Anonymous Expressions Regarding the Theological Debates in the Commentary of al-Ṭabarī II: Some Controversial Issues Regarding the Acts of Human and the Hereafter Life

Abstract

The first centuries of Islamic history have witnessed many theological debates. The sectarian groups of that time have used the Qur’ānic text and the traditions in order to support their ideas. Therefore the Qur’ānic text became a field of controversial debates among the theologians of Islam. Being among the forerunner savants of Islam, Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923), also handled the main theological debates of the first three centuries of Islam in his commentary called Jāmiʽ al-Bayān ʽan Taʼwīl Āy al-Qurʼān. al-Ṭabarī, mostly, presents the theological deba-tes among the Islamic sectarian groups without mentioning the proper names of the persons or the sects to whom the related theological views belong to. He usually uses anonymous expressi-ons such as ‘some researchers’, ‘some exegetes’, and so on instead of giving proper names of the sectarian groups or the personalities. Therefore, in this article, the proper names of personali-ties and sectarian groups alluded to by al-Ṭabarī under anonymous expressions will be brought to light relying mainly on the Islamic literature. As a common method of his commentary al-Ṭabarī, mostly transmits traditions related to the theological debates he deals with, nevertheless he sometimes does not supply any tradition regarding the disputed theological topics. In this study, only the isnāds of the traditions quoted by al-Ṭabarī will be provided, whereas every supported view will be briefly summarised. Here we will not handle all the anonymous expressions related to the theological debates, but we will sum up some controversial theological issues regarding the acts of human and the hereafter life such as beatific vision, the definition of faith, free will, the creation of human acts, and so on.