Abu_Abdallah
20th February 2007, 12:02 PM
The Hashwiyyah
Their Origin and Doctrines
Introduction
The term al-Hashwiyyah is a unique one. It appears as a name given to a specific group of Muslims in a derogatory sense. These so-named Muslims are counted – as a consequence – among the sectarians, although not as if they are irreligious such as the so-called Zanâdiqah but because of their, so it appears, overzealousness to be religious. Let us begin to see where the name comes from and what it denotes in the language before we view who were named such and what their beliefs were.
The name al-Hashwiyyah is derived from haswh which means: the common people. The common people are distinguished from the nobility, as the general (‘amma) from the elite (khassa). So when someone speaks about the haswh, i.e. the common people, he means the general public who are uneducated or intellectually of a lesser degree. So Haswhiyyah means: the vulgair, common and low people. The counterpart of the Haswhiyyah – and as we shall see also the ones who innovated this name-call – are of course the educated, intellectual and noble ones.
The people who were called the Hashwiyyah are not one uniform group of Muslims, known for their specific and clear-cut doctrines. What was a Hashwi for one intellectual was not for the other. In fact, we shall see that the term al-Hashwiyyah was not a known group of individuals who shared the same dogma’s similarly to many other well-known sects. Rather, it was more a term of abuse used by their opponents who were of course – according to their view – the intellectuals.
The Origin
The Name
The origin of many names of sectarian parties are found in heresiographical works. Thus the Sabi’iyyah, Jahmiyyah, Dirariyyah and their likes are named after their ‘founding fathers’ Abdallah b. Saba’, Jahm b. Safwan and Dirar b. ‘Amr respectively. Likewise are the major groups of the Shi’ites, the Mu’tazilites and the Kharijites named after their adherence to a ‘primary principle’: being member of the party of ‘Ali (shi’at ‘ali), being the seceding people and the leaving people. The Hashwiyyah are not named after a ‘founding father’ nor is their name-call indicative of some kind of dogmatic principle. Rather, they are called Hashwiyyah as a mark of offence: an insult. Thus you do not find someone called Hashwi as a sign of his doctrinal support as you may find with al-Mu’tazili or al-Khariji. Nor are those identified by being Hashwiyyah calling one another Hashwi or their doctrines Hashwite. Who then invented this name, who are their leading adherents and what does it denote?
The origin of the call-naming Hashwiyyah is found in an important passage of Ibn Taymiyyah. He spoke on its meaning and use in his famous trial on his creedal beliefs, known as: al-Munazârah al-Wasitiyyah. He said against an opponent of his – the major Ash'arite speculative theologian Safi al-Din al-Hindi – and the critical elite that was present, the following in defense of his dogmatic view:
“I went on to speak about the term, Hashwiyyah, though I am not sure whether this was in response to a question from the amir or someone else, or simply of my own accord. I said: The first ones to innovate this term were the Mu’tazilites, who used to refer to the majority and the masses as hashw, just as the Shi’ites refer to them as al-jumhûr. The hashw among a people are its commoners, the majority, in contradistinction to the distinguished nobility. They say, ‘This person is from the hashw of the people,’ just as it is said, ‘This person is from the jumhûr.’ And the first person to speak of this was ‘Amr b. ‘Ubayd, who used to say: ‘Abdallah b. ‘Umar was a hashwite.’ Thus, the Mu’tazilites refer to the majority as hashw, just as the Shi’ites refer to them as al-jumhûr.”
From the above passage we understand that the term Hashwiyyah – according to Ibn Taymiyyah – was innovated by the Mu’tazilites, and that they use to refer to the majority and the masses as haswh, i.e. the common people. Ibn Taymiyyah draws also an analogy with the way the Shi’ites referred to them as al-jumhûr, i.e. the populace. He even provides a statement from none other than ‘Amr b. ‘Ubayd, one of the two founders of the Mu’tazilite movement, who named the well-known Companion of the Prophet Abdallah b. ‘Umar a hashwite.
The view of Ibn Taymiyyah about the origin of the term seems to be attested in Mu’tazilite and even Shi’ite sources. To verify this view I took recourse to some important sources of these same Mu’tazilites and Shi’ites. One of these sources was the early heresiographical work of the Mu’tazilite-Shi’ite Nâshi al-Akbar (d.293) entitled Usul al-Nihal (The Principals of Sects)
In the Usul al-Nihal he speaks about the Hashwiyyah and identifies them with the Ashab al-Hadith, making mention of: Waki’ b. al-Jarrah (d.197), al-Shafi’i (d.204), Abdallah b. Numair and al-Fadl b. Dukain (d.219) from the people of Kufah, Hammad b. Salamah, Hisham al-Dastuwa’I (d.154), Hammad b. Zayd (d.179) and Yahya b. Sa’id al-Qattan (d.198) from the people of Basra, and finally from the people of Baghdad he counts Yahya b. Ma’in (d.233), Zuhayr b. Harb (d.234), Ahmad b. Hanbal (d.241) and a certain Isma’il al-Jawziy who he calls: Imam al-Hashwiyyah! The editor of Usul al-Nihal mentions that he’s probably Isma’il b. Dawud al-Jawziy al-Mikhrâqi who narrates from Malik b. Anas, Hisham b. Sa’d (d. around 160) and al-Darawardi (d. between 186 and 189). I think that the only one who could count as an ‘Imam of the Hashwites’ would be the influential figure of Isma’il b. Ishaq al-Qadi (d.282), the severe Malikite judge of Baghdad after the generation of Ahmad b. Hanbal. Isma’il al-Jazwiy can be altered easily into Isma’il al-Qadi. However, he does call a group Jawziyyah named after this Isma’il al-Jawziy. What is important is that the term Hashwiyyah is not – as the Usul al-Nihal is silent about – called after someone or a specific doctrine.
Another work by an early Shi’ite and Mu’tazilite scholar is the Firaq al-Shi’ah (The Parties of the Shi’ah) authored by al-Nawbakhti (d.310). He writes about the Hashwiyyah – which he identifies with the Ashab al-Hadith – as his predecessor the following:
“And a party from them (i.e. the Murji’ah which he describes) are called: The Doubters (al-shukkâk), the Batriyyah [and] the Ashab al-Hadith. From among them are Sufyan b. Sa’id al-Thawri, Sharik b. Abdallah, Ibn Abi Layla, Muhammad b. Idris al-Shafi’i, Malik b. Anas and their followers from the common people and the great majority (min Ahl al-Hashw wa’l-Jumhûr al-‘Azîm) and they are named: al-Hashwiyyah.” (p.20, Firaq al-Shi’ah)
From this passage it is apparent that the Hashwiyyah were a known group of Muslims who are identified as some prominent figures of early Islam such as: Sufyan al-Thawri, Malik b. Anas, al-Shafi’i and Ahmad b. Hanbal, three out of the four imams. These people are referred to as Murji’ah, Ashab al-Hadith and other terms in Mu’tazilite and Shi’ite sources. They are called Hashwiyyah, not because they followed someone called hashw or al-hashwi but because they were described as such. Their name was not indicative of some kind of principal doctrine but was rather a derogatory description, thrown at them by their adversaries.
Al-Nawbakhti says also in the course of mentioning what happened during the early Fitan:
“When ‘Ali was killed the party which had followed him, with the exception of a small number in his group and of those who maintained his right to the Imamate after the Prophet, met the group that had supported Talha, al-Zubayr and ‘Aisha and joined forces with Mu’awiya b. Abi Sufy’an. These comprise the vast majority: the Ahl al-Hashw, the followers of kings and the supporters of the victorious, I mean those who joined Mu’awiya.”
Ibn Taymiyyah was well aware of that, having authored a refutation of one of the leading Shi’ite – and Mu’tazilite – Imams of his time: Ibn Mutahhar al-Hilli. In this refutation he questions the correctness of al-Hilli’s accusation that the Ahl al-Sunnah are Hashwiyyah and Mushabbihah, saying in the course of a point by point refutation:
“The third perspective: the [sectarian] group is to be defined by the name of its [founding] men or by a characteristic of its conditions. For the first such as is said: the Najdites, the Azraqites, al-Jahmiyyah, al-Najjariyyah, al-Dirariyyah and similar to that. And the second as is said: al-Rafidah, al-Shi’ah, al-Qadariyyah, al-Murji’ah, al-Khawarij and similar to that.
As for the word <Hashwiyyah> then it does not contain an indication to an individual personality nor a particular doctrine, so I do not know who they are these people [to whom he referred to]. And it has been said: The first one who has spoken by this word is ‘Amr b. ‘Ubayd for he said: ‘Abdallah b. ‘Umar was a Hashwite’.” (Minhaj 2:414, refer also to Ibn al-‘Imad’s comment on ‘Amr b. ‘Ubayd’s insult in Shadarat al-Dhahab 1:211)
He then proceeds to refute the understanding of al-Hilli concerning the identification of these Hashwites as being the followers of the four Imams or the Ahl al-Hadith specifically or the common Sunnites – absolving all three of this false description and their allegedly described doctrines.
So the origin of the name Hashwiyyah comes from hashw, i.e. the common people. It is the Mu’tazilah and the Shi’ah who are the earliest writers from among the heresiographers who used it to identify people with it. These people are not called as such because of a ‘founding father’ nor by a particular doctrine. Rather, they have been called Hashwiyyah as a insult. It seems that in the earliest descriptions the Hashwiyyah were the popular and leading scholars and their followers. They are also known as Ashab al-Hadith. The following will prove this.
The Members
The Hashwiyyah
The Hashwiyyah are sometimes identified as Nâbita. The Nâbita are identified as another group of Muslims who are opponents of the Shi’ites and the Mu’tazilites. Particularly their hatred of ‘Ali, as their opponents claimed, was noted. However, it is al-Jahiz the well-known Mu’tazilite who has left us some fierce attacks against these Muslims. So who are these Nabita? And what is their connection with the Hashwiyyah? To begin with the second question there is Ahmad b. Hanbal’s answer who said:
“As for the Ashab al-Ra’y (The Adherents of Opinion) they call the Ashab al-Sunnah Nâbita and Hashwiyyah. The Ashab al-Ra’y lie!” (Ibn Abi Ya’la p.36)
In the Taj al-‘Arus the Nâbita are referred to as a party from the Hashwiyyah, but this seems not to be correct. Rather, the Nabita are just a nickname similar to Hashwiyyah. Al-Jahiz’s Risalah fi’l-Nâbita makes this clear. They are called Nâbita, Nawâbit or Nâbitiyyah which have one and the same meaning: contemptible people who suddenly sprout out. It has been used before by al-Jahiz, however it is he and his likes from the Mu’tazilites who popularized this insult. The later Mu’tazilite – and Shi’ite – theologian al-Khayyat said that the Nâbita befriend the oppressive Syrian mob, i.e. the Ummayyads in general and Mu’awiyyah in particular. (See Intisar p.139)
Al-Ma’mûn described in one of his letters surrounding the famous Mihna these opponents of his, i.e. the Ashab al-Hadith. He said:
“The Commander of the Faithful has realized that the broad mass (al-jumhûr al-a’zam) and the overwhelming concentration of the base elements of the ordinary people (wa al-sawâd al-akbar min hashw) and the lower elements of the commonality (wa-safilat al-‘ammât) are those who, in all the regions and far horizons of the world have no farsightedness (la nazar), or vision (la dirayat), or faculty of reasoning (la istidlâl) by means of such evidential proofs as God approves along the right way which He provides..” until he says about them ‘..this is because of the feebleness of their judgement, the deficiency of their intellects and their lack of facility in reflecting upon things and calling them to mind.” (al-Tabari 11/1112-1113 and refer to al-Dhahabi’s Siyar 1:287-288)
And speaking about the leaders of these ‘âmma (the general people) he says that they “..consider themselves adherents of the Sunnah!” (see Tabari tr.)
The later Imam of the Mu’tazilah, al-Qadi Abd al-Jabbar al-Hamadhani al-Asadabadi, whose major writings have been found in the previous century is an example when it comes to describing his opponents – that is the Ahl al-Sunnah in its broad sense - as Haswiyyah along with other insults.
About the Ahl al-Sunnah in its broad sense to whom he refers as Hashwiyyah he says:
“His Saying, the Exalted {Nay, they shall be for their Lord that Day screened!} does not prove what the Hashwiyyah says that is that He, the Exalted, shall be seen on the Day of Resurrection..” (Mutashabih al-Qur’an p.283)
About the Ahl al-Sunnah in its narrow sense he says:
“The Haswite Nawâbit from the Hanâbilah opinioned that the Qur’an that is recited in the niches (mahârib, pl. of mihrab), and written in the scriptures is uncreated and not originated (muhdat)..” (Sharh Usul al-Khamsa p.527)
So from these two examples we see that the Hashwiyyah are, in the opinion of the Mu’tazilites, the Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama’ah (who are not Shi’ites nor Qadarites). This includes the Ash’arites and the Maturidites for that matter, especially the former to which Qadi Abd al-Jabbar refers as Kullâbiyyah and not just the Hanbalites. It is astonishing to see that, today, those who call themselves Ash'arites (and Maturidites) describe some of their opponents as Hashwiyyah while they are incl. among the Hashwites themselves in the opinion of the Jahmite Mu'tazilites and many Shi'ites of the past!
al-Jâhiz, the spokesman of the Jahmite Mu'tazilah in its formative period, seems to have included even the Kullâbiyyah - who are the predecessors of the Ash'ariyyah - and their likes among the Hashwites, saying:
"..the Mutakallimin of the Hashwiyyah (mutakallimî'l-hashwiyyata) and the Nâbita have experienced debates with our fellows"
which is an allusion to those 'Sunnites' who were considered to have used Kalâm against their Mu'tazilite opponents, of which the Kullâbiyyah are the most prominent party. Indeed, Ibn Kullâb is included among the Hashwiyyah in the first lines of his lemma in Ibn al-Nadim's Fihrist. In the chapter heading he calls the Hashwiyyah also the Mutakallimin of the Mujbirah, as many Qadarites call every affirmer of Qadar a fatalist. The late report that Ibn Kullâb authored a refutation of the Hashwiyyah, by Hajji Khalifah, is therefore odd and mistaken.
The Scholars who Reject the Name-calling Hashwiyyah
Ahl al-Sunnah
Ahmad b. Hanbal (d.240) said:
“As for the Ashab al-Ra’y (The Adherents of Opinion) they call the Ashab al-Sunnah Nâbita and Hashwiyyah. The Ashab al-Ra’y lie!” (see prevous reference to Ibn Abi Ya’la p.36)
Ibn Qutaybah (d.276) said:
“And they have given them epithets of Hashwiyyah, Nâbita and Mujbirah; and maybe they have called them [also] Jabriyyah. They have called them Ghuthâ’ and Ghuthr (i.e. scum and low).” (Ta’wil p.78)
Abu Hatim al-Razi said:
"The sign of the Ahl al-Bid'ah is their defaming the Traditionists, and the sign of the Zanadiqah (Heretics) is their naming Ahl al-Sunnah as Hashwiyyah (vulgar or low people) wishing through this the cancellation oftTraditions. The sign of the Jahmiyyah is their naming of the Ahl al-Sunnah as Mushabbihah (anthropomorphists). The sign of the Qadariyyah is their naming of the Traditionists as Mujbirah (fatalists). The sign of the Murji'ah is their naming the Ahl al-Sunnah as Mukhalifah (opposers) and as Nuqsaniyyah (those who state that faith increases and decreases [naqasa]). The sign of the Rafidah is their naming of Ahl al-Sunnah as Nâsibah (those who harbour hatred toward Ali). Only one name is attached to Ahl al-Sunnah, and it is impossible that all these should apply to them!'" (al-Lalika'i in his Sharh 1:176-179)
Al-Maqdisi, author of Bad’ al-Tarikh stated:
“As for the Ashab al-Hadith who are nicknamed the Hashwiyyah, Makhluqiyyah, Nisfiyyah, Fâdiliyyah, Sa’idiyyah, Sâwiyyah and Mâlikiyyah..” (vol.5:148)
Abu 'Uthman al-Sabuni (d.449), who is counted among the Ash'arites by some, said in his creed:
"And the signs of innovations by its people are not hidden but are apparent. Their most apparent sign and trait is their intense enmity for the carriers of the narrations of the Prophet, may Allah's peace and blessing be upon him, and their looking down upon them. And they name them Haswiyyah, Jahala, Dhâhiriyyah and Mushabbihah, because of their different beliefs regarding the narrations of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him: that it does not contain knowledge; and that knowledge [for them] is that which the Shaytan gives them as a result of their corrupt minds, the whisperings of their darkened breasts, the misgiving notions of their hearts which are devoid of any good and their speech and invalid proofs, in fact they are nothing more than untenable and false doubts! {They are the ones Allah Cursed. So He has made them deaf and blinded in their vision} [47:23].." ('Aqidat al-Salaf wa-Ashab al-Hadith in: Majmu'a al-Muniriyyah 1:132-133)
And he also stated,
"Also the innovators, may Allah destroy them, seek to attack and try to cause controversy over the carriers of his narrations and his remnants, and the narrators of his traditions, those who seek to follow him and seek guidance through his Sunnah. [They are known as the the Ashab al-Hadith]. Some labelled them as Haswiyyah, Mushabbihah, Nabita, Nâsiba or Jabariyyah. The Ashab al-Hadith are protected from these name-calling, being free, pure and clean from them! They are nothing other that the traditional Ahl al-Sunnah, the aproved way, the level path and the decisive. Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has given them Succes in adhering to His Books, His Revelation and His Message, and following His Messenger, the peace and blessing upon him.." (see previous note)
Other scholars
Al-Mas’udi - who is an Shi'ite - in Muruj al-Dhahab said:
“And likewise Ja'far b. al-Mubashshir was from the scholars of the Mu'tazilah and his brother Hansh b. al-Mubashshir was from the scholars of the Ashab al-Hadith and the leaders of the Hashiwyyah, contrary to his brother Ja'far..” (p.443)
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[u]The Ash’arites use of Hashwiyyah [unfinished paragraph]
Abu’l-Ma’ali Abd al-Malik b. Abdallah b. Yusuf al-Juwayni, the Ash’arite Mutakallim, called part of the Ahl al-Sunnah – following the Mu’tazilite-Shi’ite tradition – also Hashwiyyah. He said in his well-known manual of theology, al-Irshâd:
“The Karrâmiyyah and some of the Hashwiyyah opinioned that the Creator, Exalted is He from their saying, is mutahayyiz bi-jihat al-fawq!” (Irshad p.58)
He means by the Hashwiyyah the Ahl al-Sunnah for they are the affirmers of the Attribute of Ascending and Aboveness. As for his saying that they ascribe a direction then this is not correct: they do not subscribe to it nor reject it since the texts do neither.
Abu Hamid Mummad b. Muhammad al-Ghazali al-Tusi, the Ash’arite student of the aforementioned Ibn al-Juwayni, also described the Ahl al-Sunnah as Hashwites. He said:
(al-Iqtisad fi’l-I’tiqad)
These Mu’tazilite-Ash’arites were followed in this by other later-day Ash’arites, such as Taqi al-Din al-Subki. He said that the Hashwiyyah (he means: the Hanâbilah and many of the Shafi’iyyah) were overcome by scripture (al-naql) and were negligible when it comes to reason (al-‘aql) and that they are ignorants (juhhâl) who ascribe themselves to Imam Ahmad while he is free of them and their views!
And al-Subki did not feel any shame when he said that they, i.e. the Hashwites, picked up some expressions from Ahmad b. Hanbal during his trial in the Mihna which he used against the Mu’tazilah in court but which these Haswiyyah did not understood! And then al-Subki claims that they professed in these sinful beliefs and that the later ones followed their predecessors in this wrong beliefs – except so this calumniator says – whom Allah protected!
He then continues with no shame whatsoever saying that: then Ibn Taymiyyah came and he possessed eminence and status and grandeur, and there was no person who could guide him, and he is with all of that [i.e. praiseworthy characteristics] a upholder of their views! SubhanAllahi al-'Azim. (Refer to Sayf al-Saqil p.12-16)
So this al-Subki – may Allah forgive him – considered that those who abhorred and condemned Kalâm and affirmed the Attributes which are mentioned in the Qur’an and Sunnah is a Hashwite. Just like he asserted that the Hanâbilah, i.e. the followers of Imam Ahmad, are Hashwiyyah, Juhhâl who do not understand an iota of the speech of Imam Ahmad when he debated the Mu’tazilites in court. And these Hanbalite followers, called Hashwites, professed a wrong doctrine which is the affirmation of the Attributes of Reports and the Imam – according to his assertion – is free of their beliefs. Well then, let us ask this zealot, who are these ‘Hanbalites’ who are following their Imam in denial of all these Attributes and upholding Kalâm? Having not mentioned the apparent contradictions which this misinterpreted picture contains!
Al-Kawthari, who is a much greater zealot than Ibn al-Subki, said:
“Denial that Allah is in a place upon heaven is the Madhhab of the Ahl al-Haqq and likewise the denial of the sense-perceived above-ness (al-fawqiyyah al-hissiyyah), contrary to the beliefs of the Haswiyyah!” (Note in the Tanbih of al-Malati, see p.97)
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Insha'Allah - as several other articles - hoping to finish one day: make Du'a please.
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