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.
Abd al-Jabbar (d. 1025). Contemporary scholars describe
tazilite 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 Mu
tazilite: he knew the history of his school and its ideas and became the great ‘compiler’ of the Mu
Abd al-Jabbar's personal piety. G. Monnot describes him as “un esprit rigorist.”
Abd al-Jabbar is depicted in contemporary scholarship as a studious theologian and pious Muslim.
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.
Abbad al-Talaqani in 995.
Abd al-Jabbar, it is reported, refused to pronounce the mercy statement (Ar. taraḥḥum)
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 thought to be
Abd al-Jabbar's character. W. Madelung, for example, proposes that the taraḥḥum incident may never have occurred at all; it may be a fabrication of “hostile sources.”
Abd al-Jabbar's religious sensibilities.
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,
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 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 taraḥḥum incident and
Abd al-Jabbar's fall from power. In the end, it will emerge that the career of
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-Asadabadi
8 Al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafi
iyya al-kubra (Cairo: Matba
at
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.
came from Asadabad, a small city on the road to Baghdad, southwest of Hamadhan, in western Iran.
9 Ibn 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.
He most likely was born in the early 930s,
10 Both 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 a
lam al-nubala
, 28 vols. (Beirut: Mu
assasat al-Risala, 1996), 17:245; Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-ta
rikh, 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, Ta
rikh 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-Zi
baqi 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, Ta
rikh Baghdad, 14 vols. (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-
Ilmiyya, 1995), 11:114.
into a family of modest means. Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi (d. 1023) refers to
Abd al-Jabbar as the son of a peasant (fallāḥ).
11 Al-Tawhidi, al-Imta
, wa-l-mu
anasa, 3 vols. (Cairo: Matba
a Lajnat al-Ta
lif, 1939), 1:141. Pace Ibn Hajar, who reports that he read al-Tawhidi refer to
Abd al-Jabbar's father as a ḥallāj (wool carder). See Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 6 vols. (Hyderabad: Matba
a Majlis Da
irat al-Ma
arif, 1329–31), 3:386;
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 29.
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-shafi
iyya” (among the great Shafi
i jurists).
12 Al-Dhahabi, Siyar, 17:245.
These are high words of praise from a scholar who is ideologically opposed to
Abd al-Jabbar's theological school.
13 Al-Dhahabi later describes the Mu
tazila by saying, “[T]hese were people educated by him in abominable views.” Ibid., 17:245.
More sympathetic to the Mu
tazila is the biographer al-Hakim Abu Sa
d 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 Abu Sa
d al-Bayhaqi al-Jishumi, Sharh
uyun al-masa
il (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 Mu
tazila, continuing the work of Abu al-Qasim al-Balkhi al-Ka
bi [d. 931], Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, and
Abd al-Jabbar, Fadl al-i
tizal). See the slightly different version in Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mu
tazila (Beirut: al-Matba
a al-Kathulikiyya, 1961), 112. Cf. also the comments of al-Subki regarding
Abd al-Jabbar, “[T]he Mu
tazila call him qāḍī al-quḍāt (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.
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 al-wazirayn) as the servant boy (ghulām) of Ibn
Abbad and describes him as a corrupt court official without scruples.
15 Al-Tawhidi, Mathalib al-wazirayn (Damascus: Dar al-Fikr, 1961), 66 ff.
Al-Tawhidi is no less antagonistic to
Abd al-Jabbar in his al-Imta
wa-l-mu
anasa, where he accuses him of corruption, greed, dim wits, and homosexuality.
16 Idem, al-Imta
wa-l-mu
anasa, 1:141–42.
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 (ghulāt) of the Mu
tazila.
17 Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 3:386.
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 Naghil al-bāṭin. Ibid., 3:386. Cf. al-Tawhidi, al-Imta
wa-l-mu
anasa, 1:141–42; Ibn Manzur, Lisan al-
Arab, 18 vols. (Beirut: Dar Ihya
al-Turath al-
Arabi, 1418/1997), 14:221.
held hateful doctrine, and understood little. He settled into the infamy of
kalām and its people and lived long.”
19 Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 3:386.
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 is agreed that after leaving his hometown,
Abd al-Jabbar went to study in Qazwin, a city northeast of Hamadhan.
20 Madelung, “
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; Ta
rikh al-Islam, yrs. 401–20:376), al-Subki (Tabaqat, 5:97) and al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (Ta
rikh Baghdad, 11:114). See also
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 23.
In 950,
Abd al-Jabbar went to Mecca to perform the Hajj (which he would perform again in 989).
21Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 26.
After this, he continued his studies in Hamadhan (in 951) and Isfahan (956).
22 In Hamadhan,
Abd al-Jabbar heard hadith from Abu Muhammad
Abd al-Rahman al-Jallab (or Hallab, d. 954) and in Isfahan from
Abdallah ibn Ja
far al-Isbahani (d. 958). Dhahabi, Siyar, 17:244; idem, Ta
rikh al-Islam, 401–20:376; al-Subki, Tabaqat, 5:97; al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Ta
rikh Baghdad, 11:114; Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mu
tazila, 109. See also
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 24.
During this period,
Abd al-Jabbar was an Ash
ari in kalām, yet his primary interest was fiqh. This would change after
Abd al-Jabbar's arrival in Basra, in about 958. Basra, the mothership of Mu
tazilism, remained an important center for the theological school long after the demise of the political Mu
tazilism of the early Abbasids. Among
Abd al-Jabbar's Mu
tazilite teachers there was Abu Bakr al-Anbari.
23 Madelung, “
Abd al-Jabbar,” 116;
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 24.
Yet the one who made the greatest impression on him was Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn
Ayyash (d. 996).
24 Al-Jishumi, Sharh
uyun al-masa
il, 365–66.
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 Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mu
tazila, 107. Ibn Ayyash followed the school of Jubba
i. 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.
It was during this period, then, that
Abd al-Jabbar became a fervent convert to Mu
tazilism.
26 “In the beginning of [
Abd al-Jabbar's] career, he followed the Ash
ariyya school in principles [uṣūl] and the school of Shafi
i 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-Mu
tazila, 112.
The “conversion” of
Abd al-Jabbar to Mu
tazilism is an appealing aspect of his life story, especially when contrasted with the famous “conversion” of al-Ash
ari, who fifty years earlier had left Mu
tazilism 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 Ash
ariyya for the unity and justice of the Mu
tazila.
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.
Yet
Abd al-Jabbar's conversion was above all a decision for kalām 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 kalām. He said, ‘Those who study fiqh seek the causes of the world. But kalām has no goal other than God most high.”’
28 Al-Jishumi, Sharh
uyun al-masa
il, 367; Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mu
tazila, 113. See also the comments of the Shafi
i chronicler Ibn Qadi Shuhba on
Abd al-Jabbar's dual vocation as a mutakallim and faqīh. Ibn Qadi Shubba, Tabaqat al-fuqaha al-Shafi
iyya, 4 vols. (Beirut:
Alam al-Kutub, 1407/1987), 1:184.
Abd al-Jabbar, a gifted and ambitious student of kalām, soon moved on to Baghdad to study under the leader of the Basran Mu
tazilite school, Abu
Abdallah al-Basri.
29 On 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.
His attachment to al-Basri was strong enough that he wanted to change his
madhhab in
fiqh to match that of his teacher.
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 Shafi
i”’: Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mu
tazila, 112. Cf. al-Jishumi, Sharh
uyun al-masa
il, 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-Jubba
i and opponent of al-Ash
ari in whose mosque (in Ramhurmuz)
Abd al-Jabbar studied. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Ta
rikh 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.
It was also in Baghdad that
Abd al-Jabbar began to write his own works, including Mutashabih al-Qur
an, an exegesis of ambiguous Qur
anic verses. Soon after (ca. 970),
Abd al-Jabbar is found in the important Mu
tazilite center of Ramhurmuz.
31Uthman suggests that throughout the 360s/970s
Abd al-Jabbar traveled between Ramhurmuz, where he studied with the Mu
tazili Abu al-
Abbas ibn Rizq, and Baghdad, until Ibn
Abbad called him to Rayy: see
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 25.
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 Al-Jishumi, Sharh
uyun al-masa
il, 366.
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 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-masa
il, 369, n. 26.
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 qāḍī al-quḍāt]. For he has completed his book al-Mughni, which is a treasure to the monotheist and a woe to the atheist.34
Al-Jishumi, Sharh
uyun al-masa
il, 369–70.
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 Al-Safadi, al-Wafi, 18:33.
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:
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 Mu
tazila 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 Al-Jishumi, Sharh
uyun al-masa
il, 365. Cf. Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mu
tazila, 11:114.
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 qāḍī al-quḍāt 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 It is possible that al-Basri and Ibn
Abbad were drawn together by membership in the same madhhab: al-Zaydi Shi
ism. 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 Shi
i 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 the Mu
tazila and the Zaydiyya. The Zaydi–Mu
tazili 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, 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 al-khamsa 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 Mu
tazila, see Peters, God's Created Speech, 7; W. Madelung, Der Imam al-Qasim b. Ibrahim und die Glaubenslehre der Zaiditen (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1965).
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 [Mu
tazilism] through his conduct and knowledge. [Abu
Abdallah] sent to him Abu Ishaq al-Nasibi,
38 Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn
Ali al-Nasibi. See the reference in al-Tawhidi, Muqabasat (Baghdad: Matba
at al-Irshad, 1970), 159 ff.
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-Safadi, al-Wafi, 18:32.
Al-Jishumi reports that
Abd al-Jabbar arrived at Rayy in the year 360 (970).
40 Al-Jishumi, Sharh
uyun al-masa
il, 366; Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mu
tazila, 112.
The more accurate dating of this event, however, is likely that of Ibn al-Athir (d. 1233) and
Abd al-Karim al-Rafi
i (d. 1226) (in his al-Tadwin fi akhbar Qazwin), who place it in 367 (977), in the month of Muharram.
41 Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-ta
rikh, 7:380;
Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad al-Rafi
i, al-Tadwin fi akhbar Qazwin, 4 vols. (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-
Arabiyya, 1408/1987), 3:125.
According to a letter by Ibn
Abbad, this was the year that he appointed
Abd al-Jabbar as chief qadi of Rayy
42 See Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-ta
rikh, 7:380, Cf. al-Subki, Tabaqat, 5:97.
and the surrounding province of Jibal.
43 Including Qazwin, Suhraward, and Qumm. See al-Sahib ibn
Abbad, Rasa
il (Cairo: Dar al-Fikr al-
Arabi, 1366/1947), 42–46.
On this occasion
Abd al-Jabbar received a ceremonial welcome from Ibn
Abbad, and his appointment was publicly recorded in an ornate document.
44Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 36.
Such formalities might well be expected for the arrival of a
qāḍī al-quḍāt 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 Al-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 Mu
tazili school, for which al-Basri refers to him as
imād al-dīn: see van Ess, “Abu
Abdallah al-Basri,” 12–14;
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 36.
The appointment was also part of Ibn
Abbad's public campaign to spread Mu
tazilism. 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 Mu
tazilism.
46 Ibn
Abbad was the author of al-Ibana
an madhhab ahl al-
adl bi-hujaj al-Qur
an 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 Mu
tazili school”: see also
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 34; Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 1:413–14.
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 kalām.
47Abd al-Jabbar, al-Mughni, 20:1254.
And several years after his appointment, Ibn
Abbad, on behalf of the Buyid ruler Mu
ayyid al-Dawla (d. 984) and the caliph, al-Ta
i
(d. 1003), would promote
Abd al-Jabbar and widen his authority 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., the Mu
tazila]. I have cited his knowledge. Therefore [Mu
ayyid al-Dawla], by the command of the Prince of the Faithful, al-Ta
i
,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 Ibn
Abbad, Rasa
il, 34; cf. Rafi
i, al-Tadwin fi akhbar Qazwin, 119.
Along with the new political 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 (ākhira) with his religion but, rather, “eating the present world (dunyā)” with it.
49 Al-Tawhidi, al-Imta
wa-l-mu
anasa, 1:141.
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 Mu
tazilite scholar in the Islamic world.
50Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 43.
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 Al-Jishumi, Sharh
uyun al-masa
il, 368–69.
Abd al-Jabbar also traveled to Isfahan and
Askar Mukram to teach from the al-Mughni: see
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 26.
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 Al-Jishumi, Sharh
uyun al-masa
il, 369.
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 qāḍī al-quḍāt and seized his sizable fortune.
53 Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-ta
rikh, 7:472; Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 3:387.
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.
54Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 26.
The only specific report of
Abd al-Jabbar's whereabouts comes from al-Rafi
i, 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 Al-Rafi
i, al-Tadwin fi akhbar Qazwin, 125;
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 26.
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-i
tizal wa-tabaqat al-Mu
tazila.
56Abd al-Jabbar, Fadl al-i
tizal wa-tabaqat al-Mu
tazila (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.
Abd al-Jabbar died, according to most sources, in 1025.
57 Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-ta
rikh, (8:142), and al-Safadi (al-Wafi, 18:31), give 414 (1023/4) for his death date: Ibn al-Murtada, (Tabaqat al-Mu
tazila, 112) concludes that it was either 415 or 416.
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 Al-Muharram: see al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Ta
rikh Baghdad, 11:116.
Rafi
i names the same year but the fifth month, Jumada al-Ula.
59 Al-Rafi
i, al-Tadwin khbar Qazwin, 125.
Both al-Dhahabi and the Shafi
i biographer al-Subki (d. 1370) give the date as the eleventh month, Dhu al-Qa
da, of 415, or January-February 1025. Al-Subki adds that
Abd al-Jabbar died in Rayy and was buried on his estate.
60 Al-Subki, Tabaqat, 5:97; al-Dhahabi, Siyar, 17:245; idem, Ta
rikh al-Islam, yrs. 410–20:376. This date is confirmed by Ibn Qadi Shuhba, Tabaqat 1:184. See also
Uthman, Qadi al-qudat, 27.
THE FALL OF ABD AL-JABBAR
I turn, then, to the specific matters of
Abd al-Jabbar's refusal to pray the taraḥḥum and his fall from power—two events that, according to the sources, are directly connected. Ibn al-Athir, in his report on Ibn
Abbad's death, describes Fakhr al-Dawla's move against
Abd al-Jabbar as a direct consequence of the latter's refusal to pray the taraḥḥum:
When [Ibn
Abbad] passed away,
Abd al-Jabbar said, “I do not consider him [worthy] of the mercy statement (taraḥḥum), 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 This is the version of
Abd al-Jabbar's statement related by Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-ta
rikh, 7:472 (yr. 385). It is repeated by a number of sources, including Muhammad ibn al-Husayn Abu Shuja
, Dhayl tajarib al-umam (Cairo: Matba
at 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 Isma
il ibn
Ali, Mukhtasar fi akhbar al-bashar (Cairo: Matba
at al-Husayniyya, 1956–61), 2:130–31.
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 See al-Yafi
i, Mir
at al-janan, 4 vols. (Beirut: Mu
assasat al-Alami li-l-Matbu
at, 1390/1970), 3:29; Abu Shuja
, Dhayl tajarib al-umam, 262. Cf. Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-ta
rikh,7:472; Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan, 3:387;
Uthman (Qadi al-qudat, 39–40) states:
This adds some perspective to the reports of Fakhr al-Dawla's deathbed conversation with Ibn
Abbad,
63 Abu Shuja
, Dhayl tajarib al-umam, 261 ff.
and his public mourning after the death of the vizier.
64 The vizier's funeral was a state affair, led by Fakhr al-Dawla himself: see al-Yafi
i, Mir
at al-janan, 3:29.
Fakhr al-Dawla had long been suspicious of Ibn
Abbad, who was known as “al-Sahib” (the friend, the companion) because of his close association with Mu
ayyid al-Dawla,
65 On this, see Ibn Taghribirdi, al-Nujum al-zahira, 9 vols. (Cairo: Wizarat al-Thaqata wa-l-Irshad al-Qawmi, 1963), 4:170. Cf. Pellat, “al-Sahib Ibn
Abbad,” 99–100.
Fakhr al-Dawla's brother and rival. When Mu
ayyid 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 Al-Tha
alabi has Fakhr al-Dawla accuse Ibn
Abbad of madhhab al-i
tizāl and nayk al-rijāl: Abu Mansur
Abd al-Malik al-Tha
alibi, Yatimat al-dahr, 4 vols. (Cairo: Matba
at al-Sawi, 1353/1934), 3:179.
According to al-Tha
alabi (d. 1038), Fakhr al-Dawla called for the vizier's resignation, only to back down in deference to Ibn
Abbad's considerable power.
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-Tha
alibi, Yatimat al-dahr, 3:171.
A working relationship was established.
68 Ibn Taghribirdi reports that Fakhr al-Dawla increased Ibn
Abbad's authority even beyond what it was under his brother Mu
ayyid al-Dawla: Ibn Taghribirdi, al-Najum al-zahira, 4:170.
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 Abu Shuja
, Dhayl tajarib al-umam, 264.
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 (muṣādara), 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 See 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-masa
il, 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.
Ibn al-Athir and Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406), meanwhile, report that
Abd al-Jabbar sold one thousand foreign garments (ṭayālisa)
71 On this term, see E. Lane, An Arabic–English Lexicon (London: Williams and Norgate, 1863–93), 5:1866–67.
and one thousand fine wool cloaks to pay off Fakhr al-Dawla.
72 Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-ta
rikh, 7:472; Ibn Khaldun, al-
Ibar, 4:995.
(Ibn Kathir describes the extortion payment as one thousand
ṭayālisa and one thousand suits of armor, but his version of the events is less accurate than that of others).
73 Ibn 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.
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 This 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).
Yaqut (d. 1229) is still more damning in his judgment: “[
Abd al-Jabbar] claimed that a Muslim 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 taraḥḥum 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 See Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-ta
rikh, 7:466–67.
Thus, political motivations for moving against
Abd al-Jabbar were joined by economic pressures.
EXPLANATION 2: ABD AL-JABBAR WAS OUTRAGED AT IBN ABBAD'S IMMORALITY
Abd al-Jabbar must have realized that refusing Ibn
Abbad the taraḥḥum put his good standing, and his job, at risk. What motive could have been worth the risk? Monnot explains
Abd al-Jabbar's behavior as an expression of his religious principles.
80 Monnot, Penseurs musulmans, 17.
Abd al-Jabbar simply could not, in good conscience, pray for Ibn
Abbad, since the taraḥḥum 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 Hourani, 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-Tha
alibi, 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-Tha
alibi, Yatimat al-dahr, 3:174. Ibn
Abbad was himself known for his knowledge in kalām, 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, Mu
jam al-udaba
, 20 vols. (Beirut: Dar Ihya
al-Turath al-
Arabi, 1988), 6:168–317. See also Tha
alibi, Yatimat al-dahr, 3:129 ff; Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Muntazam ta
rikh al-muluk wa-l-umam, 10 vols. (Hyderabad: Da
irat al-Ma
arif al-Uthmaniyya, 1359), 7:179 ff.
the political champion of the Mu
tazila, and an irreligious free-thinker with a penchant for the vulgar and bawdy.
82 J. 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.
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 “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 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.
Al-Tawhidi later devoted part of one book
84 Al-Tawhidi, al-Imta
wa-l-mu
anasa, 1:19 ff.
and most of another
85 Al-Tawhidi, Mathalib al-wazirayn, sometimes referred to as Akhlaq al-wazirayn or Dhamm al-wazirayn. Al-Tawhidi's treatise is dedicated to the defects (mathālib) 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.
to assailing the character of Ibn
Abbad.
86 Al-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 naïve”: Pellat, “al-Sahib Ibn
Abbad,” 101.
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 As 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.”
Yet the dissolute or irreligious lifestyle of Ibn
Abbad is never explicitly brought up in the extant reports of the taraḥḥum incident.
Abd al-Jabbar simply relates therein that he will not pray the taraḥḥum because Ibn
Abbad failed to demonstrate repentance. The question, then, is what would
Abd al-Jabbar intend here by repentance (tawba)? In the Mu
tazilite 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 F. Griffel writes that, with
Abd al-Jabbar, “kein Muslim wird als Ungläubiger verurteilt, weil er falsche Glaubensüberzeugungen hat. Diese Toleranz gilt selbst für die schärfsten Gegner unter den Traditionalisten”: F. Griffel, Apostasie und Toleranz im Islam (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2000), 157. See also Griffel's discussion of istitāba (the call for repentance) according to Hanbali scholars (ibid., 145 ff.), and compare the discussion of Mu
tazili “rigorose Moralismus” (ibid., 161 ff.) where behavior, and not madhhab, is important.
Was
Abd al-Jabbar, then, offended at some un–Islamic behavior of Ibn
Abbad? Did he weigh the vizier by the Qur
anic moral dictum al-
amr bi-l-ma
rūf wa-l-nahy
an al-munkar (one of the five principles of Mu
tazilism) and find him wanting?
If this was 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 qāḍī al-quḍāt 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 Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Muntazam, 7:180.
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 Kitab al-bidaya wa-l-nihaya, 15 vols. (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-
Ilmiyya, 1994), 11:315.
Of all of the scholars who were present on that day, he mentions only one by name: Qadi
Abd al-Jabbar.
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 ḥilm 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
Ibn
Abbad, Diwan (Baghdad: Matba
at al-Ma
arif, 1394/1974), 285. Translation from Pellat, “al-Sahib Ibn
Abbad,” 100.
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 Mu
tazilite 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 Al-Jishumi, Sharh
uyun al-masa
il, 366; Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mu
tazila, 112.
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 his hagiographic dictionary of the Mu
tazila.
100 Speaking of
Abd al-Jabbar's generation of the Mu
tazila, 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 Mu
tazila until he became their shaykh and scholar without opposition”: al-Jishumi, Sharh
uyun al-masa
il, 365.
Would not al-Jishumi, in his panegyric work on the Mu
tazila, try to portray the relationship of the great Mu
tazilite vizier and the great Mu
tazilite 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 See al-Tawhidi, Mathalib al-wazirayn, 66.
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 This term has unmistakable sexual connotations.
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 Al-Tawhidi, Mathalib al-wazirayn, 68.
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 “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.
Al-Safadi argues that a rivalry was behind
Abd al-Jabbar's refusal to pronounce the taraḥḥum for Ibn
Abbad:
[
Abd al-Jabbar] was described with a lack of attention for [others'] privileges (ḥuqūq). 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 protégé (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 protégé.” 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 yuẓhir 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 Al-Safadi, al-Wafi, 18:33.
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-Jabbār, “servant of the Mighty [i.e. God],” and begun to think of himself simply as al-Jabbār (one of the divine names). This is no light accusation.
Al-Safadi thus directly connects the rivalry of the vizier and the qadi with the taraḥḥum 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 Shi
is, lies behind the taraḥḥum incident.
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