Jahm bin Safwan

Jahm ibn Safwān (جهم بن صفوان) was an Islamic theologian who attached himself to Al-Harith ibn Surayj, a dissident in Khurasan towards the end of the Umayyad period, and who was put to death in 746 by Salim b. Ahwaz.

Biography

He was born in Kufah, but settled down in Khurasān in Tirmidh. His birthyear is unknown, but he probably was born in the first century (hijrah). He learned under al-Ja'd b. Dirham, a theologian from Harran in Syria. al-Ja'd b. Dirham was a teacher of the last Umayyad Caliph, Marwan II, and is described as a Dahrî and Zindîq. He was the first Muslim who spoke about the createdness of the Qur'ân, the rejection of Abraham's friendship to God and Moses' speaking to Him. From al-Ja'd Jahm b. Safwān inherited some doctrines and would become the founder of the Jahmiyyah (see: Jahmites).

Jahm eventually took work as the assistant of Al-Harith ibn Surayj during the latter's revolt against the Umayyad governor Nasr ibn Sayyar. During the first attempt to take Merv in 746, Jahm was killed though the revolt greatly weakened Umayyad power and indirectly contributed to the success of the Abbasid Revolution.

Teachings

According to Jahm ibn Safwan only a few attributes can be predicated to God, such as creation, divine power and action whilst others such as speech cannot. Therefore, he believed that it was wrong to talk about the eternal word of the Qur'an, since God (according to Jahm) is not a speaker in the first place.

Jahm had been an exponent of extreme determinism according to which a man acts only metaphorically in the same way in which the sun acts or does something when it sets.

Legacy

Jahm's doctrines about God and His Attributes found a lot of adherence among the Mu'tazilah, who were named Jahmites by their adversaries. The Mu'tazilah are known because of their belief that the Qur'ān is created, a tenet wherein they agreed with Jahm. They were also characterized by their adversaries as deniers of God's Attributes in contradistinction of the affirmers from among the Sunnis.

Criticism

Jahm b. Safwān was heavily criticized and declared an unbeliever by the ahl al hadith, who were increasingly becoming affiliated to the Umayyad, and later on, Abbassid authorities . Early on, many scholars of Hadith wrote refutations of Jahm bin Safwan's doctrines, particularly Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Bukhari, and al-Darimi. The latter also wrote a large refutation of a prominent Jahmite by the name of Bishr b. Ghiyāt al-Mārisî wherein he declared him a Kafir (an unbeliever).