Dispute between Abul-Hasan Ashari & the Muhaddithin - Sharif Al-Awni

One of the most common, diverged and lengthy discussions of legal thought over the Islamic centuries is the issue of reasoning with traditions as referential evidence, because it is related to the second source of legislation, which is the honourable Sunnah of the Prophet. Despite the abundance of what has been written in the Sunnah sciences of single compilations, chapters and researches, it is an independent science among the sublime Islamic sciences; however, the field of research for its secrets is still ongoing.

The issues of definite and speculative narratives in the Prophet’s Sunnah, and the method of distinguishing one narration from the other, are among the subjects related to narration, which concerned the hadith methodology, the fundamentalist thinking and the scholastic research. Furthermore, this issue has been the subject of scientific debates, which have affected (and continue to affect) the Sharia sciences with the greatest and deepest impact.

The author wanted to contribute to the study of one aspect of this subject, by shedding light on the positions of agreement and divergence between the approach of Imam “Abul Hassan Al-Ash’ari” and the approach of the hadith scholars in differentiating between the certain and the presumptive in the narrations and their approach in using them to support their argumentation. Are there any agreement or divergence in their methodologies, regarding the issue of certainty or presumption in the narrative’s information?