AlAshari

al-Ashari, whose full name was Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Ismail al-Ashari, was a prominent Sunni Muslim theologian and scholar who lived from approximately 874 to 924 CE. He is considered the founder of the Ash'ari school of theology, which became one of the dominant theological schools in Sunni Islam. al-Ashari was born in Basra, in present-day Iraq, and received his early education there. He initially studied under the Mu'tazili school of theology, a rationalist school that emphasized reason in understanding the Quran and Hadith. However, he later broke away from Mu'tazilism and developed his own theological framework, which sought to reconcile reason with revelation in a way that he believed was more faithful to the traditional understanding of Islam.

The Ash'ari school is characterized by its emphasis on divine omnipotence and the acceptance of divine revelation as the primary source of knowledge about God. While it does not reject reason entirely, it subordinates it to scripture when there is a perceived conflict. Key tenets of Ash'ari theology include the affirmation of God's attributes as described in the Quran and Sunnah, the belief in predestination (qadar), and the concept of kasb, which attempts to explain human free will in relation to God's decree. al-Ashari's theological works, such as Kitab al-Luma' fi al-Radd 'ala Ahl al-Zaygh wa al-Bida' (The Brilliance in Refutation of Heretics and Innovators), were influential in shaping Islamic theological discourse for centuries and continue to be studied today.