Asher ben Jechiel 69asceticism Medieval asceticism consisted of a number
of voluntary practices: penitential exercises, bodily depri-
vations, and contemplative exercises to overcome early
attachments and attain spiritual perfection and eternal sal-
vation. Ascetic practices were not confined to Christianity.
Asceticism was a renunciation by human beings aimed at
consecrating themselves totally and freely to GOD. Mus-
lims and Jews were much more suspicious of its value, but
some did follow such practices, though never on the scale
of or with the official sanctions present in Christianity.
RELIGIOUS AND LAY PRACTICEMonasticism was one field of ascetic withdrawal. Western
monasticism, inspired by the Rule of St. BENEDICT, was
characterized by some moderation and discretion, aiming
at a renunciation of pleasure and a minimization of temp-
tations. In the 11th and early 12th centuries, monastic
ascesis became more severe under the influence of a more
heroic spirituality. As an escape from the world and in the
pursuit of voluntary suffering, the wearing of rough or
painful garments, flagellation, vigils, sleeping on the
ground, and fasting became more encouraged and prac-
ticed in the religious life.
Ascetic withdrawal was also practiced by men and
women outside any kind of monastic organization. This
independent lay asceticism lasted throughout the Middle
Ages. HERMITSmoved into the deserts of the Mediter-
ranean lands and the mountainous and wooded regions.
These lay hermits expanded the monastic model, giving
themselves up to asceticism often in defiance and outdo-
ing the traditional moderation of the Benedictine Rule
practiced in monasteries and religious communities.
They served an imitation of Christ by a realistic repro-
duction of the sufferings of the Passion. Physical suffer-
ing soon joined currents of voluntary poverty and
charity to flow into an ideal of religious life more com-
patible with the lay state. These groups of lay penitents
multiplied in the late 12th and the 13th centuries in
communities of lay religiosity and in the CONFRATERNITY
movement.
See alsoANCHORITES AND ANCHORESSES;SUFISM.
Further reading: Owen Chadwick, ed., Western
Asceticism(Philadelphia: Westminster, 1958); Elizabeth
A. Clark, Reading Renunciation: Asceticism and Scripture in
Early Christianity(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 1999); Susanna Elm, “Virgins of God”: The Making
of Asceticism in Late Antiquity(Oxford: The Clarendon
Press, 1994); Lutz Kaelber, Schools of Asceticism: Ideology
and Organization in Medieval Religious Communities(Uni-
versity Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998).
al-Ashari, Abu l-Hasan Ali ibn Isma il (ca. 873–935)
leading conservative theologian in Sunnite Islam
Born in al-Basra about 873, al-Ashari received the usual
Islamic education in the QURAN, Arabic philology, and
the sharia legal system, then studied Islamic scholastic
THEOLOGYor KALAMwith the foremost Mutazilite theolo-
gian of the al-Basra school of thought, al-Jubbai. He
gained a reputation as an excellent debater on theology in
the MOSQUESand wrote works in the rationalist tradition
of his master, which have not survived. At the age of 40
in about 914, he changed his doctrinal position to a more
traditionalist one and became a strong opponent of the
Mutazilites. This event was the result of dreams. In the
first one, MUHAMMADcommanded him to defend a more
traditional ISLAM. In another Muhammad insisted that he
not abandon the dialectical method of kalambut use
logic and rationalism to combat Mutazilite innovation.
For the rest of his life, al-Ashari championed traditional
Islamic theology, moving at one point from al-Basra to
BAGHDAD, where he died about 935. His school of theol-
ogy is called Ashariyyah.
Further reading: Ash‘ari, Abu ‘l-Hasan ‘Ali ibn
Isma’il, The Theology of al-Ash’ari: The Arabic Texts of al-
Ash’ari’s Kitab al-Luma’ and Risalat Istihsan al-khawd
fi’ilm al-kalan,trans. Richard J. McCarthy (Beirut: Impr.
catholique, 1953); Ignaz Goldziher, Introduction to
Islamic Theology and Law, trans. Andras and Ruth
Hamori (Princeton: N.J.: Princeton University Press,
1981); W. Montgomery Watt, Free Will and Predestination
in Early Islam(London: Luzac, 1948); W. Montgomery
Watt, “al-Ash‘ arı ̄, Abu ‘l-Hasan,” Encyclopedia of Islam,
1.694–695.Asher ben Jechiel (Asheri, Jehiel, the Rosh)(ca.
1250–1327)important rabbinical exegete
Born about 1250 in GERMANY, the son of Rabbi Jehiel, he
studied at his father’s school and then at Troyes in
FRANCE. After his marriage he settled in COLOGNEand
later went to Worms, where he studied under Rabbi Meir
ben Baruch (ca. 1215–93) of Rothenburg, the greatest fig-
ure of German Jewry at that time. Meir was held for ran-
som in 1286 by the emperor Rudolf I (r. 1273–91), but
he refused to cooperate and died in prison, fearing that
all Jews would be forced to ransom themselves. Asher
then became the leader of the German Jews and tried to
fortify the spirits of a persecuted community. His opinion
on community disruptions and the conduct of individu-
als and communities under persecution was accepted by
many Jews. In 1303 he fled Germany to avoid kidnapping
and ransom, and wandered in ITA LYand SPAIN. In 1305 he
was invited to be the rabbi of the community of TOLEDO.
Though asked to return to Germany, he stayed in Toledo
the rest of his life, living in poverty. He introduced in
Spain the teaching methods of ASHKENAZIJews, and par-
ticularly the study of the Tosafists. Though he was
opposed to the study and methods of PHILOSOPHY,he
admitted the importance of the independent study of
other sciences. His reputation and moral stature became
so great that students were sent and questions were