Debating the Doctrine of jabr (Compulsion) 69
addressed to the Sunnis: “Do not sit (lā tujālisū) in the company of the
Qadarīs and do not start a conversation with them.”^20
Although the dialogue is a literary fiction and not an historical
record, it is embedded in Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s times, that is the
beginning of the 14th century, and not much earlier. The substantial use
of al-Rāzī’s texts in the debate by both participants, especially by the
Jabrī, establishes this assumption.
The debate in chapter 19 comprises nine sections (faṣl, pl. fuṣūl) of
uneven length. Each section (except the fifth and sixth section) begins
with a brief statement by the Jabrī. In the first section,^21 the Jabrī pro-
fesses his faith in jabr, while the Sunni rejects jabr, seeing it as a dan-
gerous idea. Whereas the Sunni wishes to discuss the dangerous moral
implications of the belief in jabr, the Jabrī sticks to a theoretical discus-
sion. Using the “preponderance without a preponderator” (tarjīḥ bi-lā
murajjiḥ) argument, the Jabrī wishes to prove that the belief in jabr is
unavoidable.^22 The Sunni ignores the Jabrī’s argument. He elaborates at
length the views of the Muʿtazila on the motives (dawāʿī) of the human
act, and concludes that the “preponderance without a preponderator”
argument does not lead to jabr.^23
In the second section of chapter 19,^24 the Sunni surprisingly recruits
a Qadarī. In his only appearance in the dialogue, the Qadarī voluntarily
explains to the Jabrī the Muʿtazilī views on motives. The Jabrī claims,
that indeed the motive of the human act is the cause of human action
(sabab al-fiʿl), but because the motive is created by God, the human
act as a whole is created by God.^25 To this the Sunni seems to agree.
However, he modifies the Jabrī’s argument using a new phrase, “a part
of a cause” (juzʾ sabab).^26 Nevertheless, the apparent momentary agree-
20 The Hadith appears in Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī: Sunan Abī Dāwūd, ed. by
Aḥmad Saʿd ʿAlī, Cairo 1952, vol. 2, p. 224. For traditions in the same vein see
Abū Bakr al-Ājurrī: Kitāb al-Sharīʿa, Beirut 1421/2000, pp. 197–201.
21 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Shifāʾ al-ʿalīl, pp. 317–323; Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya,
Shifāʾ al-ʿalīl, 1903, pp. 139–142.
22 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Shifāʾ al-ʿalīl, p. 319; Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Shifāʾ
al-ʿalīl, 1903, p. 140.
23 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Shifāʾ al-ʿalīl, pp. 321–323; Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya,
Shifāʾ al-ʿalīl, 1903, pp. 140–142.
24 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Shifāʾ al-ʿalīl, pp. 323–327; Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya,
Shifāʾ al-ʿalīl, 1903, pp. 142–144.
25 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Shifāʾ al-ʿalīl, p. 324; Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Shifāʾ
al-ʿalīl, 1903, p. 143.
26 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Shifāʾ al-ʿalīl, p. 325; Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Shifāʾ
al-ʿalīl, 1903, p. 143.
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