Short thread on Akhbaris

Disclaimer: This is not an extensive thread and is based on my limited knowledge

.

Akhbaris [just like Usulis] are not a homogenous group and their scholars may hold differening views, I've attempted to showcase some of the more popular views they mostly agreed on.

The akhbari "school of thought" [madhab] was founded by Mullah Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi (d. 1036 AH) who is said to have done this on command of his teacher Mirza al-Astarabadi known as Sahib al-Rijal,

And rather than founding akhbarism he himself proclaimed it was rather a revival, and that this was the way of the classical scholars like al-Kulayni

 and al-Saduq

With this claim of revival, he had much to say about the Usuli usage of ijtihad and declared it as a deviation.

In comparison to the later akhbari scholars he was fairly harsh to his Usuli opponents accusing them of ruining the religion [takhrib al-deen].

One of the claims is also that the Usulis have copied the Sunnis by also following the lines of an Usul al-Fiqh framework, which according to him, was opposed to the teachings of the Ahlulbayt (as), the reports [akhbar] were said to be sufficient.

And thus in response to the Usulis he authored a book [al-fawaid al madaniyya] explaining why the jurisprudential thought of the Usulis is to be rejected.

View on the Quran: al-Astarabadi believed that what is apparent of the Qur'an [dhawahir al-quran] to not have probative force [hujjiyah] in deriving islamic law. This opinion was also adopted by; Shaykh Hurr al-Amili, Sayed Hashim al-Bahrani, Taqi al-Majlisi and more..

al-Karaki gives reasoning for this as follows:

So the Qur'an essentially can only be understood by the Imams and as a result; only by using the reports [akhbar].



Some later akhbaris opposed this such as Mullah Faydh al-Kashani, although in a limited manner.

Another thing you might know about akhbaris is that they believe in the definite issuance [qat'i al-sudur] of the 4 main Shia hadith books, the claim is that these reports have already been filtered by the authors and taken from the reliable usul of the companions;

Thus there is no need to look into the reliability of narrators, Usulis reject this claim because it relies on weak or even no evidence but speculation, the arguments of the akhbarriya have been extensively refuted in books.

I will cite an example:

Akhabris argue; Some companions did present some books to the Imams, and some books were approved and some were not.

Why is this not a proof?

Just cause we have documentation of a companion doing this in no way alludes to ALL the narrators of ALL the 400 Usul having done this. Rather we have evidence from our Imams that unreliable things have been inserted.

Another example is they claim that the authors themselves attest to the full authenticity of their books, while this may be the case with al-Kulayni and al-Saduq, this is their ijtihad and other scholars may disagree with them;

Shaykh al-Mufeed comments on a narration of al-Saduq posed to him:



"As for what Shaykh Saduq has reported, so it is not obligatory to follow all of it because its authenticity is unestablished as those ahadith are ahad [solitary] reports

[..]

And the scholars of hadith narrate the good and the bad (i.e. what is correct as well as what is incorrect), and do not suffice upon only reporting what is fully known to them. They lack any insight and the capability to investigate.

They do not give a thought to what they narrate and do not distinguish/discern. Therefore their ahadith just contain all sorts of stuff [are a mixed bag].

The correct ahadith can not be distinguished in them from the incorrect ones but by referring to the principles/fundamentals and by relying on a knowledgeable person who may provide knowledge about the reliability of the hadith.”


Masail al Sarawiya, pg 222

As for Shaykh al-Tusi, he himself in his own book rejects narrations that he included based on the reliability of the narrators:

 https://twitter.com/Muwaliii/status/1189257946066313217

These are just some things ive decided to share, there is way more to them and perhaps this thread will make you interested to read more about them