Thumama (Thumamah) ibn Ashras (died 828 CE/212-213 AH)[1] (Arabic: ثمامة بن الأشرس), also known as Abu Maʿn al-Numayri (أبو معن النميري) was a Mu'tazila theologian during the era of the Abbasid Caliphate, the third Islamic caliphate.[2]

Life

Thumama ibn Ashras was of Arab descent.[3] He served under an influential family during the Abbasid era, the Barmakids, and was arrested when they fell from favour in 802 CE.[4] His reputation was sufficiently restored by around the year 807 CE that Harun al-Ras̲h̲d had him join his expedition to Khorasan.[4]

Alon describes ibn Ashras as the 'court theologian' of Al-Ma'mun;[5] Nawas reckons him a 'prominent Mu'tazilite'.[6] Al-Ma'mun hoped to make him vizier, but ibn Ashras declined, apparently because the position of vizier was a target of controversy at the time; the caliph later reportedly gave ibn Ashras 300,000 dirhams to express his appreciation for ibn Ashras's services at court.[7] Ahmad ibn Abi Khalid al-Ahwal, named vizier in ibn Ashras's place, called ibn Ashras the 'only one' at court 'without an official title'.[7]

An ancient report suggests that ibn Ashras had convinced Al-Ma'mun to adopt Mu'tazila theology.[8] Another report, in History of Baghdad by Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, states that ibn Ashras disparaged Abu-l-'Atahiya in a meeting before Al-Ma'mun, when the poet Atahiya had challenged ibn Ashras to defend Mu'tazila doctrine on the origin of human action.[9][10]

At one point, ibn Ashras was held captive by Turks. He was treated so well during his imprisonment, however, that he grew to favour Turkish mercenaries.[11]

Doctrines

Unlike many theologians of the time, ibn Ashras did not write a large number of treatises.[12] Accordingly, his religious views survive mainly in reports from conversations and debates he had with other figures of the time, including Yahya ibn Aktham, with whom he discussed free will.[12]

Ibn Ashras taught that nonbelievers need not be blameworthy for their unbelief unless they explicitly rejected revelation.[1]

He argued that love occurs 'when the essences of souls have mingled through the bond of likeness'.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 Green (1992). The City of the Moon God: Religious Traditions of Harran. Brill. p. 132. ISBN 978-90-04-30142-9.
  2. ↑ Macdonald, Duncan Black (2008). Development of Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence, and Constitutional Theory. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-58477-858-5.
  3. ↑ van Ess 2017, p. 173.
  4. 1 2 van Ess, Josef (24 April 2012). "T̲h̲umāma b. As̲h̲ras". Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.). Brill. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_7532.
  5. ↑ Alon, Ilai (April 1989). "Fārābī's funny flora: al-Nawābit as 'opposition'". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 121 (2): 227. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00109220. ISSN 0035-869X. S2CID 159508407.
  6. ↑ Nawas 1994, p. 617.
  7. 1 2 van Ess 2017, p. 171.
  8. ↑ Nawas 1994, p. 625 (note 13).
  9. ↑ McKinney 2004, p. 72.
  10. ↑ Brown, Jonathan A. C. (2012), Cobb, Paul (ed.), "Scholars and Charlatans on the Baghdad-Khurasan Circuit from the Ninth to the Eleventh Centuries", The Lineaments of Islam, Brill, pp. 91–92, doi:10.1163/9789004231948_006, ISBN 978-90-04-23194-8
  11. ↑ van Ess 2017, p. 172.
  12. 1 2 van Ess 2017, p. 175.
  13. ↑ Meisami, Julie Scott (1989). "Mas'ūdī on Love and the Fall of the Barmakids". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (2): 273. ISSN 0035-869X. JSTOR 25212487.

Sources


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