A Survey of Asharite's Point of View on Divine Words

Discussion on Divine word has an extremely significant impact on the individual and social lives of believers as they originate from a Divine source. The present article aims to investigate Divine word from Ashatrites’ point of view. To this end, following introductory notes, the Asharites’ views on divine word, the nature of God, eternity, non-verbality, the one existent as distinct from knowledge and will are delineated with adequate reasons. In their narrative reasoning, the Asharites have drawn on the surface meaning of the verses of the holy Quran and in their intellectual reasoning, they have made an attempt to use the methods of division and allegories in their reasoning. The critique of their views has focused on their foundational reasons case by case. The conclusion is that their views on divine word are successive and interdependent. In other words, they moved from attributing concreteness to divine words to reach eternal word and spiritual word and to other divine characteristics. Consequently, by the revocation of the initial principle, other subsequent principles are successively revoked. In addition, their intellectual and narrative reasoning is poor and short of supporting their claims. Above all, the theory of spiritual word and its consequences which are opposing to the Muslims’ accepted principles lead to the denial of revelation and to the degradation of the divine word to human word.