A Footnote to the Composition History of Maqālāt al-islāmiyyīn: The Internal Parallels in al-Ashʿarī’s Material on the Shia

Abstract

AbstractAbū l-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī’s (d. 324/935-6)Maqālāt al-islāmiyyīn wa-khtilāf al-muṣallīnis our largest single source of information on earlykalām. Since the mid-twentieth century, scholars have proposed various composition histories for the work, all of which involve the claim that the presentMaqālātwas not originally conceived as a single, integral text. These composition histories are intended to account for formal features, such as the presentMaqālāt’s structural unevenness and large amounts of internal repetition, and for certain features of content, such as the apparent commitment, or absence thereof, of its different parts to the theological positions of the Traditionalists. The chronology of its composition also has a bearing on the nature of its relationship to the slightly earlierMaqālāt firaq ahl al-qiblaof Abū l-Qāsim al-Balkhī al-Kaʿbī (d. 319/931). This article, based on a detailed analysis of the internal parallels within al-Ashʿarī’s material on the Shia, examines some previously overlooked evidence relevant to theMaqālāt’s composition history.