Editing Ash'arism (section)

== Criticism ==
{{Criticism section|date=August 2021}}
The medieval Muslim scholar [[Ibn Taymiyyah]] criticised the Ashʿarī theology as (in the words of one historian, [[Jonathan A. C. Brown]]) "a Greek solution to Greek problems" that should "never" have concerned Muslims.<ref name=brown-62>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Jonathan A. C. |author-link=Jonathan A. C. Brown |title=Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy |date=2014 |publisher=[[Oneworld Publications]] |isbn=978-1-78074-420-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/62 |access-date=4 June 2018 |ref=JACBMM2014 |page=[https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/62 62]}}</ref> Both Ibn Taymiyyah and [[Shah Waliullah Dehlawi]] rejected the lack of literalism in Ashʿarī "speculative theology" and advocated "literal acceptance of God's description of Himself".<ref name=brown-65>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Jonathan A. C. |author-link=Jonathan A. C. Brown |title=Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy |date=2014 |publisher=[[Oneworld Publications]] |isbn=978-1-78074-420-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/65 |access-date=4 June 2018 |ref=JACBMM2014 |page=[https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/65 65]}}</ref>

In contrast, German orientalist scholar [[Eduard Sachau]] says that the Ashʿarī theology and its biggest defender, [[al-Ghazali]], was too literal and responsible for the decline of Islamic science starting in the 10th century. Sachau stated that the two clerics were the only obstacle to the Muslim world becoming a nation of "[[Galileo Galilei|Galileos]], [[Johannes Kepler|Keplers]], and [[Isaac Newton|Newtons]]".<ref>[[Muzaffar Iqbal]], ''Science and Islam'', p. 120. From the Greenwood Guides to Science and Religion Series. [[Westport, Connecticut|Westport]]: [[Greenwood Publishing Group]], 2007. {{ISBN|9780313335761}}</ref>

[[Ziauddin Sardar]] states that some of the greatest [[Science in medieval Islam|Muslim scientists]] of the [[Islamic Golden Age]], such as [[Ibn al-Haytham]] and [[Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī]], who were pioneers of the [[scientific method]], were themselves followers of the Ashʿarī school of Islamic theology.<ref name=Sardar>{{Citation|last=Sardar|first=Ziauddin|author-link=Ziauddin Sardar|year=1998 |contribution=Science in Islamic philosophy |title=Islamic Philosophy |publisher=[[Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |url=http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H016.htm |access-date=2008-02-03 }}</ref> Like other Ashʿarites who believed that faith or ''taqlid'' should be applied only to Islam and not to any [[Hellenistic civilization|ancient Hellenistic]] authorities,<ref name=Anwar>{{citation|last=Anwar|first=Sabieh |date=October 2008|title=Is Ghazālī really the Halagu of Science in Islam?|journal=[[Al-Mawrid|Monthly Renaissance]]|volume=18 |issue=10|url=http://www.monthly-renaissance.com/issue/content.aspx?id=1016|access-date=2008-10-14}}</ref> Ibn al-Haytham's view that ''taqlid'' should be applied only to the [[Prophets in Islam|prophets and messengers of Islam]] and not to any other authorities formed the basis for much of his [[scientific skepticism]] and criticism against [[Ptolemy]] and other ancient authorities in his ''Doubts Concerning Ptolemy'' and ''[[Book of Optics]]''.<ref>{{Citation|last=Rashed|first=Roshdi |year=2007|title=The Celestial Kinematics of Ibn al-Haytham |journal=Arabic Sciences and Philosophy |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=7–55 [11]|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |doi=10.1017/S0957423907000355 |s2cid=170934544}}</ref>