Basri al-Tamimi.[10]

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 and al-Harith al-Muhasibi learned kalam from him, according to al-Dhahabi in his Siyar A'lam Al-Nubala'.[11] Among his students also was al-Junayd al-Baghdadi.[citation needed]

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).

Death

He died in 240 AH, or according to some in 241 AH.

See also

Notes

  1. According to Benjamin Jokisch, those who converted to Islam became known as Nawabit (Neophytes) and formed the fundament of the traditionalist opposition in Baghdad.[5] 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."[6]
  2. The Kullabiyya, a moderate traditionalist movement, which was intended to revive the early Sunni Islam and later on turned into the Ash'ariyya.[8]

References

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  3. Jamil, Khairil Husaini Bin. "Ḥadīth, Piety and Law: Selected Studies." By Christopher Melchert. Atlanta, Georgia: Lockwood Press, 2015. Pp. 359. ISBN 978-1-937040-49-9. (2018): 263-267. "Melchert has proposed several names such as al-Karābīsī, Ibn Kullāb, al-Muḥāsibi, al-Qalānisī and others who were loosely associated with al-Shāfiʿī..."
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