Abu al-Hasan ʿAbd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad ibn Khalil ibn ʿAbdallah al-Hamadani al-Asadabadi (935 CE – 1025 CE) was a PersianMu'tazili theologian, jurist and hadith scholar who is remembered as theQadi al-Qudat (Chief Magistrate) of theBuyid dynasty, and a reported follower of theShafi‘i school.[1][2] Abd al-Jabbar means "Servant ofal-Jabbar (the Almighty)."[3] According toIbn al-Subki, the Mu'tazila call him "Qadi al-Qudat" (قاضي القضاة) and do not give this title to anyone else.[4]
He was born inAsadabad nearHamadan,Iran. He settled inBaghdad, until he was invited toRey in 367AH/978 CE by its governor,Sahib ibn Abbad, a staunch supporter of the Mu'tazila theological movement. He was appointed chief Qadi of the province. On the death of ibn 'Abbad in 995 CE, Abd al-Jabbar was deposed and arrested by the Buyid Amir,Fakhr al-Dawla, because of a slighting remark made by him about his deceased benefactor. He died later in 415AH/1025 CE.[5]
Qadi ʿAbd al-Jabbar'smagnum opus, theKitab al-mughni fi abwab al-tawhid wa l-ʿadl (Book of the plenitude on the topics concerning unity and justice), often shortened toal-Mughni, is a comprehensive twenty volume "summa" of Mu'tazilite theology of the same magnitude asSt. Thomas Aquinas'sSumma Theologica andSumma Contra Gentiles.[1] It presentedMu'tazili thought under the two headings of God's oneness (tawhid) and his justice (adl). He argued that theAsh'arite separation between the eternal speech of God and the created words of theQur'an made God's will unknowable.[6] He and his Mu’tazilite circle were contemporaries ofIbn Sina (better known in the West as Avicenna).[7]
Qadi Abd al-Jabbar was the author of more than 70 books.[8]
Al-Mughnī Fī Abwāb Al-Tawḥīd wa Al-'Adl (المغني في أبواب التوحيد والعدل)
Sharḥ to Ibn Khallād's Kitāb al-Uṣūl (which is lost)
Sharḥ al-Uṣūl al-Khamsa (شرح الأصول الخمسة) ('The Explication of the Five Principles'). (While this is lost, this book received commentaries by twoZaydi authors, which have survived.)[9][10]
Abd Al-Jabbar produced an anti-Christian polemic textTathbit Dala’il Nubuwwat Sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, (‘The Establishment of Proofs for the Prophethood of Our Master Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم’).[11]
Critique of Christian Origins: a parallel English-Arabic text, edited, translated, and annotated by Gabriel Said Reynolds and Samir Khalil Samir, Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2010.
^abMartin, Richard; Woodward, Mark; Atmaja, Dwi (1997).Defenders of Reason in Islam: Mu'tazilism from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. Oneworld. p. 49.
^Jane Dammen McAuliffe.Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān. 2003, volume 3. Page 439. Article by Claude Gilliot.
^Juan Eduardo Campo.Encyclopedia of Islam (2009). Page 515. "The Quran states, “The most beautiful names belong to God (Allah) so call on him by them; but shun such men as use profanity in his names: for what they ... of God), Abd al-Salam (Servant of Peace), or Abd al-Jabbar (Servant of the Powerful)."
