Hubbry Logo
JabriyyaJabriyyaMain
Open search
Jabriyya
Community hub
Jabriyya
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Contribute something
Jabriyya
Jabriyya
Jabriyya
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia
Part of a series on
Aqidah
Sunni
Six Articles of Iman
Five Pillars of Islam
Schools of theology
Shi'a
Basic Tenets of Faith
Theology of the Twelvers4, 5
Theology of the Ismailis6
Theology of the Zaydis
Muhakkima
Theology of the Ibadis
Other variants

Including:

Islam portal

Jabriyya (Arabic: جبرية, romanized: Jabriyyah rooted from j-b-r) was an Islamic theological group based on the belief that humans are controlled by predestination, without having choice or free will and that all actions are compelled by God.[1]

Etymology

[edit]

The term Jabriyya comes from the verb ajbara, meaning to compel someone to act. Ibn Manzūr connects this idea of compulsion (ijbār) with predestination, defining the Jabriyya as those who hold that “God compels humans to carry out their actions.”[2]

History

[edit]

Historically, the Jabriyya term was first used during the Umayyad Caliphate era in Basra. The first accused of this school was Al-Ja'd ibn Dirham (executed in 724).[3] According to modern western historian Josef van Ess, the term of Jabriyya historically became a derogatory term used by different Islamic groups to denounce their opposing view; which technically its not an established school of thought.[4] The Ash'ariyah used the term Jabriyya in the first place to describe the followers of Jahm ibn Safwan (executed in 746).[5] The Ashʿarīs took a balanced theological position between the extremes of Jabriyya and Qadariyya. While Jabriyya denied human free will entirely, and Qadariyya affirmed full human autonomy, Ashʿarīs held that God creates all actions, but humans “acquire” them through intention and choice. This kasb doctrine allowed for divine omnipotence without denying human moral responsibility.[5][6]

In Ashʿarī writings, it's often noted that the Muʿtazilīs whom they pejoratively label as “Qadariyya”—mock the Ashʿarīs by calling them “Jabriyya” in order to discredit their theological views.[2] The Shi'ites used the term Jabriyya to describe Ash'ariyah and Hanbali.[7] Abd al-Aziz al-Tarifi viewed the labelling of a Sunni as Jabriyya is characteristic of Qadariyya thoughts.[8]

The theologian al-Shahrastānī distinguishes between two levels within the Jabriyya. The first group represents the true or extreme Jabriyya, who argue that humans possess no power whatsoever to initiate or produce actions—everything is entirely caused by God. The second group holds a less strict position, maintaining that while humans do have a form of capacity or ability, it does not play an effective role in producing actions; instead, it is God alone who brings the actions into existence.[2]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Jabriyya

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Jabriyya, also transliterated as Jabariyya, denotes an early Islamic theological position asserting absolute divine compulsion (j abr), whereby human beings lack and all actions—virtuous or sinful—are solely created and decreed by , rendering individuals mere instruments without autonomous agency or moral culpability. This doctrine arose amid 8th-century debates on (qadar) in regions like under the , countering the Qadariyya's emphasis on human volition and gaining traction following political upheavals such as the assassination of Caliph ibn . Its most notable proponent, Jahm ibn Safwan (d. 128 AH/746 CE), advanced views denying anthropomorphic divine attributes—predicating only creation, power, and will to —and maintaining the created nature of the Qur'an, which extended the school's deterministic framework to theological anthropology. Jabriyya thought, encompassing subsects such as the Jahmiyyah and Najjariyyah, provoked sharp opposition from rationalist groups like the Mu'tazila for ostensibly excusing wrongdoing by attributing it to divine fiat, thereby eroding incentives for ethical conduct and legal accountability in Muslim society. Though influential in shaping discussions on divine sovereignty, the school's unmitigated was largely repudiated in mature Sunni , including Ash'ari and Maturidi traditions, which reconciled with limited human "acquisition" (kasb) of acts to preserve and responsibility.

Terminology and Etymology

Derivation and Historical Usage of the Term

The term Jabriyya derives from the Arabic root j-b-r, specifically jabr, which connotes compulsion, force, or , encapsulating the doctrinal assertion that all occur under divine necessity without volitional input from the agent. This etymological linkage underscores the school's emphasis on God's absolute sovereignty, where (qadar) overrides any notion of autonomous choice, rendering individuals as passive instruments of divine will. The appellation emerged in the late (circa 720–750 CE), amid burgeoning theological disputations in centers like and , where it served as a polemical affixed by free-will advocates (Qadariyya) to detractors of human agency. Early exemplars included al-Jaʿd ibn Dirhām (d. circa 124 AH/741–742 CE), a Syrian scholar executed by the Umayyad governor Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qasrī for propagating views that God neither covenanted with Abraham nor spoke to —positions intertwined with predestinarian denial of creaturely initiative. The term's usage intensified with Jahm ibn Safwān (d. 127 AH/745 CE), whose Khurāsānī followers amplified these ideas, prompting Abbasid-era reprisals and cementing Jabriyya as a descriptor for extremisms later moderated by mainstream Sunni creeds. Throughout medieval heresiographies, such as those by al-Baghdādī (d. 1037 CE), it retained a connotation, distinguishing unnuanced compulsionism from equilibrated Ashʿarī .

Core Doctrinal Beliefs

Absolute Predestination and Divine Compulsion

The Jabriyya doctrine of jabr (compulsion) maintains that exclusively creates all actions, predestining them through absolute divine decree (qadar) without any independent contribution or choice. This position derives from the term jabr, signifying forcible constraint, and posits that individuals possess no volitional power, serving solely as passive conduits for 's direct causation of deeds, whether virtuous or sinful. Under this framework, encompasses every facet of existence, with divine will compelling outcomes prior to creation, as articulated in theological texts emphasizing God's unchallenged over . Human "actions" thus lack origination in the agent, equating to divine acts imposed upon the body, which negates any capacity for acquisition (kasb) or . Critics within later Sunni discourse, such as , highlighted how this leads to a structured denial of agency, where motives and executions are wholly God-created, rendering compulsion inevitable upon divine initiation. This absolute extends to ethical implications, attributing both reward and to God's unassailable rather than human intent, thereby dissolving distinctions between compelled obedience and as mere manifestations of the same coercive . Early proponents, drawing from interpretations of Qur'anic assertions of divine creation (e.g., Allāh khalaqa kulla shay'), argued that partial human involvement would imply limitation on God's foreknowledge and power, a view contested in debates as undermining prophetic exhortations to moral striving.

Negation of Human Agency and Acquisition

The Jabriyya maintained that human beings possess no independent agency or capacity for , positing instead that all deeds—whether virtuous or sinful—are irresistibly compelled (jabr) by God's absolute decree, rendering humans akin to inanimate objects moved by divine force without any internal volition or power of choice. This view, articulated by early proponents such as Jahm ibn Safwan (d. 745 CE), rejected any notion of human origination of acts, arguing that attributing or initiative to creatures would infringe upon divine and unity. Central to this negation was the outright denial of kasb (acquisition), the theological mechanism later developed by Ash'arite scholars to reconcile divine creation of actions with human accountability, wherein humans are said to "acquire" acts that instantaneously creates within them at the moment of performance. Jabriyya theologians dismissed kasb as an illusory compromise that implicitly grants creatures partial agency, insisting that even the appearance of choice is a predetermined orchestrated by , with no genuine human involvement in the causation or moral ownership of deeds. Under this framework, human responsibility persists not through personal agency but via divine predetermination: God decrees both the act and its attribution to the individual for judgment, such that praise or blame aligns with His eternal knowledge and justice, uncompromised by creaturely freedom. Critics, including Mu'tazilites, contended this absolves humans of moral culpability, likening it to punishing a compelled , yet Jabriyya responses emphasized scriptural affirmations of divine compulsion, such as Qur'anic verses on God's of hearts (e.g., 8:24), as overriding rational appeals to .

Scriptural and Rational Foundations

The Jabriyya derived their emphasis on divine compulsion (jabr) primarily from Quranic verses portraying human actions as entirely subordinate to God's preordained will. 76:30, which states "But you will not, unless wills—indeed, is ever Knowing and Wise," was central to their argument that volition originates solely from divine decree, rendering human initiative illusory. Similarly, 81:29 declares "You do not will except that wills, Lord of the worlds," which proponents interpreted as proof that no act occurs independently of God's coercive determination. These texts, among others like 16:93—"And if had willed, He could have made you one community, but He causes to stray whom He wills and guides whom He wills"—were seen as negating any autonomous human capacity, with guidance or misguidance attributed exclusively to divine fiat rather than responsive choice. Supporting reinforced this scriptural basis, particularly narrations emphasizing the finality of . A key example is the prophetic tradition recorded in authentic collections, where the Messenger of stated that "the Pen has been lifted and the pages have dried" regarding decreed matters, implying that human deeds and fates are irrevocably fixed from eternity, irrespective of subsequent efforts or intentions. Jabriyya theologians invoked such reports to assert that events unfold under absolute compulsion, aligning with verses like 54:49: "Indeed, all things We created with ," which they took to encompass moral actions without exception. On rational grounds, the Jabriyya employed causal arguments to uphold 's sole agency, contending that ascribing independent power to humans introduces a secondary creator, compromising (). They posited that the ultimate "preponderator" (murajjih) in any action— the decisive enabling occurrence—must trace back to alone, as positing human-derived causation leads to an of uncaused causes, which is philosophically untenable. This framework preserved divine by viewing humans as passive loci for 's creative acts, where apparent volition masks compelled execution, thereby reconciling with the absence of contingency in creation. Critics later noted that this logic overlooks nuanced distinctions between creation and acquisition, but Jabriyya maintained it as the purest inference from 's transcendence over contingent beings.

Historical Development

Origins in Early Islamic Period (7th-8th Centuries)

The Jabriyya emerged during the late (661–750 CE), a period marked by intensifying theological disputes over qadar (divine decree) and human responsibility, particularly in regions like and . These debates arose as early as the 720s CE, amid Umayyad rulers' promotion of predestinarian doctrines to legitimize their authority and counter dissident groups asserting human . Proponents of extreme , later labeled Jabriyya (from jabr, meaning compulsion), reacted against the Qadariyya, who emphasized human as a basis for accountability. While precursors may trace to figures like al-Ja'd ibn Dirham, executed circa 724 CE under Caliph for views including the createdness of the , the school's distinctive formulation crystallized with Jahm ibn Safwan (d. 128 AH/746 CE). Jahm, a theologian and administrator in Khorasan possibly originating from Harran, advanced rigid determinism by positing that God exercises absolute control over all events, including human will and actions, rendering individuals mere instruments without independent agency. He denied that humans possess personal decision-making in matters of faith, defining belief minimally as God-given knowledge in the heart rather than outward confession in Arabic. Jahm's ideas aligned with Murji'ite tendencies toward deferring judgment on sinners and advocating equality for non-Arab converts (mawali), influencing his alliance with the rebel al-Harith ibn Surayj against Umayyad governor Nasr ibn Sayyar in the 740s CE. Executed in Marw following the rebel's defeat, Jahm's execution reflected the political-religious tensions of the era, as his views challenged both state orthodoxy and emerging rationalist critiques. This early phase positioned Jabriyya as a marginal yet provocative strand, emphasizing scriptural literalism on divine (e.g., Quranic assertions of God's sole creation of actions) over rational defenses of human choice. By the mid-8th century, as the Abbasid revolution (750 CE) shifted power dynamics, Jahm's followers disseminated his teachings, though the label "Jabriyya" was retroactively applied by later Ash'ari theologians to denote such uncompromising predestinarians. The doctrine's roots in Umayyad-era frontier administration and rebellion underscored its entanglement with socio-political upheavals, rather than purely academic discourse.

Key Proponents and Intellectual Evolution

The earliest proponent associated with the proto-Jabriyya views was al-Jaʿd ibn Dirhām, a theologian from Ḥarrān executed in 724 CE by the Umayyad governor Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qasrī for denying divine attributes such as God's speech to and friendship with Abraham, alongside predestinarian leanings that prefigured compulsion doctrines. His teachings influenced subsequent determinists, marking an initial phase of theological extremism in and Kūfa amid Umayyad political instability. Jahm ibn Ṣafwān (d. 746 CE), al-Jaʿd's student, systematized Jabriyya thought as its most prominent early advocate, positing absolute divine compulsion (jabr) where humans lack any volition or agency, with God as the exclusive creator and performer of all acts, including sin. Jahm's formulation integrated negation of anthropomorphic attributes—limiting predications of God to creation, power, and action—while deeming the Qurʾān a created entity rather than eternal speech, thus avoiding eternal divine qualities. Executed during Khurāsānian revolts against Umayyad rule, his ideas crystallized opposition to Qadariyya free-will advocates, framing human actions as illusory under divine . Intellectually, Jabriyya evolved from ad hoc responses to 7th-8th century fitnas (civil strife), where justified caliphal authority against perceived rebellious free-will claims, but hardened into by negating moral accountability and divine transcendence via taʾṭīl (attribute denial). Post-Jahm, followers termed Jahmiyya propagated these views sporadically, yet the school's unnuanced —equating human passivity to —faced rebuttals from emerging rationalists like Muʿtazila, confining its trajectory to polemical marginalization rather than institutional growth. By the 9th century, it influenced but was superseded by moderating syntheses like Ashʿarī kasb (acquisition), which retained divine origination while salvaging limited agency.

Theological Oppositions and Debates

Conflicts with Qadariyya on Free Will

The primary theological conflict between the Jabriyya and Qadariyya centered on the nature of human agency in relation to divine , with the Jabriyya advocating absolute determinism and the Qadariyya upholding human . The Jabriyya posited that compels all actions through jabr (compulsion), rendering humans devoid of independent or power (ikhtiyar), as their limbs and faculties serve merely as instruments in divine hands. In opposition, the Qadariyya maintained that humans possess inherent capacity (qadar) to initiate and choose actions, making them fully accountable for moral outcomes, independent of direct divine coercion. This framed early Islamic debates on , where Jabriyya denial of secondary causes implied 's direct origination of every effect, while Qadariyya affirmation of human volition aligned with recognition of intermediary causal chains in ethical conduct. Historically, the rift surfaced in the late Umayyad period (circa 684–750 CE), amid political tensions over caliphal authority. The Qadariyya, founded by Ma'bad ibn Abd Allah al-Juhani (d. 699 CE), emerged as a of predestinarian justifications for Umayyad misrule, arguing that rulers could not invoke divine decree to excuse injustices or sins, as humans retain responsibility for evil acts. Prominent Qadari figures like Ghaylan al-Dimashqi (d. circa 743 CE) faced execution for propagating these views, which undermined state orthodoxy by implying accountability even for sovereigns. Conversely, the Jabriyya, linked to Jahm ibn Safwan (d. 748 CE), reinforced Umayyad legitimacy by interpreting all events—including —as irrevocably decreed by , thus absolving human actors of ethical culpability. Scripturally, the Jabriyya drew from verses underscoring divine sovereignty, such as Quran 6:59 ("With Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him") and affirmations of God guiding or misguiding at will, to argue that predestination precludes human autonomy and that attributing choice to creatures limits omnipotence. The Qadariyya countered with texts emphasizing volitional commands, like Quran 18:29 ("Whoever wills—let him believe; and whoever wills—let him disbelieve") and 2:286 (implying no soul bears beyond its capacity), contending that divine justice (adl) necessitates free will for moral discernment and punishment to be equitable, lest God appear arbitrary or unjust. These interpretive clashes fueled mutual accusations: Jabriyya labeled Qadariyya as deniers of qadar (decree) who anthropomorphize divine power, while Qadariyya decried Jabriyya fatalism as excusing vice and eroding incentives for virtue. The debates extended beyond abstract into practical implications for and , with Jabriyya views risking by negating human effort in obedience, and Qadariyya positions potentially diminishing God's foreknowledge by prioritizing creaturely initiative. Persecutions intensified under Umayyad caliphs like Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705 CE), who suppressed Qadariyya as heretical for politicizing qadar, while Jabriyya aligned with official doctrine to maintain social order. Though both extremes waned by the Abbasid era, their confrontation shaped subsequent syntheses, highlighting irreconcilable tensions between undivided divine causality and accountable human action.

Engagements with Mu'tazila and Rationalist Critiques

The Mu'tazila, emphasizing rational inquiry ('aql) alongside scripture, mounted significant critiques against the Jabriyya's doctrine of absolute compulsion (jabr), arguing that it undermined divine justice ('adl), one of their five core principles. They contended that if God compels all human actions, including sinful ones, then divine punishment for those acts would be unjust, as responsibility requires voluntary choice; to attribute evil directly to God, they reasoned, compromises His essential benevolence and wisdom, rendering tawhid (divine unity) incoherent by implying a deity who creates demerit yet demands accountability. This position drew on philosophical analogies, such as the incompatibility of coercion with moral obligation, positing that humans must "acquire" (kasb) their deeds through free will within divinely provided capacities to preserve God's fairness. Jabriyya proponents, such as Jahm ibn Safwan (d. 746 CE), engaged these rationalist challenges primarily through scriptural affirmation rather than reciprocal dialectical refinement, rejecting Mu'tazili reason as presumptuous anthropomorphism that limits divine sovereignty. They maintained that God's actions, including the creation of all deeds (as in Qur'an 37:96, "Allah created you and what you do"), transcend human ethical categories; what appears as injustice—compelled sin followed by retribution—is reconciled by divine , where punishment manifests God's will without implying defect, and human "agency" is illusory subordinate to (qadar). This rebuttal prioritized literalist of verses on divine guidance and misguidance (e.g., Qur'an 76:30, "You do not will except that wills") over Mu'tazili postulates of rational necessity, viewing the latter as introducing dualism by elevating creaturely intellect above Creator's decree. These exchanges, peaking in the amid broader (theological discourse) in and , highlighted a fundamental methodological rift: Mu'tazila's integration of Greek-influenced logic to defend against , versus Jabriyya's insulation of from speculative critique to safeguard unqualified . While Mu'tazila texts, like those of 'Abd al-Jabbar (d. 1025 CE), systematically refuted jabr as negating prophetic warnings and eschatological equity, Jabriyya responses remained terse, often dismissing rationalist "innovations" (bid'a) as deviations from primordial orthodoxy, influencing later anti-Mu'tazili polemics but contributing to Jabriyya's marginalization as overly rigid.

Criticisms and Internal Rebuttals

Charges of Fatalism and Undermining

Critics of the Jabriyya, including the Qadariyya and Mu'tazila, primarily charged the school with promoting an extreme that equated human actions with divine (jabr), stripping individuals of any volitional capacity and reducing them to passive instruments of God's will, akin to "a feather in the air." This deterministic framework, as articulated by figures like Jahm b. Safwan (d. 131/745 AH), posited that God solely originates and enforces all deeds, negating independent causality or choice. Opponents argued that such a view logically precludes , as for reward or presupposes the ability to discern and select between . The Mu'tazila, emphasizing rationalist theology, contended that Jabriyya fatalism undermines divine justice ('adl), a core principle, by implying God authors and approves both virtuous acts and sins, thereby contradicting Qur'anic injunctions against evil and rendering eschatological judgment arbitrary. For instance, if humans generate no actions independently—as in the Mu'tazilite concept of tawallud (actions arising from human initiative)—then praising the righteous or condemning the wicked becomes incoherent, absolving tyrants of blame while negating incentives for ethical conduct. The Qadariyya similarly highlighted how without agency fosters excuses for transgression, as seen in early debates where Umayyad rulers invoked divine to justify oppression, prompting rebuttals like those of (d. 110/728 AH) against deterministic rationalizations of injustice. Socially and legally, detractors warned that Jabriyya thought encouraged passivity and moral paralysis, permitting believers to shift culpability for crimes or societal ills onto God's unalterable qadar, thus eroding communal reform and personal striving. In jurisprudence, this implied a diminished basis for (retribution) or ta'zir (discretionary punishment), as coerced actors could claim exemption from liability, potentially destabilizing Islamic legal accountability rooted in voluntary intent (qasd). These critiques, drawn from scriptural exegeses (e.g., 4:111, 7:28 emphasizing personal bearing of burdens), underscored a broader theological tension between omnipotence and , positioning Jabriyya as an outlier against mainstream compatibilist views.

Defenses Based on Divine Omnipotence

Jabriyya theologians defended their doctrine of compulsion (jabr) by asserting that divine necessitates God's exclusive agency in all acts, rendering human volition illusory to avoid any limitation on God's creative power. They argued that attributing causal efficacy or independent choice to humans would imply a form of (shirk) in creation, thereby compromising God's unrivaled as the sole originator of existence and events. This position, articulated by early proponents such as Jahm ibn Safwan (d. 128 AH/745 CE), portrayed humans as passive instruments, compelled in their deeds much like a twig borne by or limbs moved without inherent power. Scriptural foundations for this defense drew heavily from Quranic affirmations of God's total dominion, such as verse 37:96, which declares, "Allah created you and that which you do," directly ascribing the production of human actions to divine fiat rather than autonomous will. Additional verses, including 2:7 on the sealing of hearts and 9:51 emphasizing that no event befalls except by God's decree, were invoked to underscore predetermination as an extension of , where human perceptions of choice reflect incomplete knowledge against God's perfect foreknowledge. Rationally, Jabriyya contended that denying secondary causes preserves the doctrine of (divine unity), as any real potency in creatures would necessitate ongoing divine recreation of the to avert independent causation, yet ultimately affirm God's unmediated control. Against accusations of undermining moral accountability, they countered that divine power encompasses both the origination of acts and the subsequent judgment, with humans held responsible within the framework of God's inscrutable decree, thereby upholding without contradiction. This approach prioritized causal realism rooted in God's transcendence, rejecting anthropocentric notions of agency that could dilute absolute .

Legacy and Relation to Sunni Orthodoxy

Influence on Later Schools like

The Jabriyya's uncompromising affirmation of divine and exerted a formative influence on subsequent Sunni theological developments, particularly by reinforcing the rejection of anthropocentric notions of human agency prevalent in Mu'tazilite thought. Early proponents like Jahm ibn Safwan (d. 746 CE) argued that all human actions are directly compelled by God, denying any independent capacity for choice, which set a precedent for emphasizing God's sole creatorship over acts in opposition to rationalist schools that attributed creative power to humans. This stance resonated with traditionalist () circles, providing intellectual groundwork for later syntheses that prioritized scriptural affirmations of qadar (divine decree) over speculative doctrines. Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (d. 936 CE), founder of the Ash'ari school, initially aligned with Mu'tazilism but later repudiated its view of humans as originators of their deeds, adopting instead a framework where God creates all acts while humans "acquire" (kasb) them through divinely bestowed volition at the instant of occurrence. This doctrine of kasb, which preserves moral accountability without granting humans creative autonomy, effectively moderated the Jabriyya's absolute denial of human power (qudra) but retained its core tenet that divine will alone effects causation, rejecting any notion of secondary causes independent of God. Ash'ari's formulation thus channeled Jabriyya emphases into a rationally defensible position, enabling Ash'arism to become the dominant theology among Shafi'i and Maliki Sunnis by the 11th century, as seen in the works of successors like al-Baqillani (d. 1013 CE) who further systematized these ideas against rationalist critiques. Critics, including some Shi'ite and Maturidi theologians, have labeled as a veiled form of Jabriyya due to its insistence on God's direct creation of human actions, which they argue undermines genuine responsibility despite the kasb mechanism. Nonetheless, 's integration of Jabriyya-inspired predestinarianism with dialectical methods ensured its in Sunni thought, influencing broader acceptance of divine decree as one of the six pillars of (iman) while marginalizing the Jabriyya's unnuanced extremism. This legacy is evident in the school's enduring role in defending scriptural literalism on qadar against philosophical encroachments, shaping Sunni responses to debates on into the medieval period.

Status as a Marginalized Extremism in Islamic Thought

The Jabriyya doctrine, positing absolute divine compulsion (jabr) over human actions without any volitional capacity, has been deemed an extremist outlier in mainstream Islamic , particularly within Sunni , for negating the Qur'anic emphasis on human and discernment. Orthodox scholars, including those of the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools, critique it for implying that God directly authors sin and disbelief, thereby exonerating individuals from ethical responsibility and fostering fatalistic passivity that contravenes verses enjoining striving ( ) and self-reproach (e.g., Quran 4:79, attributing to human hands). This position was explicitly rejected in foundational Sunni creeds, such as the Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah (c. 933 CE), which affirms divine alongside human acquisition (kasb) of acts, positioning Jabriyya as a deviation akin to the Qadariyya's opposite extreme of untrammeled . Critiques from Ash'ari theologians, such as (d. 936 CE), underscore Jabriyya's logical inconsistencies, arguing that while God creates all existents, humans secondarily "acquire" their deeds through divinely enabled will, preserving without imputing to the Divine. This mediated avoids the Jabriyya's reduction of humans to passive instruments, which al-Ash'ari and successors like (d. 1085 CE) viewed as undermining prophetic exhortations to repentance and justice. Maturidi thought, prevalent in Hanafi regions, similarly marginalizes it by integrating rational evidence for partial agency, deeming pure compulsion incompatible with observed incentives in , where punishments presuppose choice. Such rejections solidified by the , confining Jabriyya to sporadic revivals among literalist fringes rather than institutional madhabs. Historically, Jabriyya's extremism manifested in social ramifications, such as excusing criminality under predestinarian pretexts, prompting fatwas from medieval jurists like (d. 1111 CE) branding it a threat to communal order and eschatological justice. By the classical period, it lacked endorsement in major compendia like al-Milal wa al-Nihal by (d. 1153 CE), which catalogs it among abrogated sects yielding to balanced ahl al-sunna syntheses. In contemporary discourse, remnants appear in isolated Salafi or Sufi polemics but command negligible adherence, overshadowed by orthodoxy's equilibrium of qadar (decree) and ikhtiyar (choice), ensuring its status as a theological relic rather than viable paradigm.

References

  1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384087366_ISLAMIC_THEOLOGICAL_SCHOOLS_OF_PREDESTINATION_A_CASE_OF_AL-JABARIYYA_THOUGHT_AND_ITS_LEGAL_AND_SOCIAL_IMPACT_ON_MUSLIM_LIFE
  2. https://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H009.htm
  3. https://www.academia.edu/35886630/_Jabriyya_in_Islam_A_Worldwide_Encyclopedia
  4. http://muslimphilosophy.com/books/ipt-wat.pdf
  5. https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/101406/9781786735508.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
  6. https://islamtees.uk/2013/03/13/brief-info-on-jahm-ibn-safwaan-and-the-jahmiyyah/
  7. https://www.academia.edu/1069931/Debating_the_Doctrine_of_Jabr_Compulsion_Ibn_Qayyim_al_Jawziyya_Reads_Fakhr_al_Din_al_Razi
  8. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110285406.61/html
  9. https://www.ghazali.org/articles/kamali.htm
  10. https://myreligionislam.com/detail.asp?Aid=5998
  11. https://www.juancole.com/library/dictionary-of-islam-hughes/al-jabariyah
  12. https://arabic.biu.ac.il/files/arabic/shared/islamic_theology_holtzman.pdf
  13. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/jahm-b-safwan
  14. https://www.naqshbandi.ca/pages/islam.php?id_article=193&language=English
  15. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20833060
  16. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/god-evil-and-suffering-in-islam/moral-evil-freedom-and-predestination/7324FC29D5830EBFF4140FC2E4C74E17
  17. https://phs.com.pk/index.php/phs/article/download/133/86
  18. https://www.academia.edu/103311087/Seeking_a_D%C3%A9tente_Between_the_Qadariyya_and_the_Jabriyya_Does_Believing_in_Divine_Predestination_and_Free_Will_Necessarily_Constitute_an_Aporia
  19. https://ask.ismailignosis.com/article/65-do-humans-have-free-will-or-are-their-actions-predetermined
  20. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309044375_Debating_the_Doctrine_of_Jabr_Compulsion_Ibn_Qayyim_al-Jawziyya_Reads_Fakhr_al-Din_al-Razi
  21. https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/predestination-vs-free-will-in-islam-understanding-allahs-qadr
  22. https://islamic_philosophy_en.en-academic.com/105/Jabrites
  23. https://www.academia.edu/51083348/A_Christian_Response_to_the_Islamic_Doctrine_of_Predestination
  24. https://themuslimtimes.info/2025/03/02/free-will-and-predestination-qadar-in-the-quran-and-islamic-theology/
  25. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/394369245_Theological_Criticism_of_Qadariyah_and_Jabariyah_in_Maziyyah_by_KH_Ambo_Dalle_The_Perspective_of_Islam_in_the_Indonesian_Archipelago
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
Contribute something
User Avatar
No comments yet.