A Comparative Study of Ibn Shahr Ashub's Commentary-Theological Standpoint with Those of Theological Schools in His Book

After the Holy Prophet's passing away and due to the expansion of conquests of Islamic world, new intellectual and ideological schools and sects emerged, each of which relied on the Holy Quran to prove their own beliefs and provided incorrect esoteric commentaries and exegeses. This made Shia scholars to resolve existing doubts and deviations in this regard through presenting Shia standpoint. Ibn Shahr Ashub Mazandarani is one the scholars who has greatly helped to promote invaluable teachings of Islam and the Holy Quran by writing valuable works, thus he has played a significant role in defending genuine beliefs of Shia. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the present paper seeks to analyze his commentary-theological views and his way of confrontation with such groups as Mutazilites, Determinists, Attributists, Anthropomorphists, Asharites, extremists, Ismaililtes, Zaidites, Kaysanites and Kharejites through scrutinizing his book "Motashabeh al-Quran and Mokhtalefah". The results show that he has studied and criticized the views of other theological schools with reference to "the judgement of reason, Quranic verses, hadiths, Arabic literature and historical documents".