Ibn Kullab
Ibn Kullab (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] 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 word of God (Kalam Allah) and its realisation.[7] His movement, also called Kullabiyya,[Note 2] merged into Ash'arism, which, along with Maturidism and Hanbalism, forms the theological basis of Sunni Islam.[9]
Ibn Kullab ابن كُلاَّب | |
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Personal | |
Born | Unknown |
Died | 240 A.H. = 854 A.D.[1] 241 A.H. = 855 A.D. |
Religion | Islam |
Nationality | Caliphate |
Ethnicity | Arab |
Era | Islamic Golden Age |
Region | Abbasid Caliphate |
Denomination | Sunni[2] |
Jurisprudence | Shafi'i[3] |
Creed | Ahl al-Hadith |
Main interest(s) | Aqidah, Kalam (Islamic theology) |
Notable work(s) | Al-Radd 'ala al-Hashwiyya (meaning the 'crammers,' a term also used for the deviant misguided Anthropomorphists) |
Muslim leader | |
Influenced by
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Influenced
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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 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.[10]
Name
Abu Muhammad 'Abdallah b. Sa'id b. 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 and al-Harith al-Muhasibi learned kalam from him, according to al-Dhahabi in his Siyar A'lam Al-Nubala'.[12] Among his students also was al-Junayd al-Baghdadi.
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.
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.[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]
- 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
- Christopher Melchert (1997). The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law: 9th-10th Centuries C.E. Brill Publishers. p. 69. ISBN 9789004109520.
- Nathan Spannaus (2019). Preserving Islamic Tradition: Abu Nasr Qursawi and the Beginnings of Modern Reformism. Oxford University Press. p. 147. ISBN 9780190654900.
- 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..."
- Nathan Spannaus (2019). Preserving Islamic Tradition: Abu Nasr Qursawi and the Beginnings of Modern Reformism. Oxford University Press. p. 147. ISBN 9780190654900.
- Benjamin Jokisch (2007). Islamic Imperial Law: Harun-al-Rashid's Codification Project. Walter de Gruyter. p. 622. ISBN 9783110190489.
- al-Qadi, Wadad (1993). "The Earliest "Nābita" and the Paradigmatic "Nawābit"". Studia Islamica. Brill (78): 51-53, 59, 61. doi:10.2307/1595606.
- "Ibn Kullāb — Brill". Brill Online Reference Works.
- Benjamin Jokisch (2007). Islamic Imperial Law: Harun-al-Rashid's Codification Project. Walter de Gruyter. p. 622. ISBN 9783110190489.
- Benjamin Jokisch (2007). Islamic Imperial Law: Harun-al-Rashid's Codification Project. Walter de Gruyter. p. 357. ISBN 9783110190489.
- "Ahl al-Sunna: The Ash'aris - The Testimony and Proofs of the Scholars by Shaykh Hamad al-Sinan and Shaykh Fawzi al-'Anjari". elwahabiya.com.
- Benjamin Jokisch (2007). Islamic Imperial Law: Harun-al-Rashid's Codification Project. Walter de Gruyter. p. 357. ISBN 9783110190489.
- al-Dhahabi. Siyar A'lam Al-Nubala'. Islamweb. p. 174.
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