Gabriel Said Reynolds - Rise and Fall of Qadi ´Abd al-Jabbar :: Something smarter than us is going to emerge

Int. J. Middle East Stud. 37 (2005), 3–18. Printed in the United States of America
DOI: 10.1017.S0020743805050026
Gabriel Said Reynolds

THE RISE AND FALL OF QADI ABD AL-JABBAR

Scarcity of information can present a difficulty for writing a biography. Abundance
of information can do the same. As perspectives multiply, a subject sometimes becomes
clearer; other times it becomes complicated. In Islamic studies, for example,
the more sources that are uncovered on central historical figures such as the Prophet
Muhammad, al-Hasan al-Basri, and al-Ghazzali, the more scholars are in dispute over
their biographies. Yet historical figures of the second degree—those individuals whose
biography has not yet attracted a separate study but who are studied for their role in
larger questions—are often portrayed with deceptive simplicity. Scholars tend to stick
to the most coherent and simple biography and move on to the question at hand. Such
coherence and simplicity, however, often is not found in the sources.
This paper focuses on just such a case: the biography of the Mutazilite Abd al-Jabbar
(d. 1025). Contemporary scholars describe Abd al-Jabbar as a systematic theologian
devoted k¯alam and to Mutazilite doctrine, whose greatest accomplishment was cataloguing
the views of the more creative members of his school. In the words of J. Peters,
“He was a true and good Mutazilite: he knew the history of his school and its ideas and
became the great ‘compiler’ of the Mutazilite ideas as developed in former centuries
by his great predecessors.”1 Other scholars comment on Abd al-Jabbar’s personal piety.
G. Monnot describes him as “un esprit rigorist.”2 Thus Abd al-Jabbar is depicted in
contemporary scholarship as a studious theologian and pious Muslim.3 Yet the more
one looks into the sources on Abd al-Jabbar’s life, the more one gets the sense that
this depiction is less than accurate. One matter in particular suggests that it is entirely
misleading.
I refer to the events that transpired after the death of Vizier al-Sahib Ismail ibn
Abbad al-Talaqani in 995. Abd al-Jabbar, it is reported, refused to pronounce the
mercy statement (Ar. tarah.
h.
um)4 for Ibn Abbad, the very man who had appointed
him to the position of chief judge (q¯a d.¯ı al-qud. ¯a
t) in Rayy. In response, apparently, to
Abd al-Jabbar’s insolence, the Buyid prince Fakhr al-Dawla (d. 997) removed Abd
al-Jabbar from his post and held him in confinement, demanding an exorbitant price for
his freedom.
Abd al-Jabbar’s action seems strangely out of character for a pious theologian and
inconsistent with the supposedly close relationship that he enjoyed with Ibn Abbad.
Accordingly, scholars have found various ways to reconcile this incident with what is
Gabriel Said Reynolds is Assistant Professor in the Department of Theology, Notre Dame University, Notre
Dame, Ind 46530, USA; e-mail: reynolds.53@nd.edu.
© 2005 Cambridge University Press 0020-7438/05 $12.00
4 Gabriel Said Reynolds
thought to be Abd al-Jabbar’s character. W. Madelung, for example, proposes that the
tarah.
h.
um incident may never have occurred at all; it may be a fabrication of “hostile
sources.”5 Monnot argues that the event did occur, but that it was due to Abd al-Jabbar’s
religious sensibilities.6 Ibn Abbad, indeed, is known to have been something less than
zealous in following the religious law. He had a reputation for homosexuality, greed,
and general licentiousness. By this reading, Abd al-Jabbar’s refusal to pray for Ibn
Abbad was the act of a noble and religious man of principles, one who was willing to
give up his job to maintain his integrity. G. Hourani, meanwhile, entertains the idea that
Abd al-Jabbar was later reinstated to his position as q¯a
d.
¯ı al-qud. ¯a t, although there is no
indication of this in the sources.7
The tarah.
h.
um incident, then, has been something to explain away so that the biography
of Abd al-Jabbar not be confused and his character not be stained. In this paper I propose
that this incident is an opportunity, not a problem: it is a window into a more complete, if
more complicated, biography of Abd al-Jabbar. To make this point, I will review what
is known from Islamic sources of Abd al-Jabbar’s life and character. I will then turn to
the specific question of the tarah.
h.
um incident and Abd al-Jabbar’s fall from power. In
the end, it will emerge that the career of Abd al-Jabbar was marked as much by politics
as it was by kal¯am.
ABD AL-JABBAR IN THE ISLAMIC SOURCES
Abd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad ibn al-Khalil ibn Abdallah
al-Qadi Abu al-Hasan al-Hamadhani al-Asadabadi8 came fromAsadabad, a small city on
the road to Baghdad, southwest of Hamadhan, in western Iran.9 He most likely was born
in the early 930s,10 into a family of modest means. Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi (d. 1023)
refers to Abd al-Jabbar as the son of a peasant (fall¯a
h.
).11 Yet from these modest beginnings
Abd al-Jabbar rose to great heights as an author, theologian, and jurist.Al-Dhahabi
(d. 1348) names him “al-allama al-mutakallim” (the distinguished theologian), and
“min kibar al-shafiiyya” (among the great Shafii jurists).12 These are high words of
praise from a scholar who is ideologically opposed to Abd al-Jabbar’s theological
school.13 More sympathetic to the Mutazila is the biographer al-Hakim Abu Sad al-
Bayhaqi al-Jishumi (or al-Jushami, d. 1150), who declares, “I cannot fully express his
place in goodness and his high station in knowledge.”14
The panegyrics of al-Dhahabi and al-Jishumi, however, are matched by the polemic
of Tawhidi, who refers to Abd al-Jabbar in his Mathalib al-wazirayn (or Akhlaq alwazirayn)
as the servant boy (ghul¯am) of Ibn Abbad and describes him as a corrupt
court official without scruples.15 Al-Tawhidi is no less antagonistic to Abd al-Jabbar in
his al-Imta wa-l-muanasa, where he accuses him of corruption, greed, dim wits, and
homosexuality.16 Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d. 1449), who relies in part on al-Tawhidi, is
also critical of Abd al-Jabbar, describing him as one of the extremists (ghul¯a t) of the
Mutazila.17 He goes on to remark: “[Abd al-Jabbar] gained so many possessions that
he began to resemble Croesus with the extent of his riches. Yet he was rotten on the
inside,18 held hateful doctrine, and understood little. He settled into the infamy of kal¯am
and its people and lived long.”19
Thus a sharp conflict over Abd al-Jabbar’s character exists in the sources. It is
only on the more perfunctory details of the qadi’s life that they are in agreement. It
The Rise and Fall of Qadi Abd al-Jabbar 5
is agreed that after leaving his hometown, Abd al-Jabbar went to study in Qazwin, a
city northeast of Hamadhan.20 In 950, Abd al-Jabbar went to Mecca to perform the
Hajj (which he would perform again in 989).21 After this, he continued his studies in
Hamadhan (in 951) and Isfahan (956).22
During this period, Abd al-Jabbar was an Ashari in kal¯am, yet his primary interest
was fiqh. This would change after Abd al-Jabbar’s arrival in Basra, in about 958. Basra,
the mothership of Mutazilism, remained an important center for the theological school
long after the demise of the political Mutazilism of the early Abbasids. Among Abd
al-Jabbar’s Mutazilite teachers there was Abu Bakr al-Anbari.23 Yet the one who made
the greatest impression on him was Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ayyash (d. 996).24 Ibn al-
Murtada (d. 1437) records Abd al-Jabbar’s description of Ibn Ayyash: “He is the one
with whom we first studied. He reached a great height in respect to piety, asceticism
and knowledge.”25 It was during this period, then, that Abd al-Jabbar became a fervent
convert to Mutazilism.26
The “conversion” of Abd al-Jabbar to Mutazilism is an appealing aspect of his life
story, especially when contrasted with the famous “conversion” of al-Ashari, who fifty
years earlier had left Mutazilism for the doctrines of literalism and determinism made
famous by Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855). Abd al-Jabbar, in contrast, left the literalism
and determinism of the Ashariyya for the unity and justice of the Mutazila.27 Yet Abd
al-Jabbar’s conversion was above all a decision for kal¯a m above fiqh. Al-Jishumi describes
the qadi by saying, “In fiqh [Abd al-Jabbar] reached great heights. So he had
choices, but he filled his days with kal¯a m. He said, ‘Those who study fiqh seek the
causes of the world. But kal¯am has no goal other than God most high.’”28
Abd al-Jabbar, a gifted and ambitious student of kal¯am, soon moved on to Baghdad
to study under the leader of the BasranMutazilite school, Abu Abdallah al-Basri.29 His
attachment to al-Basri was strong enough that he wanted to change his madhhab in fiqh
to match that of his teacher.30 It was also in Baghdad that Abd al-Jabbar began to write
his own works, including Mutashabih al-Quran, an exegesis of ambiguous Quranic
verses. Soon after (ca. 970), Abd al-Jabbar is found in the important Mutazilite center
of Ramhurmuz.31 There he began to dictate a monumental theological work, al-Mughni
fi abwab al-tawhid wa-l-adl (Summa on the Matters of Unity and Justice).32 When he
finally finished this massive compendium, in 980 (by which time he had already arrived
in Rayy), Abd al-Jabbar sent a copy to the Vizier Ibn Abbad.33 The latter responded
with a statement of formal praise:
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Benevolent: may God bestow his grace upon qadi al-qudat.
May He give generously of His favor to [the q¯a
d.
¯ı al-qud. ¯a t]. For he has completed his book
al-Mughni, which is a treasure to the monotheist and a woe to the atheist.34
Yet even after his initial successes, Abd al-Jabbar remained a man of modest means
for some time. The historian al-Safadi (d. 1363) relates how, one day, Abd al-Jabbar
purchased an ointment to treat a severe malady. When it grew dark, however, he was
forced to decide between treating himself with the ointment or using it as burning oil,
so he could continue to study. He chose to study.35
So how did Abd al-Jabbar, a man who could not afford burning oil, become a man
whom Ibn Hajar could compare to Croesus? Part of his success clearly was due to his
growing influence as a scholar. Al-Jishumi remarks:
6 Gabriel Said Reynolds
As he grew in age he persevered in teaching and dictation until he covered the land with his
books and his disciples, with the reach of his voice and the greatness of his standing. He received
authority among the Mutazila until he became their shaykh and scholar without opposition. His
books and treatises became relied upon to the point that they replaced the books of those shaykhs
who preceded him. His fame has no need of an exaggerated description.36
Yet if Abd al-Jabbar gained a reputation as a good scholar and teacher, he also made
friends in the right places. According to al-Safadi, in fact, it was not merely Abd al-
Jabbar’s writing and teaching that won him the post of q¯a
d.
¯ı al-qud. ¯a t in Rayy. It was,
above all, a good connection. His teacher Abu Abdallah al-Basri, also the teacher of
the Vizier Ibn Abbad, arranged the deal:37
Al-Sahib [Ibn Abbad] sent to his teacher Abu Abdallah al-Basri, requesting that he send him
a man who would summon the people to his madhhab [Mutazilism] through his conduct and
knowledge. [Abu Abdallah] sent to him Abu Ishaq al-Nasibi,38 who had excellent eloquence and
memory. Yet al-Nasibi was not acceptable to al-Sahib, due to his inappropriate conduct. Al-Sahib
was reticent to reward him for that of which he disapproved. One day, when [Nasibi] was eating
with him and stuffing himself with cheese, al-Sahib said to him, “Do not eat so much cheese,
because it damages the mind.” Al-Nasibi said, “Do not reprimand people at your table.” Now
this statement was unpleasant to al-Sahib. So he sent [al-Nasibi] five hundred dinars, clothing,
and baggage, ordering [al-Nasibi] to depart from him. Then al-Sahib wrote to Abu Abdallah
al-Basri, saying, “I want you to send me a man who will instruct the people with his intellect
rather than inciting them with his knowledge and conduct. [Abu Abdallah] sent Abd al-Jabbar
to him. [Al-Sahib] found [Abd al-Jabbar] to have great knowledge and refined morals. He thus
found him acceptable.39
Al-Jishumi reports that Abd al-Jabbar arrived at Rayy in the year 360 (970).40 The
more accurate dating of this event, however, is likely that of Ibn al-Athir (d. 1233) and
Abd al-Karim al-Rafii (d. 1226) (in his al-Tadwin fi akhbar Qazwin), who place it in
367 (977), in the month of Muharram.41 According to a letter by Ibn Abbad, this was
the year that he appointed Abd al-Jabbar as chief qadi of Rayy42 and the surrounding
province of Jibal.43
On this occasion Abd al-Jabbar received a ceremonial welcome from Ibn Abbad,
and his appointment was publicly recorded in an ornate document.44 Such formalities
might well be expected for the arrival of a q¯a
d.
¯ı al-qud. ¯a t in one of the most important
centers of the Buyid princedoms, but there is reason to believe that Ibn Abbad had a
personal interest in Abd al-Jabbar, as the two were both students of Abu Abdallah
al-Basri.45 The appointment was also part of Ibn Abbad’s public campaign to spread
Mutazilism. Ibn Abbad was looking for “a man who would summon people to his
madhhab.” Ibn Abbad, of course, was not only a vizier; he was also a mutakallim and
wrote several works in support of Mutazilism.46
Thus, Ibn Abbad and Abd al-Jabbar were joined by the same teacher and the same
madhhab. They seemed, initially, to have a close relationship, as one might expect. In
al-Mughni Abd al-Jabbar describes his frequent attendance at the majlis of Ibn Abbad
and his gratitude for the latter’s lessons in rhetoric and kal¯am.47 And several years after
his appointment, Ibn Abbad, on behalf of the Buyid ruler Muayyid al-Dawla (d. 984)
and the caliph, al-Tai (d. 1003), would promote Abd al-Jabbar and widen his authority
The Rise and Fall of Qadi Abd al-Jabbar 7
over newly possessed areas. On this occcasion he again praised the qadi, albeit in an
official tone:
Piety is his mount and his path. Truth is his goal and his sign. I have imparted words of wisdom
about the goodness of his teachings (madhhab) [i.e., theMutazila]. I have cited his knowledge.
Therefore [Muayyid al-Dawla], by the command of the Prince of the Faithful, al-Tai li-Llah
(May God grant him a long existence), has seen to add to [Abd al-Jabbar’s] authority his territories
of Jurjan, Tabiristan and their dependencies, along with the territory which he previously entrusted
to him.48
Along with the newpolitical authority bestowed on him, Abd al-Jabbar gained enough
wealth to buy ointment and burning oil, with plenty left over. Enough was left over, in
fact, that al-Tawhidi could remark that the qadi was not gaining the next world (¯akhira)
with his religion but, rather, “eating the present world (duny¯a )” with it.49 At the same
time that his political and financial status was on the rise, his status as a scholar was
also reaching a new high. When Abdallah al-Basri passed away in 980, Abd al-Jabbar
was left as the most respected Mutazilite scholar in the Islamic world.50 This was
undoubtedly the zenith of his career. Students traveled from far away to study with Abd
al-Jabbar. His work list, as preserved by al-Jishumi,51 includes texts written for those
who came from places as far west as Egypt and as far east as Khwarazm. Al-Jishumi also
reports that Abd al-Jabbar was so respected that when he was struck by gout (niqris),
his colleagues carried him on their shoulders to keep him from the pain of walking.52
Yet if Abd al-Jabbar rode a remarkable wave of political alliances to such a high
position, his fall was no less spectacular. With the death of Ibn Abbad in 995, Abd
al-Jabbar’s seemingly charmed career took a dramatic turn for the worse. The Buyid
emir, Fakhr al-Dawla, removed him from the post of q¯a
d.
¯ı al-qud. ¯a t and seized his sizable
fortune.53 What is more, Abd al-Jabbar’s reputation as a religious authority seemed to
suffer. Almost nothing is recorded of Abd al-Jabbar’s activities in the last thirty years
of his life, other than the fact that he continued to teach in Rayy, Isfahan, and Qazwin.54
The only specific report of Abd al-Jabbar’s whereabouts comes from al-Rafii, who
states that he was in Qazwin in the year 1019, where Muhammad ibn Abi al-Hasan
al-Adli was one of his students.55 His production as an author also seems to have
dropped precipitously after the events of 995. Of all of his extant works, the only one
that Abd al-Jabbar seems to have completed after that date is his biographical dictionary,
Fadl al-itizal wa-tabaqat al-Mutazila.56
Abd al-Jabbar died, according to most sources, in 1025.57 Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi
(d. 1071) reports arriving in Rayy just after Abd al-Jabbar’s death: “Abd al-Jabbar died
before I entered Rayy on my journey to Khurasan. That was in the year 415. I calculate
that his passing was in the beginning of the year.”58 Rafii names the same year but
the fifth month, Jumada al-Ula.59 Both al-Dhahabi and the Shafii biographer al-Subki
(d. 1370) give the date as the eleventhmonth, Dhu al-Qada, of 415, or January-February
1025. Al-Subki adds that Abd al-Jabbar died in Rayy and was buried on his estate.60
THE FALL OF ABD AL-JABBAR
I turn, then, to the specific matters of Abd al-Jabbar’s refusal to pray the tarah.
h.
um and
his fall from power—two events that, according to the sources, are directly connected.
8 Gabriel Said Reynolds
Ibn al-Athir, in his report on Ibn Abbad’s death, describes Fakhr al-Dawla’smove against
Abd al-Jabbar as a direct consequence of the latter’s refusal to pray the tarah.
h.
um:
When [Ibn Abbad] passed away, Abd al-Jabbar said, “I do not consider him [worthy] of the mercy
statement (tarah.
h.
um), since he died without demonstrating repentance.” So Abd al-Jabbar was
considered to have meager loyalty. Then Fakhr al-Dawla seized Abd al-Jabbar and held him.61
Despite this report, however, there is reason to think that these two events may not be
so closely joined. To begin with, it is difficult to imagine that Fakhr al-Dawla, in light
of his own conduct after Ibn Abbad’s death, truly would have been offended by Abd
al-Jabbar’s conduct. It is widely reported Fakhr al-Dawla began seizing Ibn Abbad’s
possessions while his corpse lay displayed in his house.62 This adds some perspective to
the reports of Fakhr al-Dawla’s deathbed conversation with Ibn Abbad,63 and his public
mourning after the death of the vizier.64
Fakhr al-Dawla had long been suspicious of Ibn Abbad, whowas known as “al-Sahib”
(the friend, the companion) because of his close association with Muayyid al-Dawla,65
Fakhr al-Dawla’s brother and rival. When Muayyid al-Dawla died in 984 (while on a
campaign against Fakhr al-Dawla’s allies, the Ziyarids and Samanids), Fakhr al-Dawla
seized the moment, taking control of Rayy. Having scored a significant triumph, he
was anxious to consolidate his gain and began to move against those associated with
his deceased brother. He was particularly anxious about Ibn Abbad.66 According to
al-Thaalabi (d. 1038), Fakhr al-Dawla called for the vizier’s resignation, only to back
down in deference to Ibn Abbad’s considerable power.67 A working relationship was
established.68
When Ibn Abbad died more than a decade later, Fakhr al-Dawla’s reaction was likely
not grief but relief. He must have seen this as the moment, perhaps long awaited, in
which he could finally consolidate his power by removing those associated with his
brother, those who had heretofore been protected by the long shadow of Ibn Abbad.
Thus, Fakhr al-Dawla’s move against Abd al-Jabbar was in a sense the completion of a
job long left half-done. This view is supported by the remark of the 11th-century vizier,
Abu Shuja (d. 1095), that, when Ibn Abbad died, Fakhr al-Dawla took not only Abd
al-Jabbar but all of the Ibn Abbad’s former companions into custody.69
Fakhr al-Dawla also had significant economic reasons for his move. He did not simply
remove Abd al-Jabbar from power; he held the latter in custody (mus.¯a dara), setting
him free only on the payment of a large ransom. According to al-Safadi and Abu Shuja,
Fakhr al-Dawla fined Abd al-Jabbar the exorbitant amount of 3 million dirhams, which
the qadi raised by selling a thousand Egyptian garments.70 Ibn al-Athir and Ibn Khaldun
(d. 1406), meanwhile, report that Abd al-Jabbar sold one thousand foreign garments
(t.ay¯alisa)71 and one thousand fine wool cloaks to pay off Fakhr al-Dawla.72 (Ibn Kathir
describes the extortion payment as one thousand t.ay¯a lisa and one thousand suits of
armor, but his version of the events is less accurate than that of others).73
Incidentally, the fact that Abd al-Jabbar could raise this money shows how wealthy
he had become. Ibn al-Athir, seeing in this wealth proof that Abd al-Jabbar was not
the most ethical public servant, is amazed at Abd al-Jabbar’s hypocrisy in accusing Ibn
Abbad of failing to repent. He wonders, “Why did [Abd al-Jabbar] not look to himself
instead and repent for taking such a sum and amassing it without giving it away?”74 Yaqut
(d. 1229) is still more damning in his judgment: “[Abd al-Jabbar] claimed that aMuslim
The Rise and Fall of Qadi Abd al-Jabbar 9
would go to eternal hellfire over a quarter-dinar, but all of this money came from his
corrupt judgeship. He is the true unbeliever.”75
Finally, there is reason to believe that Fakhr al-Dawla was in particular need of funds
when the tarah.
h.
um incident occurred. Just before the death of Ibn Abbad, Fakhr al-
Dawla paid a massive tribute to the Ghaznavid forces led by Sebuktigin (d. 997) and his
son Mahmud (of Ghazna, d. 1030) to keep them from invading Rayy.76 Thus, political
motivations for moving against Abd al-Jabbar were joined by economic pressures.
THE TARAH. H.
UM QUEST ION
All of this suggests two possibilities: one, that the tarah.
h.
um incident never occurred;
that it was invented by Fakhr al-Dawla to justify his move against Abd al-Jabbar; or,
two, that it did indeed occur and was thereafter used by Fakhr al-Dawla as a justification
for that move. This problem hinges on one question: did Abd al-Jabbar have a motive
for denying Ibn Abbad the tarah.
h.
um?
The answermay lie in observations of Ibn al-Athir andYaqut on the tarah.
h.
um incident
(quoted earlier), which suggest that Abd al-Jabbar was more than a bookish and pious
scholar. They both see him, in light of this incident, as greedy—and to a certain extent,
hypocritical. Interestingly enough, among modern scholars Abd al-Jabbar’s ethics go
unquestioned.77 The only scholar who seems willing to question the innocence of Abd
al-Jabbar in the tarah.
h.
um incident is C. Pellat, who notes the “long suffering Ibn Abbad
showed toward his prot´eg´e [Abd al-Jabbar], who behaved towards him in a somewhat
cavalier fashion and whose attitude at the time of his death has already been described.”78
Not surprisingly, Pellat’s remark is in an article on Ibn Abbad, not on Abd al-Jabbar.
Biography—in this affair, at least—tends toward hagiography.
Perhaps this is why the tarah.
h.
um incident thus far has not been fully understood: the
explanations proposed for this incident do not reflect a complete understanding of Abd
al-Jabbar’s character.
EXPLANATION 1: ABD AL-JABBAR WAS FRAMED
Uthman sees the tarah.
h.
um incident as the one thing that “tarnishes the clearness of
the connection” between Ibn Abbad and Abd al-Jabbar.79 Madelung goes further,
attributing the report of Abd al-Jabbar’s refusal to declare the mercy statement to
“hostile sources.” He thus implies that the report is fabricated, although in his brief
article he does not identify the fabricator. Fakhr al-Dawla, however, would clearly be the
prime suspect. Is the account of Abd al-Jabbar’s refusal to pray for Ibn Abbad simply
a story concocted by Fakhr al-Dawla to steal the wealth of a man who had become as
rich as Croesus while eliminating a possible threat?
This explanation cannot be excluded, but it is purely an argumentum e silentio. The
reports of the tarah.
h.
um incident are widespread in Islamic sources, and nowhere is its
historicity questioned.
EXPLANATION 2: ABD AL-JABBAR WAS OUTRAGED
AT IBN ABBAD’S IMMORALITY
Abd al-Jabbar must have realized that refusing Ibn Abbad the tarah.
h.
um put his good
standing, and his job, at risk. What motive could have been worth the risk? Monnot
10 Gabriel Said Reynolds
explains Abd al-Jabbar’s behavior as an expression of his religious principles.80 Abd
al-Jabbar simply could not, in good conscience, pray for Ibn Abbad, since the tarah.
h.
um
is due only to those who followed the Islamic law and died as good Muslims. Monnot’s
endorsement of this explanation follows from the common portrayal of Ibn Abbad’s
personality. He was at once a “wealthy and generous patron of letters,”81 the political
champion of theMutazila, and an irreligious free-thinker with a penchant for the vulgar
and bawdy.82
This picture is painted in vibrant colors by Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi, who worked
for Ibn Abbad in Rayy until a conflict between the two left al-Tawhidi with a grudge
and without a job.83 Al-Tawhidi later devoted part of one book84 and most of another85
to assailing the character of Ibn Abbad.86 When asked about the vizier’s religion, al-
Tawhidi replied, “He has no religion, except for his sinfulness in action and his dishonesty
in thought.”87
Yet the dissolute or irreligious lifestyle of Ibn Abbad is never explicitly brought up
in the extant reports of the tarah.
h.
um incident. Abd al-Jabbar simply relates therein that
he will not pray the tarah.
h.
um because Ibn Abbad failed to demonstrate repentance.
The question, then, is what would Abd al-Jabbar intend here by repentance (tawba)?
In the Mutazilite sense of the term, tawba relates to action and behavior, not to belief
or madhhab (which would fit the Hanbali use of the term).88 Was Abd al-Jabbar, then,
offended at some un–Islamic behavior of Ibn Abbad? Did he weigh the vizier by the
Quranic moral dictum al-amr bi-l-mar¯uf wa-l-nahy an al-munkar (one of the five
principles of Mutazilism) and find him wanting?
If thiswas the case, why did Abd al-Jabbar not find Ibn Abbad’s behavior too impious
(or, at least, why did he not let his pious sensibilities interfere) when he accepted the
post of q¯a
d.
¯ı al-qud. ¯at and the later promotion? Why would he suddenly have gained
such scruples after Ibn Abbad’s death? Even more problematic: how can this theory be
reconciled with reports that Ibn Abbad indeed made a showy public repentance? Ibn
al-Jawzi, for example, describes how Ibn Abbad, toward the end of his life, gathered his
majlis together and announced, “I give witness to God and to you that I have repented,
for God’s sake, from each sin.” He adds that Ibn al-Abbad even consecrated a certain
house as the “House of Repentance” (bayt al-tawba).89 This report is repeated by Ibn
Kathir,who describes the “House of Repentance” as one building on Ibn Abbad’s estate.
Ibn Kathir also mentions that Ibn Abbad had the ulema sign a document affirming the
validity of his repentance.90 Of all of the scholars who were present on that day, he
mentions only one by name: Qadi Abd al-Jabbar.
EXPLANATION 3: ABD AL-JABBAR REFUSED TO PRAY
FOR A SHII
Ibn Hajar raises an entirely different explanation of why Abd al-Jabbar would not
declare the tarah.
h.
um: Ibn Abbad’s adherence to Shiism. He reports, “The Qadi Abd
al-Jabbar said, regarding why he would not pray for [Ibn Abbad], ‘I do not know how
I would pray for this Rafidi.’”91
R¯afid.
¯ı is a term often used for a proto–Shii (i.e., Alids) or an Imami Shii, but it
also has a particular connection with the Zaydi Shiis.92 Ibn Hajar elsewhere identifies
Ibn Abbad as a Zaydi, as does Ibn al-Nadim.93 If it is true, then, that Ibn Abbad was a
Zaydi, could this have led Abd al-Jabbar to deny him the tarah.
h.
um?
The Rise and Fall of Qadi Abd al-Jabbar 11
This is unlikely indeed. Abd al-Jabbar did not have a reputation for anti–Shii
polemics, as his Mutazilite predecessor Jahiz did. On the contrary, he was known
to have inclined toward certain Shii teachings, in line with his Mutazilite teacher Abu
Abdallah al-Basri.94 Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328), in fact, names Abd al-Jabbar “min almu
tazila al-mutashayyia,”95 since he held Ali to be the best of men after Muhammad
(before Abu Bakr, Umar, and ‘Uthman). Moreover, Abd al-Jabbar counted a large
number of Shiis—particularly Zaydi Shiis—among his students.96 It is also important
to note that, although Abd al-Jabbar wrote against opposing Muslim teachings, he also
held a notably inclusive definition of a Muslim, a point made by F. Griffel.97 He certainly
would not consider a Shii to be an apostate unworthy of God’s mercy.
The fact that his rulers, the Buyids, were themselves Shii makes it all the more
unlikely that Abd al-Jabbar would be willing to make a publicly anti–Shii statement,
in any case. The explanation for Ibn Hajar’s report may lie in the biases of Ibn Hajar
himself. He was no friend to the Mutazila or to the Shia, and with this insinuation he
manages to make them both look bad.
A NEW EXPLANATION
I have mentioned Ibn Abbad’s reputation as at once a patron of learning and a hedonist.
He was also known for the many feuds in which he became embroiled. Ibn Abbad was
an intelligent, suspicious, and crafty man who maintained his post as vizier for almost
twenty years, during the reigns of two different princes. In the stormy world of the Buyid
emirates, this is not a task that can be accomplished by h.
ilm alone. That Ibn Abbad
had a polemical side is evident from the great amount of political poetry extant in his
own works, in which he appears to be no less sharp-tongued than al-Tawhidi and no
stranger to feuds. One of those feuds led Ibn Abbad to curse his opponent even after
the opponent’s death, in an account that he himself relates:
I questioned a messenger from Khurasan: “Is it true that your poet Khwarizmi is dead?”
He said, “Yes.”
“On his gravestone in letters of plaster write, God curse all such thankless wretches,” I said.98
Could it be that a similar scene was acted out when Abd al-Jabbar heard of the death
of Ibn Abbad? Was Abd al-Jabbar another of the vizier’s opponents? Did he carry a
personal bitterness against Ibn Abbad, as Ibn ‘Abbad did against Khwarizmi?Were Ibn
Abbad and Abd al-Jabbar not merely patron and client, vizier and qadi, but also rivals?
This suggestion seems to conflict with the reports of Ibn Abbad’s support of Abd
al-Jabbar. I mentioned earlier, for example, the occasions on which Ibn Abbad praised
Abd al-Jabbar: upon his appointment as qadi, upon his completion of al-Mughni, and
at his promotion in Rayy. These statements of goodwill are supported by the Mutazilite
biographer al-Jishumi, who records: “al-Sahib said about him: He is one of the most
virtuous people of the land. And once he said: He is one of the most intelligent people
of the land.”99
Yet other statements that we have from Ibn Abbad qualify this praise. They suggest
that Ibn Abbad’s laudatory statements were made before their relationship went awry,
or that they were made in an official context and do not reflect Ibn Abbad’s true
opinion of Abd al-Jabbar. Al-Jishumi’s biography of Abd al-Jabbar, after all, is part of
12 Gabriel Said Reynolds
his hagiographic dictionary of the Mutazila.100 Would not al-Jishumi, in his panegyric
work on the Mutazila, try to portray the relationship of the great Mutazilite vizier and
the great Mutazilite qadi in the friendliest terms?
When we look at other sources, such as al-Tawhidi, a different picture comes into
focus. Al-Tawhidi was one of Ibn Abbad’s opponents, and his writings are undeniably
polemical. Yet he also was a first-hand witness to the relationship of Ibn Abbad and
Abd al-Jabbar when he was employed by the former as a scribe in Rayy. Al-Tawhidi
claims, among other things, to have been present at Ibn Abbad’s majlis when, in the
year 980 (the same year that Ibn Abbad praised Abd al-Jabbar’s al-Mughni), the vizier
publicly humiliated Abd al-Jabbar.101 According to al-Tawhidi, on this occasion Ibn
Abbad addressed Abd al-Jabbar in the following manner:
O Qadi! How is your state and your soul? How is your leisure, your social life? How are your
sessions, your studies? How is your scratching and your ringing? How is your thrusting and your
crushing? How is your tearing up and pounding [of meat]?
Al-Tawhidi continues:
Now [Ibn Abbad] could barely stop himself from this raving, due to his agitation (tahayyujuhu)102
and passion, as well as [his own] great conceit and immoderation. Meanwhile, [Abd al-Jabbar]
al-Hamadhani was like a mouse between the paws of a cat, tiny and cowering. With every breath
he became more humiliated, more insignificant. This was due to his arrogance in his court, yet
depravity in his soul.103
If al-Tawhidi’s report is accurate,would not this attack be enough to leave Abd al-Jabbar
with a grudge against Ibn Abbad? Even if his report is not entirely accurate, it at least
suggests that there was some sort of animosity between the two.
This suggestion is confirmed by a report from al-Safadi, a historian who is at once
more sober and scientific than al-Tawhidi.104 Al-Safadi argues that a rivalry was behind
Abd al-Jabbar’s refusal to pronounce the tarah.
h.
um for Ibn Abbad:
[Abd al-Jabbar] was described with a lack of attention for [others’] privileges (h.
uq¯uq). The
primary reason for this is that at first he would write to al-Sahib, at the heading of his books,
“His servant, agent, and prot´eg´e (ghirs), Abd al-Jabbar.” But when he saw his station with Ibn
Abbad, how [Ibn Abbad] recognized his privilege and was responsive to him, he began to
write, “His servant and agent and his prot´eg´e.” So Ibn Abbad said to those in his majlis, “‘Abd
al-Jabbar’s place among us has increased. He titles his books with ‘the Mighty’ [al-Jabbar] and
leaves out the rest of his name.”
So when al-Sahib died, Abd al-Jabbar said, “I will not pronounce the mercy statement over him
since he did not make a visible showing of his repentance (lam yuz. hir tawbatahu).” The people
slandered Abd al-Jabbar for this and loathed him, after all of the good that al-Sahib had done for
him.105
According to al-Safadi, Abd al-Jabbar stopped adding his name to his books, which Ibn
Abbad saw as an act of insolence. Even more, Ibn Abbad suggests that Abd al-Jabbar
was blaspheming; he had forgotten that he was abd al-Jabb¯ar, “servant of the Mighty
[i.e. God],” and begun to think of himself simply as al-Jabb¯ar (one of the divine names).
This is no light accusation.
The Rise and Fall of Qadi Abd al-Jabbar 13
Al-Safadi thus directly connects the rivalry of the vizier and the qadi with the tarah.
h.
um
incident. His witness here is doubly important, for it also provides legitimacy to the
reports of al-Tawhidi. Al-Safadi, a 14th-century historian from Damascus, had none of
the biases of al-Tawhidi regarding Ibn Abbad and his circle. On this basis it emerges that
Abd al-Jabbar’s rivalry with Ibn Abbad, and not his moral indignation at the licentious
lifestyle of the vizier, or his bias against Shiis, lies behind the tarah.
h.
um incident.
CONCLUSION
Abd al-Jabbar’s dismissal and confinement by Fakhr al-Dawla was in many ways his
tragic downfall. Stripped of his position and fortune, Abd al-Jabbar also seems to
have lost his academic reputation. From this point on he virtually disappears from the
sources.What lies behind such a dramatic reversal? The extant sources suggest that Abd
al-Jabbar is himself responsible for it. His proud refusal to pronounce the tarah.
h.
um for
Ibn Abbad provoked his ouster by Fakhr al-Dawla, an emir outraged at the insult to his
vizier.
This study, however, suggests that the tarah.
h.
um incident has only the most superficial
relationship to the fall of Abd al-Jabbar. The qadi’s ouster was actually determined more
than a decade earlier, in 984, when Fakhr al-Dawla took power in Rayy. Ibn Abbad’s
death meant that the time for Abd al-Jabbar’s inevitable downfall had finally arrived.
If Fakhr al-Dawla had any doubts about eliminating a qadi who was too closely linked
with his brother and rival, they were probably wiped away by his need to raise funds,
a need brought on by the expensive peace that he had bought from the Ghaznavids. It
is not unlikely that Abd al-Jabbar realized that his ouster was inevitable, and that this
realization contributed to his cavalier attitude after the death of Ibn Abbad. He had
nothing to lose.
The first conclusion of this study, then, is that Abd al-Jabbar’s fall was due not to
the tarah.
h.
um incident but, rather, to the political maneuvers of the Buyid ruler. In this
sense, it is clear how closely Abd al-Jabbar’s career was intertwined with politics: He
rose to prominence through political connections and he fell when those connections
were lost.
Yet the conclusions of this study by no means strip the tarah.
h.
um incident of value. For
through the analysis of this incident, a new image of Abd al-Jabbar comes into focus.
Abd al-Jabbar did not refuse Ibn Abbad the mercy statement due to moral sensitivity or
an anti-Shii prejudice but rather due to his long-standing rivalry with the vizier. Reports
from al-Tawhidi and al-Safadi suggest that the two were in open competition from at
least 980. Other reports from al-Tawhidi, Ibn al-Athir, and Yaqut suggest that Abd
al-Jabbar used his position of q¯ad.¯ı al-qud. ¯at to increase his power and enrich himself.
Abd al-Jabbar was evidently more than a bookish theologian or a moralistic judge.
He was a political figure, an ambitious public official in competition with his own vizier
in themidst of the power struggles of Buyid Rayy.Meanwhile, his moral conduct was by
no means beyond reproach. The qadi grew fabulously wealthy, even though the scenes
in his courts must have constantly reminded him of the plight of the poor and victimized.
Thus, the character of Abd al-Jabbar is more complicated than has been assumed. He
emerges from this study as a much more intriguing, if less innocent, historical figure.
14 Gabriel Said Reynolds
NOTES
1J. R. T. M. Peters, God’s Created Speech (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1976), 14.
2G. Monnot, Penseurs musulmans et religions iraniennes (Paris: J. Vrin, 1974), 17; cf. Abd al-Karim
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat (Beirut: Dar al-Arabiyya, 1967), 28 ff.
3Among modern biographies, by far the most detailed is Uthman’s Qadi al-qudat. The article by
W. Madelung is brief (“Abd-al-Jabbar,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, ed. Ehsan Yarshater [London: Routledge,
1982– ], 1:116–18), although it updates that of S. M. Stern, Encyclopaedia of Islam, newed., 11 vols. (hereafter,
EI2) (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1954– ), 1:59–60. See also the first chapter of Peters, God’s Created Speech.Monnot,
in Penseurs musulmans, relies primarily on the work of Uthman.
4“Ra.hmat All ¯ahi alayhi” (‘May God have mercy on him’) or a similar phrase of benediction.
5Madelung, “Abd al-Jabbar,” 1:117.
6Monnot, Penseurs musulmans, 17.
7H. G. Hourani, Islamic Rationalism: The Ethics of Abd al-Jabbar (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971),
6–7.
8Al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafiiyya al-kubra (Cairo: Matbaat Isa al-Halabi, 1964–76), 5:97. For differences
in the biographical sources on his name and ancestry, see Peters, God’s Created Speech, 8, ns. 23, 24.
9Ibn Hawqal (d. after 973) refers to Asadabad as a lively town with a mosque and markets, with farms
known for their honey production in its outskirts. Ibn Hawqal, Kitab Surat al-ard (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1938),
358–59. See also G. Le Strange, Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (London: Frank Cass, 1966), 196.
10Both Dhahabi and Ibn al-Athir report that Abd al-Jabbar lived past his 90th year, as does al-Safadi
(d. 1363; he relies on Ibn al-Athir, or a common source, for his basic information). Thus 325/937 as a
birth date comes by counting back from a death date of 415/1025. See al-Dhahabi, Siyar alam al-nubala,
28 vols. (Beirut: Muassasat al-Risala, 1996), 17:245; Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-tarikh, 11 vols. (Beirut:
Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1995), 8:142; Salah al-Din al-Safadi, al-Wafi bi-l-wafayat (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner,
1988), 18:31. Cf. al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam (Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, 1988– ), yrs. 401–20:376.
Uthman comes up with the year 320/932, partly because al-Khatib al-Baghdadi reports that Abd al-Jabbar
studied with Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Zibaqi al-Basri, who died in 333/944, by which time Abd al-Jabbar
must have reached maturity. See Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 23; al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad,
14 vols. (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1995), 11:114.
11Al-Tawhidi, al-Imta wa-l-muanasa, 3 vols. (Cairo: Matbaa Lajnat al-Talif, 1939), 1:141. Pace Ibn
Hajar, who reports that he read al-Tawhidi refer to Abd al-Jabbar’s father as ah.all ¯aj (wool carder). See Ibn
Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 6 vols. (Hyderabad: Matbaa Majlis Dairat al-Maarif, 1329–31), 3:386; Uthman,
Qadi al-qudat, 29.
12Al-Dhahabi, Siyar, 17:245.
13Al-Dhahabi later describes the Mutazila by saying, “[T]hese were people educated by him in abominable
views.” Ibid., 17:245.
14Abu Sad al-Bayhaqi al-Jishumi, Sharh uyun al-masail (Tunis: al-Dar al-Tunisiyya li-l-Nashr,
1393/1974), 365. (Al-Jishumi’s work in this edition begins with the eleventh tabaqa of the Mutazila, continuing
the work of Abu al-Qasim al-Balkhi al-Kabi [d. 931], Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, and Abd al-Jabbar,
Fadl al-itizal). See the slightly different version in Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mutazila (Beirut: al-Matbaa
al-Kathulikiyya, 1961), 112. Cf. also the comments of al-Subki regarding Abd al-Jabbar, “[T]he Mutazila
call him q¯ad.
¯ı al-qud. ¯at (the chief judge). This name is not applied to anyone other than him. No one else is
addressed by it.” Al-Subki, Tabaqat, 5:97.
15Al-Tawhidi, Mathalib al-wazirayn (Damascus: Dar al-Fikr, 1961), 66 ff.
16Idem, al-Imta wa-l-muanasa, 1:141–42.
17Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 3:386.
18Naghil al-b ¯at.in. Ibid., 3:386. Cf. al-Tawhidi, al-Imta wa-l-muanasa, 1:141–42; Ibn Manzur, Lisan
al-Arab, 18 vols. (Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, 1418/1997), 14:221.
19Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 3:386.
20Madelung, “Abd al-Jabbar,” 1:116; Monnot, Penseurs musulmans, 13. During this early period, he studied
under Zubayr ibn Abd al-Wahid al-Asadabadhi (d. 958/9) and Abu al-Hasan ibn Salama al-Qattan (d. 956/7).
Both are named as hadith sources for Abd al-Jabbar by al-Dhahabi (Siyar, 17:244; Tarikh al-Islam, yrs.
401–20:376), al-Subki (Tabaqat, 5:97) and al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (Tarikh Baghdad, 11:114). See also
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 23.
The Rise and Fall of Qadi Abd al-Jabbar 15
21Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 26.
22In Hamadhan, Abd al-Jabbar heard hadith from Abu Muhammad Abd al-Rahman al-Jallab (or Hallab,
d. 954) and in Isfahan from Abdallah ibn Jafar al-Isbahani (d. 958). Dhahabi, Siyar, 17:244; idem, Tarikh al-
Islam, 401–20:376; al-Subki, Tabaqat, 5:97; al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, 11:114; Ibn al-Murtada,
Tabaqat al-Mutazila, 109. See also Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 24.
23Madelung, “Abd al-Jabbar,” 116; Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 24.
24Al-Jishumi, Sharh uyun al-masail, 365–66.
25Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mutazila, 107. Ibn Ayyash followed the school of Jubbai. Some of his
writings have been preserved in Abd al-Jabbar’s al-Mughni. See F. Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen
Schrifttums, 12 vols. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1967–2000), 1:624; Madelung, “Abd al-Jabbar,” 117; Uthman,
Qadi al-qudat, 24, 48.
26“In the beginning of [Abd al-Jabbar’s] career, he followed the Ashariyya school in principles [us. ¯ ul] and
the school of Shafii in the branches [of law]. But when he attended the session of the scholars, he observed,
debated and recognized the truth. So he submitted to it.” Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mutazila, 112.
27Uthman estimates that Abd al-Jabbar’s conversion took place in 346, when he was twenty-four years
old: see Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 43.
28Al-Jishumi, Sharh uyun al-masail, 367; Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mutazila, 113. See also the comments
of the Shafii chronicler Ibn Qadi Shuhba on Abd al-Jabbar’s dual vocation as a mutakallim and faq¯ıh.
Ibn Qadi Shubba, Tabaqat al-fuqaha al-Shafiiyya, 4 vols. (Beirut: Alam al-Kutub, 1407/1987), 1:184.
29On al-Basri, see J. van Ess, “Abu Abdallah al-Basri,” EI2, S:12–14; Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, ed. Tajaddud
(Tehran: Dar al-Masira, 1988), 222.
30“He wanted to read the fiqh of Abu Hanifa with Abu Abdallah [al-Basri], who said to [Abd al-Jabbar],
‘Every legist (mujtahid) of this science is correct. I am a Hanafi, so you be among the companions of Shafii”’:
Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mutazila, 112. Cf. al-Jishumi, Sharh uyun al-masail, 367, where this report is
corrupted.
Abd al-Jabbar studied and learned hadith from a number of other teachers, although it is unclear where
and at what point. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi adds the following teachers: al-Qasim ibn Abi Salih al-Hamadhani,
Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Basri, Muhammad ibn Abdallah Akhi al-Sawi, and Muhammad ibn Abdallah
al-Ramhurmuzi, the son of Abu Muhammad Abdallah ibn Abbas al-Ramhurmuzi, an important student of
al-Jubbai and opponent of al-Ashari in whosemosque (in Ramhurmuz) Abd al-Jabbar studied. Al-Khatib al-
Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, 11:114. See also J. van Ess, Theologie und Gesellschaft im 2. und 3. Jahrhundert
Hidschra, 6 vols. (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1991–97), 4:247; Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 48.
31Uthman suggests that throughout the 360s/970s Abd al-Jabbar traveled between Ramhurmuz, where he
studied with the Mutazili Abu al-Abbas ibn Rizq, and Baghdad, until Ibn Abbad called him to Rayy: see
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 25.
32Al-Jishumi, Sharh uyun al-masail, 366.
33The text of the letter that Abd al-Jabbar composed is recorded by the Qadi Abd al-Malik ibn Ahmad al-
Qazwini (d. 1140), in his Rawdat al-balagha, ms. 148, Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya, fols. 18–19. See al-Jishumi,
Sharh uyun al-masail, 369, n. 26.
34Al-Jishumi, Sharh uyun al-masail, 369–70.
35Al-Safadi, al-Wafi, 18:33.
36Al-Jishumi, Sharh uyun al-masail, 365. Cf. Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mutazila, 11:114.
37It is possible that al-Basri and Ibn Abbad were drawn together by membership in the same madhhab:
al-Zaydi Shiism. J. Kraemer describes Basri as a Zaydi (without, however, providing references): J. Kraemer,
Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1992), 178. Van Ess does not explicitly address the
question but implies that al-Basri was no Zaydi, that he courted the affection of the Zaydiyya only for political
purposes: see van Ess, “Abu Abdallah al-Basri,” 13. There is more substantial evidence, in my opinion, that
Ibn Abbad was a Zaydi, most notably a work attributed to him entitled Kitab al-Zaydiyya. The Imami Shii
al-Shaykh al-Mufid (d. 1022) responded to this work, which suggests that it was a defense of Zaydism: see
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 35. Ibn Hajar considers Ibn Abbad a Zaydi (1:414). See also Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist,
150; C. Pellat, “al-Sahib Ibn Abbad,” in Abbasid Belles-Lettres (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1990), 102, 104; Cahen, “Ibn Abbad,” EI2, 672; Peters, God’s Created Speech, 7.
Ibn Abbad’s Zaydi background would match what is known of the close relationship between theMutazila
and the Zaydiyya. The Zaydi–Mutazili connection is also seen in the fact that one of the works on which
Abd al-Jabbar wrote a commentary, Abu Ali Muhammad ibn Khallad al-Basri’s (d. 961) al-Usul al-khamsa,
16 Gabriel Said Reynolds
is also commented on by the Zaydi Imam al-Natiq bi-l-Haqq Abu Talib Yahya ibn al-Husayn (d. 1033). Extant
in Leiden, ms. or. 2949. See Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Literatur (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1937–42),
S1:343, 624. Note, however, that Abd al-Jabbar’s work is not extant. The edition of the Sharh al-usul alkhamsa
attributed to him (ed. Abd al-Karim Uthman [Cairo: Makataba Wahba, 1965]) is actually the work
of Abd al-Jabbar’s student Shashdiw Mankdim (Ahmad ibn Abi Hashim al-Qazwini, d. 1034). On this, see
D. Gimaret, “Les usul al-khamsa du Qadi Abd al-Jabbar et leurs commentaires,” Annales Islamologiques 15
(1979): 50.
For a more general consideration of the relationship between the Zaydiyya and the Mutazila, see Peters,
God’s Created Speech, 7; W. Madelung, Der Imam al-Qasim b. Ibrahim und die Glaubenslehre der Zaiditen
(Berlin: de Gruyter, 1965).
38Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ali al-Nasibi. See the reference in al-Tawhidi, Muqabasat (Baghdad: Matbaat
al-Irshad, 1970), 159 ff.
39Al-Safadi, al-Wafi, 18:32.
40Al-Jishumi, Sharh uyun al-masail, 366; Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mutazila, 112.
41Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-tarikh, 7:380; Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad al-Rafii, al-Tadwin fi akhbar
Qazwin, 4 vols. (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Arabiyya, 1408/1987), 3:125.
42See Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-tarikh, 7:380, Cf. al-Subki, Tabaqat, 5:97.
43Including Qazwin, Suhraward, and Qumm. See al-Sahib ibn Abbad, Rasail (Cairo: Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi,
1366/1947), 42–46.
44Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 36.
45Al-Basri was also the teacher of Ibn Abbad, who refers to him as al-shaykh al-murshid. Ibn Abbad
meanwhile was a powerful political sponsor of al-Basri’s Mutazili school, for which al-Basri refers to him as
im¯ad al-d¯ın: see van Ess, “Abu Abdallah al-Basri,” 12–14; Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 36.
46Ibn Abbad was the author of al-Ibana an madhhab ahl al-adl bi-hujaj al-Quran wa-l-aql and al-
Tadhkira fi al-usul al-khamsa: See Pellat, “al-Sahib Ibn Abbad,” 103. Uthman comments, “al-Sahib was
not simply a ruler zealous for . . . political goals, but was himself skilled in the Mutazili school”: see also
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 34; Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 1:413–14.
47Abd al-Jabbar, al-Mughni, 20:1254.
48Ibn Abbad, Rasail, 34; cf. Rafii, al-Tadwin fi akhbar Qazwin, 119.
49Al-Tawhidi, al-Imta wa-l-muanasa, 1:141.
50Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 43.
51Al-Jishumi, Sharh uyun al-masail, 368–69. Abd al-Jabbar also traveled to Isfahan and Askar Mukram
to teach from the al-Mughni: see Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 26.
52Al-Jishumi, Sharh uyun al-masail, 369.
53Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-tarikh, 7:472; Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 3:387.
54Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 26.
55Al-Rafii, al-Tadwin fi akhbar Qazwin, 125; Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 26.
56Abd al-Jabbar, Fadl al-itizal wa-tabaqat al-Mutazila (Tunis: al-Dar al-Tunisiyya li-l-Nashr, 1393/1974).
Madelung (p. 118) estimates that Abd al-Jabbar worked on this project between the years 390/1000 and
407/1017. It would later be added on to by al-Jishumi and Ibn Murtada.
57Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-tarikh, (8:142), and al-Safadi (al-Wafi, 18:31), give 414 (1023/4) for his death
date: Ibn al-Murtada, (Tabaqat al-Mutazila, 112) concludes that it was either 415 or 416.
58Al-Muharram: see al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, 11:116.
59Al-Rafii, al-Tadwin khbar Qazwin, 125.
60Al-Subki, Tabaqat, 5:97; al-Dhahabi, Siyar, 17:245; idem, Tarikh al-Islam, yrs. 410–20:376. This date
is confirmed by Ibn Qadi Shuhba, Tabaqat 1:184. See also Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 27.
61This is the version of Abd al-Jabbar’s statement related by Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-tarikh, 7:472
(yr. 385). It is repeated by a number of sources, including Muhammad ibn al-Husayn Abu Shuja, Dhayl
tajarib al-umam (Cairo: Matbaat al-Tamaddun, 1334/1916), 262; Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 3:387; Yaqut,
Irshad (London: Luzac, 1907–26), 2:335; Ibn Khaldun, al-Ibar, 7 vols. (Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-Lubnani,
1958), 4:995. On Ibn Abbad’s death, see also Abu al-Fida Ismail ibn Ali, Mukhtasar fi akhbar al-bashar
(Cairo: Matbaat al-Husayniyya, 1956–61), 2:130–31.
62See al-Yafii, Mirat al-janan, 4 vols. (Beirut: Muassasat al-Alami li-l-Matbuat, 1390/1970), 3:29; Abu
Shuja, Dhayl tajarib al-umam, 262. Cf. Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-tarikh,7:472; Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan,
3:387; Uthman (Qadi al-qudat, 39–40) states:
The Rise and Fall of Qadi Abd al-Jabbar 17
63Abu Shuja, Dhayl tajarib al-umam, 261 ff.
64 The vizier’s funeral was a state affair, led by Fakhr al-Dawla himself: see al-Yafii, Mirat al-janan, 3:29.
65On this, see Ibn Taghribirdi, al-Nujum al-zahira, 9 vols. (Cairo:Wizarat al-Thaqatawa-l-Irshad al-Qawmi,
1963), 4:170. Cf. Pellat, “al-Sahib Ibn Abbad,” 99–100.
66Al-Thaalabi has Fakhr al-Dawla accuse Ibn Abbad of madhhab al-itiz ¯al and nayk al-rij ¯al: Abu Mansur
Abd al-Malik al-Thaalibi, Yatimat al-dahr, 4 vols. (Cairo: Matbaat al-Sawi, 1353/1934), 3:179.
67“When Fakhr al-Dawla took power he called for the resignation of al-Sahib from his vizierate, saying to
him, ‘In this state you have the inheritance of the vizierate, and I have the inheritance of the emirate. Each one
of us is obliged to protect what is his’” al-Thaalibi, Yatimat al-dahr, 3:171.
68 Ibn Taghribirdi reports that Fakhr al-Dawla increased Ibn Abbad’s authority even beyond what it was
under his brother Muayyid al-Dawla: Ibn Taghribirdi, al-Najum al-zahira, 4:170.
69Abu Shuja, Dhayl tajarib al-umam, 264.
70See ibid, 262; Yaqut, Irshad, 2:335; al-Safadi, al-Wafi, 18:33. All three remark that Fakhr al-Dawla
assigned Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Jurjani (Abu Shuja, Dhayl tajarib al-umam, 263) in Abd
al-Jabbar’s place as Qadi in Rayy (on al-Jurjani, see al-Jishumi, Sharh uyun al-masail, 380). Uthman argues
that Fakhr al-Dawla’s fine was actually 3,000, not 3 million, dirhams: Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 32. However,
the context of Abu Shuja’s biography (and its agreement with al-Safadi and Yaqut) makes it clear that the
amount was indeed 3 million.
71On this term, see E. Lane, An Arabic–English Lexicon (London: Williams and Norgate, 1863–93),
5:1866–67.
72Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-tarikh, 7:472; Ibn Khaldun, al-Ibar, 4:995.
73Ibn Kathir reports that Baha al-Dawla, and not his uncle Fakhr al-Dawla, imposed the fine on Abd
al-Jabbar: see Ibn Kathir, Kitab al-bidaya wa-l-nihaya, 11:313.
74This appears in the version of Ibn al-Athir’s al-Kamil (7:472) that I use as “look in himself,” (nazara fi
nafsihi). The reading of the Tornberg (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1851–76) edition is preferable: “look to himself”
(nazara li-nafsihi).
75Yaqut, Irshad, 2:335.
76See Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-tarikh, 7:466–67.
77See, for example, Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 29–32, who emphasizes the reports of Abd al-Jabbar’s
asceticism and downplays the reports of his fortune.
78Pellat, “al-Sahib Ibn Abbad,” 103.
79Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 37.
80Monnot, Penseurs musulmans, 17.
81Hourani, Islamic Rationalism, 6. In Ibn Abbad’s majlis there were a large number of poets (although
probably not the 500 that al-Tawhidi claims) whose job was nothing less than to eternalize the deeds of the
vizier in verse: see Cahen, “Ibn Abbad,” 672. Al-Thaalibi, meanwhile, praises Ibn Abbad’s hospitality,
describing how the vizier held an iftar meal every evening during Ramadan, at which he would host more
than 1,000 guests. “His prayers, donations and offerings during this month amounted to a sum more than that
for the rest of the months of the year”: Al-Thaalibi, Yatimat al-dahr, 3:174. Ibn Abbad was himself known
for his knowledge in kal ¯am, Arabic poetry (although he was a native Persian speaker), engineering, medicine,
astronomy, and logic: see Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 1:414.
The most complete biography of Ibn Abbad is found in Yaqut, Mujam al-udaba, 20 vols. (Beirut:
Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, 1988), 6:168–317. See also Thaalibi, Yatimat al-dahr, 3:129 ff; Ibn al-Jawzi,
al-Muntazam tarikh al-muluk wa-l-umam, 10 vols. (Hyderabad: Dairat al-Maarif al-Uthmaniyya, 1359),
7:179 ff.
82J. E. Montgomery comments, “It is with the Buyids and with al-Sahib Ibn Abbad and Ibn al-Hajjaj, in
particular, that sukhf meaning ‘obscenity’ became a slogan of the age, characterised by a fascination with the
more sordid aspects of life and society which centred around, and was fuelled by, the interests of Ibn Abbad”:
“Sukhf,” EI2, 9:803.
83“From 367/977 [al-Tawhidi] was employed by Ibn Abbad as an amanuensis. In this case, too, he was
anything but a success, owing, no doubt, mainly to his own difficult character and sense of superiority (he
for example refused to ‘waste his time’ in copying the bulky collection of his master’s epistles), and was
18 Gabriel Said Reynolds
finally given his dismissal. He felt himself badly treated”: S. M. Stern, “Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi,” EI2, 1:126.
Cf. Pellat, “al-Sahib Ibn Abbad,” 101.
84Al-Tawhidi, al-Imta wa-l-muanasa, 1:19ff.
85Al-Tawhidi, Mathalib al-wazirayn, sometimes referred to as Akhlaq al-wazirayn or Dhamm al-wazirayn.
Al-Tawhidi’s treatise is dedicated to the defects (math¯alib) of the two viziers of Rayy: Ibn Abbad and Abu
al-Fadl Muhammad Ibn al-Amid (d. 970), not to be confused with his son Abu al-Fath Ali Ibn al-Amid
(d. 976) who replaced his father as vizier after the latter’s death: see C. Cahen, “Ibn al-Amid,” EI2, 3:703–704.
86Al-Tawhidi attributes to Ibn Abbad an “inordinate pride, which often took a malicious turn, and a feeling
of superiority which rendered him so singularly proud of everything he achieved that he tended to despise
anyone else’s work,” not to mention a character that was “harsh, irascible, jealous and somewhat na¨ıve”: Pellat,
“al-Sahib Ibn Abbad,” 101.
87As quoted by Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 1:415. In the same passage, Ibn Hajar records a conversation
where Ibn Abbad is asked why he does not pray. “If I prayed,” the vizier responds, “then I would be a prophet.”
88F. Griffel writes that, with Abd al-Jabbar, “kein Muslim wird als Ungl¨aubiger verurteilt, weil er falsche
Glaubens¨uberzeugungen hat. Diese Toleranz gilt selbst f¨ur die sch¨arfsten Gegner unter den Traditionalisten”:
F. Griffel, Apostasie und Toleranz im Islam (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2000), 157. See also Griffel’s discussion of
istit ¯aba (the call for repentance) according to Hanbali scholars (ibid., 145 ff.), and compare the discussion of
Mutazili “rigorose Moralismus” (ibid., 161 ff.) where behavior, and not madhhab, is important.
89Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Muntazam, 7:180.
90Kitab al-bidaya wa-l-nihaya, 15 vols. (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1994), 11:315.
91Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 1:416.
92The origin of the term is sometimes ascribed to the fact that Zayd ibn Ali, the fifth imam and namesake
of the Zaydiyya, rejected (rafad.
a) Abu Bakr and Umar (or that some members of Kufa, disagreeing with this
doctrine, rejected Zayd, “rafad.
¯ uhu”): see E. Kohlberg, “al-Rafida,” EI2, 8:386.
93Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 1:414. See also Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, 150; Pellat, “al-Sahib Ibn Abbad,” 102,
104; Cahen, “Ibn Abbad,” 672; Peters, God’s Created Speech, 7.
94See Kraemer, Humanism, 178.
95See Ibn Taymiyya, Majmua fatawa, 37 vols. (Beirut: Muassasat al-Risala, 1997), 35:129.
96Among Abd al-Jabbar’s Zaydi students were Ahmad ibn Abi Hashim al-Qazwini (d. 1034), Ismail ibn
Abdallah Abu al-Qasim al-Busti (d. 1029) and Muayyad bi-Llah Ahmad ibn al-Husayn (d. 1021), a teacher
of al-Busti who later opposed Abd al-Jabbar. Among Abd al-Jabbar’s Imami students was al-Sharif al-
Murtada Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Musawi (d. 1045). See al-Dhahabi, Siyar, 17:245; idem, Tarikh al-Islam, yrs.
401–20:376; Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mutazila, 124; al-Samani, al-Ansab, 10 vols. (Hyderabad: Matbaa
Majlis Dairat al-Maarif, n.d.), 1:211; Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 50 ff; Sezgin, Geschichte, 1:626.
97“Dies unterschiedliche Literaturgenre bedingt, daß abweichende Glaubensgruppen in Abdalgabbars
Summa [al-Mughni] anders als in al-Malatis ‘Buch der Ermahnungen’ nicht als Ungl¨aubige oder Apostaten
verurteilt werden”: Griffel, Apostasie, 153.
98Ibn Abbad, Diwan (Baghdad: Matbaat al-Maarif, 1394/1974), 285. Translation from Pellat, “al-Sahib
Ibn Abbad,” 100.
99Al-Jishumi, Sharh uyun al-masail, 366; Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mutazila, 112.
100Speaking of Abd al-Jabbar’s generation of the Mutazila, al-Jishumi says, “The first and foremost of them
in virtue is the Qadi al-qudat Abu al-Hasan Abd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Jabbar al-Hamadhani,” and,
“He received authority among the Mutazila until he became their shaykh and scholar without opposition”:
al-Jishumi, Sharh uyun al-masail, 365.
101See al-Tawhidi, Mathalib al-wazirayn, 66.
102This term has unmistakable sexual connotations.
103Al-Tawhidi, Mathalib al-wazirayn, 68.
104“His numerous works provide an enormous amount of varied information. They are uniformly instructive
and consistently entertaining. Moreover, they are characterised by sound scholarly method and, to all
appearances, even a good measure of originality”: F. Rosenthal, “al-Safadi, Salah al-Din,” EI2, 8:759.
105Al-Safadi, al-Wafi, 18:33.

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