Ḥurriyya – Freedom, Human ‘Will’, and Related Notions in ‘Ammār al-Baṣrī’s Kitāb al-masāʾil wa-l-aǧwiba

Abstract

The study of ‘Ammār’s understanding of freedom complements previous research on Arabic Christian formulations of the subject. Studies either relate them to the concept of ḥērūṯā in Syriac tradition or the context of Christian-Muslim controversy. I demonstrate that in ‘Ammār’s discussion, on a terminological-lexical level, engagement with Islamic thought is less evident while Syriac influences and Patristic and Greek philosophical parallels can be identified. I reconstruct the meanings of his terms through a close reading of extensive passages and group the occurrences lexically-thematically into the following units: 1. freedom (ḥurriyya, derivations from ḥ-r-r, related or synonymous expressions); 2. capacity, choice (istiṭā‘a, iḫtiyār); 3. acquisition, deserving, necessitating (iktisāb, istiḥqāq, istīğāb); 4. intentions, moral responsibility.