Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari

Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Isma'il al-Ash'ari, a theologian of the Sunni people, to whom the Ash'ari school is attributed. He is the author of "Maqalat al-Islamiyyin", which sets out the view of the people of hadith and the Sunna and says that he holds it. The edition of the book describes him as the shaykh of the people of the Sunna and the community. ¹

Ibn al-Nadim gives his name as Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Isma'il ibn Abi Bishr al-Ash'ari of Basra, and says that he was at first a Mu'tazili and then repented. He relates that on a Friday he mounted the chair in the Great Mosque of Basra and announced his repentance from saying the Qur'an was created, and from other things, and then occupied himself with refuting the Mu'tazilis. Among his books, in Ibn al-Nadim's list, are "al-Luma'", "al-Mujaz", "Idah al-Burhan", "al-Tabyin an Usul al-Din", and "al-Sharh wa al-Tafsil". ²