The Doctrine of Kasb
According to Imām al-Ashʿarī
Introduction
The Arabic word for "acquistion" (kasb) refers to one's livelihood or earnings. Linguistically, it signifies "to earn or to acquire." ‘Alī b. Muhammad al-Jurjānī (d. 816 AH/1413 CE) defines the word linguistically as "that which leads to accruing benefit or warding off harm."
As a technical term in Islāmic theology, however, it refers to the Sunni doctrine that ostensibly resolves the vexing and perennial dilemma of free will versus predestination. While the doctrine of acquisition has its roots in the Qurʿān, it is considered to be an original Muslim contribution to a problem shared by the three Abrahamic faiths.
According to Abū Bakr Muhammad b. Ḥasan b. Fūrak (d. 406 AH/1015 CE), as a theological term, kasb refers to "the state and decree whereby the human actor among us exercises the relation of his created power to that which has been decreed." Ibn Fūrak mentions that according to Imām Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī (d. 324 AH/935-6 CE), the founder of the Ashʿarite school of theology, acquisition refers to "what had occurred through created capacity". [1]
According to Imām al-Ashʿarī, all actions, good and evil, are originated by Allāh, but they are “acquired” (maksūb, whence kasb) by men. Man does not initiate anything; he merely acquires what Allāh has created. Thus man’s responsibility comes from his decision as to which actions he should acquire. As for the criticism that his kasb theory attributes evil to Allāh, al-Ashʿarī explained that, by creating evil, Allāh is not an evildoer. He is independent of His creation. [2]
The Doctrine of Kasb
(Text below via daralnicosia.wordpress.com, by S. Z. Chowdhury)
- The term kasb is synonymous with ‘action’ (`aml). [3]
- In this sense above, kasb is said to suggest moral responsibility on the part of the agent.
- The notion of kasb is equated with a ‘created power’. [4]
- Thus, man’s actions (a`mal) are in fact ‘acquisitions’ (aksab). [5]
- Allāh creates voluntary and involuntary [6] actions. [7]
- Human beings intrinsically know the difference between a voluntary and an involuntary act.
- Allāh is the Real Agent (fa`il) and really creates (yaf`aluhui `ala haqiqatihi).
- Man acquires the action by virtue of a mediating originated power created by Allāh in him. [8]
- Hence, man is not an agent (fa`il), i.e. a maker of his own actions.
- The acquisition of power by man does not, however, relinquish Allāh’s real Power over that act. [9]
- Hence, man can only acquire the act if and when Allāh creates that power within him to do so. [10]
- The power to act is distinct from man and is not an intrinsic part of him otherwise man would have been able to do it essentially and in and of himself. [11]
- The power to act created by Allāh is momentary. [12]
- The act and the power are concomitant and the power does not chronologically precede it in time or succeed it. [13]
- Existence of this power to act is a necessary pre-condition and actual antecedent (= metaphysically or logically entails?) for the act to be realised (fi wujudiha wujud maqduriha). [14]
Footnotes
[1] Sourced from Shaykh Ḥamzah Yūsuf's footnotes to his translation of Aqeedah al-Tahawiyyah.
[2] Encyclopedia Britannica
[3] al-Ashʿarī, al-Ibanah, p.43 and cf. McCarthy, The Theology of al-Ashʿarī, p.103.
[4] al-Ashʿarī, Kitāb al-Luma`, p.42 and Cf. McCarthy, The Theology of al-Ashʿarī, p.60.
[5] Ibid, p.37.
[6] Such as sudden muscle spasms, etc.
[7] al-Ashʿarī, Kitāb al-Luma`, § 92.
[8] Ibid, §§ 87 and 89.
[9] Ibid, p.43.
[10] Ibid, p.43.
[11] al-Ashʿarī, al-Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, p.229.
[12] Ibid, p.229.
[13] This is also the view of al-Husayn Ibn al-Najjar. Cf. al-Ashʿarī, al-Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, pp.283-284 and 566. See also W. M. Watt, Free Will and Pre-destination in Early Islām, pp.106-107.
[14] al-Ashʿarī, Kitāb al-Luma`, § 123-126.
[15] Ibid, § 93.
