WHY IMĀM ABUL HASAN AL-ASH’ARĪ (d. 324 AH) COMPILED AL-IBĀNA ‘AN UṢŪL AL-DIYĀNA AND PROOF THAT IT WAS TAMPERED WITH LATER ON

Imām Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Ṣafadī (d. 764H) mentioned the following in two places of his famous work known as al-Wāfī bil-Wafayāt «الوافي بالوفيات» [Publishing details: Al-Muḥaqqiq: Aḥmad al-Arnā’ūṭ wa Turkī Muṣṭafā, Al-Nāshir: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Turāth – Bayrūt, ‘Ām al-Nashr: 1420 AH – 2000 CE]

From 12/91:

Arabic text:

وَلما دخل الْأَشْعَرِيّ بَغْدَاد قَالَ رددت على الْمُعْتَزلَة وَالنَّصَارَى وَالْمَجُوس وَقلت فَقَالَ البربهاري مَا أَدْرِي مِمَّا قلت لَا قَلِيلا وَلَا كثيرا وَلَا نَعْرِف إِلَّا مَا قَالَه أَحْمد بن حَنْبَل فَخرج الْأَشْعَرِيّ وصنف لَهُ الْإِبَانَة فَلم يقبله مِنْهُ

Translation:

When Imām al-Ash’arī entered Baghdād, he said: “I have refuted the Mu’tazila, the Christians, and the Magians,” and he spoke [of his arguments]. But al-Barbahārī said: “I do not understand anything of what you have said, neither little nor much, and we only know what Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said.” So al-Ash’arī left and composed al-Ibānah for him, but he [al-Barbahārī] did not accept it from him.

Al-Ṣafadī on interpolation to the later edition of al-Ibānah of Imām al-Ash’arī

From 19/117:

Arabic text:

وَقَالَ الْمَازرِيّ رَحمَه الله فِي شرح الْبُرْهَان فِي قَوْله إِن الله يعلم الكليات لَا الجزئيات وددت لَو محوتها بدمي أَبُو بدمع عَيْني قلت أَنا أحاشي إِمَام الْحَرَمَيْنِ عَن القَوْل بِهَذِهِ الْمَسْأَلَة وَالَّذِي أَظُنهُ أَنَّهَا دست فِي كَلَامه ووضعها الحسدة لَهُ على لِسَانه كَمَا وضع كتاب الْإِبَانَة على لِسَان الشَّيْخ أبي الْحسن الْأَشْعَرِيّ وَهَذِه الْمَسْأَلَة فلسفة صرفة كَيفَ يَقُول بهَا أشعري وَسَائِر قَوَاعِده تخَالف القَوْل بهَا أَخْبرنِي من لَفظه الإِمَام الْعَلامَة قَاضِي الْقُضَاة تَقِيّ الدّين السُّبْكِيّ

Translation:

Al-Māzirī (may Allah have mercy on him) said in the commentary of al-Burhān regarding his statement “Indeed Allah knows the universals not the particulars” – “I wish I could erase it with my blood or with my tears.”

I say: I absolve Imām al-Ḥaramayn from making this statement, and what I think is that it was interpolated into his words and the envious ones placed it upon his tongue [lisān] – just as Kitāb al-Ibānah was placed upon the tongue [lisān] of Shaykh Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ash’arī. This matter is pure philosophy – how could an Ash’arī say it while all his principles contradict saying it?

This was related to me verbally by the learned Imam, Chief Judge Taqī al-Dīn al-Subkī (d. 756 AH).

More details on the tampering of al-Ibana: