Atharis or Ahl al-Hadith are those who adhere to the creed of Athari theology, [1] which originated in the 8th century CE from the Hanbali scholarly circles of Ahl al-Hadith. The name derives from "tradition" in its technical sense as a translation of the Arabic word "Athar". [2] The Athari school is one of three schools of doctrine in Islam alongside the Ash'ari creed and the Maturidi creed. Atharis are against the usage of metaphorical interpretation [3] such as regarding the revealed attributes of God, and they do not make attempts to conceptualize the meanings of the Quran in a rational manner. [4]
The Atharis became affiliated with the Hanbalis [5] throughout the years as their doctrine originated from there, but they are also affiliated with Wahhabism [6] and the Salafi movement. [6]
Zahiri
He chose to treat the anthropomorphic descriptions of God found in the scriptures as muhkamat, admitting to only a literal meaning,...
Scholars are almost unanimous in attributing to Ibn Hanbal the use of the ancient balkafa formula. Goldziher, Wensinck, Halkin, Laoust, Makdisi, Abrahamov, and Watt all find in the Imam an advocate of this mediating principle (balkafa), which reportedly allowed the traditionalists to deny the Mu'tazilite ta'wil or figurative interpretation of the Qur'anic anthropomorphisms while concomitantly affirming the doctrine of the "incorporeal, transcendent deity"... although he argued for the acceptance of the literal meaning of the Qur'anic and prophetic statements about God, he was no fideist.' The imam was quite willing to engage in hermeneutical exercise.. The rise of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal during the Mihna resulted in the empowering and centering of corporealist ideas within the Sunni movement. When his ideas became the criterion of traditionalist orthodoxy..
The prominent traditionalists, such as Abū ʿAmr al-Awzāʿī (d. 157/774) and Ahmad b. Ḥanbal (d. 241/855)...
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Al-Buwayti... enjoyed the trust of traditionalist scholars such as Abu Dawud al-Sijistani and al-Humaydı as well as Ahmad b. Hanbal himself...
the later Iraqi traditionalist Abu Dawud says not only that he was weak...
the methodology proposed by Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) and adopted by Ibn Kathīr (d. 774/1373), which ultimately resulted in the dismissal of philology in favour of hadith and of the doctrines of Sunnī traditionalism.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Ibn Kathir, 'Imad Al-din Isma'Il Ibn ]Umar (AD 1300–73)... His reliance is totally upon hadith material; the era of Ibn Kathir, in fact, marks the triumph of traditionalism over the powers of rationalism.
Born in Bosra in 1300, Ibn Kathīr was a historian and traditionalist of Mamlūk, Syria
Philips is a follower of traditional literalist interpretation of the Qur'ān.... This is a basic and conservative method of interpreting the Qur'ān, which is used by traditionalist Muslim scholars such as Ibn Kathīr (d.1373)...
Ibn Kathir, 'Imad Al-Din Ism'il Ibn 'Umar (AD 1300–73)... His reliance is totally upon hadith material; the era of Ibn Kathir, in fact, marks the triumph of traditionalism over the powers of rationalism.
Born in Bosra in 1300, Ibn Kathīr was a historian and traditionalist of Mamlūk, Syria.
In fact, the prominent Shafi'ite Athari scholar Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi...
...al-Dhahabi, who was a fervent anti-kalam Traditionalist...
...in addition to the Ḥanbalīs, the Atharīs also include a small number of followers of the other three schools of law. ... Such as al-Dhahabī and Ibn Kathīr, both Shāfiʿīs.
Ahmad.. recruited the prominent traditionalist al-Humaydı to al-Shafı'is circle,"... "Al-Buwayti... enjoyed the trust of traditionalist scholars such as Abu Dawud al-Sijistani and al-Humaydı as well as Ahmad b. Hanbal himself..
The 'Traditionalization' of the Andalusi Maliki school was mainly achieved by Abu 'Umar 'b 'Abd al-Barr (d. 463/1071)...
There were also scholars such as... the traditionalist Yūsuf ibn 'Abd al-Barr (died 1071).
Another group of traditionalists, Salafiyya, like... Ibn 'Abd al-Barr (d. 63/1071), affirm the acts of God...
Abu Zur'ah al-Razi was impeccably traditionalist, ".. "A list of leading scholars in the ninth century shows clearly the ebb and flow of traditionalist influence... Al-Dhahabi adds that it was also with Ahmad, Abu Bakr Ibn Abi Shaybah, 'Ali ibn al-Madini, and others; then passed to al-Bukhari, Abu Zur'ah al-Razi Abu Hatim al-Razi (d. 277/890-891)...
Ibrahim b. Khalid Abu Thawr (d. 240/854)... who became a traditionalist and a school founder
al-Shawkani, Muhammad b. 'Ali (1760–1834)... dismissed speculative theology (kalām) and reason-based arguments as idle talk and was a staunch Salafi in matters of creed
Shawkänī, as was mentioned already, was opposed to kaläm, which he regarded as a science that led to more confusion than clarity for the believer. He admits that he felt confused by it (lam azdad bihā illā þpiratan) and he found it to consist of idle talk (khuza"balār)... Shawkānī appears to fit more properly, though perhaps not entirely, in the Hanbalī tradition, which rejected outright many of the theological claims made by the various schools of kalām.
Muhammad al-Shawkani (d. 1839), a famous Yemeni traditionalist and reformer..." "The legacies of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya were also palpable in Arabia in the eighteenth-century traditionalist movement. In Yemen, the most prominent figures in this movement were Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil al-Sanʿani (referred to as al-Amir al-Sanʿani, d. 1769) and Muhammad al Shawkani (d. 1839).
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Shawkani ... is a prominent authority for the Salafi version of Islam
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)(Rida)... claimed to be Salafi in creed and relied more heavily on transmitted knowledge (naql) than did Muhammad Abduh.
... the early progressive liberalism of these modernists quickly gave way to the arch-conservatism of Athari thinkers who held even greater contempt for the ideas of the nonbelievers (as well as liberals). This shift was most pronounced in the person of Rashid Rida (d. 1935), once a close student of 'Abduh, who increasingly moved to rigid Athari thought under Wahhabi influences in the early twentieth century. From Rida onward, the "Salafism" of al-Afghani and 'Abduh became increasingly Athari-Wahhabite in nature, as it remains today.
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