Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller Jawab: Benarkah Imam Asy'ari Tinggalkan Aliran Asy'ariyyah?

Soalan yang diajukan kepada Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller*

Question

The Salafis claim that Abul Hasan Ash‘ari formulated the Ash‘ari tenets of Islamic faith (‘aqida) while he was between the Mu‘tazila and Ahl al-Sunna, and that he later refuted his formulations and joined Ahl al-Sunna in the Hanbali madhhab before he died. Is there any truth in this? They say his last book, al-Ibana, contains the refutations. If not, how can I prove it to these people? They also say that he had a second dream in which the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) appeared to him and told him that his Ash‘ari positions were wrong!

Ada golongan yang mendakwa bahawa Sheikh Abu Hasan al-Asy'ari telah mengasaskan Akidah Asy'ariyyah ketika beliau keluar daripada aliran Muktazilah. Kemudian beliau bertaubat dan memasuki Ahli Sunnah aliran mazhab Hanbali (menurut penulis ia bermaksud Imam Asy'ari keluar Asy'ariyyah dan masuk aliran salaf) sebelum meninggal dunia. Adakah ini benar? mereka juga mendakwa kitabnya yang terakhir ialah al-Ibanah. Jika salah, bagaimana saya dapat buktikannya? Mereka juga kata Imam Asy'ari bermimpi kali kedua berjumpa Rasulullah S.A.W yang mengakui bahawa aliran Asy'ari adalah salah.

Answer

The Ash‘ari school and Maturidi schools have represented the ‘aqida or "tenets of belief" of the majority of Sunni Muslims for more than a thousand years; just as the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi‘i, and Hanbali schools have represented the shari‘a or "Sacred Law" for the majority of Sunni Muslims for this period. Those against these two traditional schools of tenets of faith are people of bid‘a, defined in a fatwa or formal legal opinion by Imam Ibn Hajar Haytami as "whoever is upon other than the path of Ahl al-Sunna wa l-Jama‘a, Ahl al-Sunna wa l-Jama‘a meaning the followers of Sheikh Abul Hasan Ash‘ari and Abu Mansur Maturidi, the two Imams of Ahl al-Sunna" (Haytami, al-Fatawa al-hadithiyya, 280).

Aliran Asy'ari dan Maturidi mewakili aliran Ahli Sunnah bagi majoriti muslim sunni sejak ratusan tahun dahulu sebagaimana mazhab fekah yang empat yang mewakili majoriti umat Islam dalam bidang syari'ah. Aliran yang bertentangan dengan dua aliran tersebut maka ia adalah pengikut aliran bid'ah. Menurut Imam Ibn Hajar Haytami dalam kitab al-Fatawa al-Hadisiyyah, orang yang mengikuti aliran Ahli Sunanh wa al-Jamaah ialah mereka yang mengikuti aliran Abu Hasan Asy'ari dan Abu Mansur al-Maturidi yang merupakan dua Imam Ahli Sunnah

In answer to your question, the claims that Imam Abul Hasan Ash‘ari (d. 324/936) repudiated his own positions are not new, but have been circulated by these Hanbalis for a long time, a fact that compelled the hadith master (hafiz) Ibn ‘Asakir to carefully investigate this question, and the sanads (chains of narrators) for the attribution of these repudiations to Ash‘ari. The results of his research furnished probably the best intellectual biography of Ash‘ari ever done, a book that rebuts these claims thoroughly and uniquivocally, called Tabyin kadhib al-muftari fi ma nusiba ila al-Imam al-Ash‘ari [On showing the untruth of the liars, concerning what has been ascribed to Imam Ash‘ari], that proves that there are liars in all the sanads that impute this to Imam Ash‘ari. The book is in print, and whoever would like the details should read it.

Bagi menjawab soalan anda, dakwaan yg mengatakan Imam Abul Hasan Ash‘ari (wafat 324 H/936 M) menolak alirannya (iaitu aliran Asy'ariyyah) yang terdahulu bukanlah satu dakwaan yang baru. Bahkan ia telah diuar-uarkan oleh golongan Hanbali Mujassim sejak dahulu lagi. Sheikh Ibn Asakir telah mengkaji secara terperinci sejauh mana kebenaran persoalan tersebut dan mengkaji rangkaian sanad (chains of narrators) yang merujuk kepada sifat-sifat penolakan Imam Asy'ari terhadap alirannya itu. Hasil kajian yang dilakukan ialah kitab tersebut bukan saja mengandungi maklumat lengkap mengenai Imam Asy'ari bahkan mengandungi hujah-hujah yang dapat mematahkan segala dakwaan melalui sanad yang disandarkan kepada Imam Asy'ari. Kitab tersebut bertajuk Tabyin Kazbi al-Muftari Fima Nusiba ila al-Imam Abu Hassan al-Ash’ari. Kitab ini dah dicetak dan sesiapa yang ingin membuat kajian secara lebih lanjut maka patut baca kitab ini.

Imam Ash‘ari’s al-Ibana ‘an usul al-diyana [The clarification of the bases of the religion] was not his last book, but rather among the first after he broke with Mu‘tazilism. Imam Kawthari states:

The Ibana was authored at the first of his return from Mu‘tazilite thought, and was by way of trying to induce [n: the Hanbali literalist] Barbahari (d. 328/940) to embrace the tenets of faith of Ahl al-Sunna. Whoever believes it to be the last of his books believes something that is patently false. Moreover, pen after pen of the anthropomorphists has had free disposal of the text—particularly after the strife (fitna) that took place in Baghdad [n: after A.H. 323, when Hanbalis ("the disciples of Barbahari") gained the upper hand in Baghdad, Muslims of the Shafi‘i madhhab were beaten, and anthropomorphism became the faith (‘aqida) of the day (Ibn Athir: al-Kamal fi al-tarikh, 7.114)]—so that what is in the work that contradicts the explicit positions transmitted from Ash‘ari by his own disciples, and their disciples, cannot be relied upon (al-Sayf al-saqil, 108).

Kitab Imam Asy'ari iaitu al-Ibanah 'an Usul al-Diyanah bukanlah kitabnya yang terakhir tetapi merupakan antara kitab yang awal setelah beliau keluar daripada Muktazilah. Menurut Imam Kawthari:

“Kitab Ibanah adalah merupakan antara penulisannya yang awal setelah keluar daripada Mazhab Muktazilah. Kitab ini bertujuan untuk mengajak Barbahari (wafat pada 328H) (iaitu pengikut Hanbali Mujassim) kembali kepada akidah yang sebenar iaitu akidah Ahli Sunnah. Sesiapa yang percaya bahawa kitab ini adalah kitab yang terakhir maka mereka jelas telah tersilap. Apatah lagi setelah berlakunya perubahan demi perubahan secara bebas terhadap kitab asal Ibanah setelah berlakunya fitnah di Baghdad (setelah 323H) apabila pengikut Barbahari berkuasa di daerah tersebut. Pada waktu itu juga, para ulama Syafie’ ditewaskan dan golongan Mujassimah berkuasa dan menjadikan akidah mereka sebagai pegangan ketika tersebut.(perkara ini dicatat oleh Ibn Athir dalam kitabnya al-Kamal fi al-Tarikh)."

This is borne out by hadith master (hafiz) Dhahabi in his Siyar a‘lam al-nubala’ (15.90), as well as Ibn ‘Asakir’s Tabyin kadhib al-muftari. As for seeing dreams, dreams may warm the heart, but they are not a proof for either Islamic law or tenets of faith. In his introduction to Ibn ‘Asakir’s work, Kawthari notes that "the anthropomorphists are the ones who seem to need this [relating of dreams]: when unable to prove their point while awake, they go to sleep, to find the proofs they are looking for while asleep, to fill their books with them" (Tabyin kadhib al-muftari (21–22).

Sejarah itu juga disokong oleh Imam Zahabi dalam kitab Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’, begitu juga oleh Ibn Asakir dalam kitab Tabyin kadhib al-muftari. Berhubung dengan hujah mimpi (Imam Asy'ari mimpi jumpa Rasulullah S.A.W yang akui aliran Asy'ariyyah silap), ia tidak dapat diterima dalam undang-undang Islam dan Akidah Islam. Menurut Imam Kawthari di dalam mukadimah kitab Ibn Asakir iaitu:

“Golongan Mujassimah telah merekacipta cerita mimpi tersebut. Setelah mereka tidak dapat membuktikan hujah secara nyata maka mereka pun tidur untuk buktikan apa yang mereka dakwa untuk memenuhkan kitab-kitab mereka”

Rujukan:

1) Teks Asal: http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/masudq2.htm
2) Kitab tambahan: Syeikh Hamad al-Sinan dan Syeikh Fauzi al-'Anjari (t.t.), Ahlussunnah al-Asha'irah: Syahadah 'Ulama' al-Ummah wa Adillatuhum, T.T.P.: Dar al-Dhiya'. Maklumat lanjut tentang sejarah kitab al-Ibanah dan matan kitab asal yang diubah, rujuk halaman 59 hingga 72. (kitab ini diiktiraf oleh sepuluh ulama muktabar kontemporari, antaranya Mufti Damsyiq iaitu Sheikh Dr. 'Abd al-Fattah al-Bazzam, Mufti Mesir iaitu Sheikh 'Ali Jum'ah Muhammad, Sheikh Muhammad Sa'id Ramadan al-Buti dan Sheikh Wahbah al-Zuhayli)

*Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller: Maklumat biografi beliau, rujuk: http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuh_Ha_Mim_Keller
http://shadhilitariqa.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3