Handbooks in the Tradition of Later Eastern Ashʿarism

Many of the classical manuals on Ashʿarite theology have been continuously and intensively used in Muslim theological instruction until today. However, the historical development of Ashʿarite doctrine remains significantly understudied, especially for the later period. Later Ashʿarism is widely considered to be a theological system codified in comprehensive handbooks such as Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Bayḍāwī’sTawāliʿ al-anwārand ʿAḍud al-Dīn al-Ījī’sKitāb al-Mawāqif. This article examines handbooks dealing with the later Ashʿarite tradition in the Eastern parts of the Islamic world. It first considers the interaction of Ashʿarite scholars with Māturīdite teachings during the Ilkhanid period, focusing on an important document of Māturīdism: Shams al Dīn al-Samarqandī’sal-Ṣaḥīfa al-ilāhiyyaand the author’s own commentary, theKitāb al-Maʿārif fī sharḥ al-Ṣaḥāʾif. It then discusses Ashʿarism’s interaction with the philosophical tradition, as well as several importantkalāmworks such as those by al-Shahrastānī and Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī. It also analyses al-Bayḍāwī’sṬawāliʿ, al-Ījī’sMawāqif, and al-Samarqandī’sṢaḥāʾif. In particular, it outlines the sections of theṬawāliʿfocusing on the divine ‘self’ (dhāt), prophecy, afterlife, and imamate.