Science in Islam, Part 3: Ash’ari predestination

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For many centuries, the Islamic world was at the forefront of scientific achievement. Yet in modern times, the level of education has declined to such an extent that on the average, Muslim-majority countries have nine technicians, engineers and scientists per thousand people. For comparison, the global average stands at 41 per thousand people. To understand this phenomenon, we must explore the past. In the previous episodes, we explained how the inquisition of Ibn Hambal and the anarchy at Samara ignited the disintegration of the Abbasid Empire. It is during this era that religious and political developments intertwined and set the stage for a new school of theology which would forever change Islamic civilization. My name is Shirvan and welcome to CaspianReport. If you want to help our channel to produce more original content like this, please consider supporting our funding platform on patreon.com/caspianreport.

For over a century, the Muttazilite scholars and the Hanbali followers debated the fundamentals of theology and jurisprudence in Islam. The former stressed the importance of innovation, rational thought, and free will, while the latter promoted the literal interpretation of the Quran. In the 10th century, a Muttazilite scholar by the name of Al-Ashari had a major disagreement with his teacher. He left the group and capitalized on the popular discontent against the Muttazila, which had been steadily gaining ground since Ibn Hanbal's Inquisition. In the following years, Al-Ashari became one of the most distinguished opponents of the Muttazila.

He used the philosophical methods he had learned and gathered a following of distinguished former Muttazilites.

The group, which became known as the Ashari, combined the jurisprudential arguments of Ibn Hanbal and the theological traits of the Muttazila. As such, the Ashari believed in rationalism and the open interpretation of the Quran. However, the group gave precedence to predestination and argued that reason was subservient to revelation, meaning rational thought and free will could be applied as long as it did not conflict with the sacred texts. This was at odds with the Muttazila who believed in absolute rationalism and free will. Over the course of the 10th century, Muttazilites, Ashariites, and other theological schools debated and explored the existence of the universe. Hundreds of scientific works were written, as there were many lingering questions on how to interpret new ethical inquiries, such as the meaning of revelation and humankind's responsibility. As the rival schools of theology debated the sciences, they often found themselves on opposite ends, and accused one another as irrational and un-Islamic. The attempts to grapple complex scientific questions is at the heart of the declining attitudes towards science in Muslim societies. One of the most remarkable discoveries of the Mithazila concerned the smallest matter, the atom. In earlier centuries, Greek, Persian, and Indian scholars had explored the world of atoms as well, but it was the Mithazilites who had successfully combined all three sources and formulated their findings. Yet, what was one of their greatest achievements would turn out to be their greatest point of division. As theological schools explored the atomic world, it ignited a philosophical firestorm. The Mithazilites argued that atomic substances possessed properties and had the capacity to affect other properties.

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Shirvan (5:53)

The Asharites, on the other hand, supported the concept of atoms as well, but since they insisted that reason was subservient to revelation, the group took a different view. At the core of the Asharic doctrine was the theory of the concept of atoms, which is the concept of atoms. At the core of the Asharic doctrine was the theory of occasionalism, which denies natural causality. The Asharic stressed that as soon as an atomic accident was created, it immediately ceased to exist. There was no continuity between one moment in time and another. For instance, the shattering of a window and the skin color of a person was determined by God's continuous recreation of atoms at each instance in time. The Asharites argued that God determined the outcome of every single atom and that human existence was a series of events each willed by God. Essentially, the group suggested that cause and effect, as well as free will, were illusions because the existence of humankind was predestined. Such philosophic reasoning may seem strange now, but at the time, the Muslim scholars were the first explorers of the atomic world. The concept of occasionalism became the fundamental building block that led the Asharites to deny the comprehensibility of the natural world. It also provided the group with a basis for what was their belief in predestination. It is not difficult to imagine how such a mindset in the span of centuries could influence the attitudes towards science.