Introduction to Ash'ari

Abstract

The difference between the Mu’tazilah and the Ash’ari in the question of God Almighty could not be better than the following text, which was mentioned in two places by al-Ghazali: the first in his book Reviving the Sciences of Religion, and the second in the book Economy in Belief (3) in which he speaks describing the gap between the Ash’ari and the Mu’tazila, and he stated in it : [Let us imagine a baby boy and an adult man, both of whom died on instinct, standing in the sky (that is, in the presence of the Exalted, Glory be to Him), but the adult was given a higher status than the infant, then the infant asked his Lord: Why did you give that adult a higher status than me? Then God Almighty answers: Because he did good deeds. Then the child asks.