The Rhetorical Aspect of Āyāt al-Ṣifāt: The Ashʿarite Prohibition of Gestures and the Ultra-Traditionalistic Response (12th-14th Centuries)

The following paper focuses on the Ashʿarite prohibition to use gestures (ishāra, pl. ishārāt) while reciting āyāt al-ṣifāt, the Quranic verses that describe God in anthropomorphic language. This prohibition was articulated by authors who were active between the 12th to the 14th centuries. The ultra-traditionalistic fierce response to this prohibition appears in the writings of Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) and his foremost disciple Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 1350).The connection between gestures and āyāt al-ṣifāt was briefly presented in our recently published monograph, Anthropomorphism in Islam: The Challenge of Traditionalism 700-1350 (Edinburgh University Press, 2018). Based on meticulous reading in the writings of Ashʿarites scholars, we described the Ashʿarite rejection of spontaneous gestures performed by the traditionalistic muḥaddithūn during the recitation of āyāt al-ṣifāt. These gestures were rhetorical devices meant to accentuate the literal understanding of the anthropomorphic expressions without providing a verbal interpretation, namely without falling into the pit of “asking how” or “adding further comments”. Thus, for example, we find in the sources descriptions of muḥaddithūn touching their ear and eye while reciting “Surely God hears all and observes all” (Q. 4: 58). This discovery, as far as we know, was never presented in previous scholarship. Researches thus far widely discussed the Ashʿarite hermeneutical efforts to reconcile their concept of tanzīh (transcendence or deanthropomorphism) with the anthropomorphic descriptions of God in āyāt al-ṣifāt. These researches (Makdisi, Frank, Abrahamov, Griffel, El-Rouayheb- just to name a few) have already clarified that the Ashʿarite approach to āyāt al-ṣifāt combined the traditionalistic bi-lā kayfa (literally, “without asking how”) formula with the Muʿtazilite taʼwīl (figurative interpretation). The outcome, the Ashʿarite dual-faceted bi-lā kayfa formula was meant to dispel any attribution of physical characteristics to God by interpreting the anthropomorphic expressions in the Quran as metaphors of the divine attributes. The following paper picks up the thread of our recent discovery about gestures and āyāt al-ṣifāt, and deepens our reading in the relevant historical and theological sources. Apparently, the Ashʿarites attributed sayings that condoned gestures to Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855) and Malik ibn Anas (d. 796). These two champions of ultra-traditionalism supposedly opined that whoever gesticulated while citing āyāt al-ṣifāt should be severely punished by mutilation: if he gesticulated with his finger to demonstrate what God's finger is, his finger should be cut off. On the other hand, Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya did not accept this position as attributed to Malik and Ahmad. Did the Ashʿarites exploit Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Malik ibn Anas to promote their understanding of bi-lā kayfa? Who was responsible for including the sayings attributed to Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Malik ibn Anas in the Ashʿarite curriculum? This paper answers these questions by analyzing yet unpublished textual evidence.