Theory of Acquisition and its Different Approaches

Regarding man’s actions, from viewpoint of compulsion or volition, among religion researchers, there are different approaches. Ash’arites and its head believe in theory of acquisition and claimed man’s role in his actions is acquisition, not creation. But during history Ash’arite ‘ulama, have got different ideas and readings concerning the reality of acquisition. Studying the Ash’arite works, the author found seven prominent approaches and then criticized and evaluated them. He demonstrated that the Ash’arite theories of compulsion or volition not only are not able to explain the reality of acquisition, but they lead to either compulsion or indeterminism. Therefore, some Ash’arite ‘ulama denied the theory of acquisition and accepted the Shi’i theory of intermediate position.