Abu al-Hasan al-Ash‘arī who was raised in Mutezilite sect and became one of the prominent figures of the sect went through an intellectual transformation and left his sect in his forties. In the background of this transformation, there surely exists significant influence of Sunni theological movement developed after Abu Hanifa. After his intellectual transformation, Ash‘arī assumed the task of defending Sunni thought, which was weak in its methods of dispute against Mutezilites, by using theological methods. His method combining the reason and revelation has a major role in the adoption of his sect by Shafii and Maliki scholars and some Hanafi and Hanbali scholars and in becoming one of the major braches of Sunni thought.

Ash‘arī, who classified the topics of theology as “major issues (jalīl al-kalām)” and “detailed issues (daqīq al-kalām)”, debated with Mutezilites, Jahmiyya and Khawarij in “major issues (jalīl al-kalām)” while targeting in “detailed issues (daqīq al-kalām)” the foreign intellectual movements that reject divinity and prophethood.

The book sheds light on the background of Imam Ash‘arī’s success in shaping Sunni theological thinking by his perception on existence and knowledge based mostly on Mutazilites.

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