W. Montgomery Watt's Free Will and Predestination in Early Islam, published by Luzac and Co in 1948, is an early scholarly study by one of the twentieth century's most influential Western scholars of Islam, tracing the free will and predestination debate in Islamic theology from roughly the eighth century through to the theologian al-Ashari, whose synthesis on the question, the doctrine of acquisition, shaped mainstream Sunni theology. Its authority rests on Watt's own standing as a foundational figure in Western academic Islamic studies. Its limit is age, since Watt's own later and more widely cited anthology on Islamic creeds refined some of this earlier study's arguments, and more recent scholarship on early Islamic theology has continued to develop since 1948, so a very specific claim benefits from checking against that later literature as well.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Reliability tier 1: an early scholarly study by a foundational figure in Western academic study of its subject, its arguments since refined by his own later, more widely cited work and by subsequent scholarship. NotesTraces the free will and predestination argument in Islamic theology from about 80 AH to al Ashari, the debate that produced the Ashari doctrine of acquisition. Independent of Watt's own later Islamic Creeds anthology, already the live source.
Citation
AuthorW. Montgomery Watt
PublisherLuzac and Co
Publication Year1948
URLhttps://www.worldcat.org/title/free-will-and-predestination-in-early-islam/oclc/1813192
Source Typeacademic monograph
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Al-Ash'ari directly: "W. Montgomery Watt's Free Will and Predestination in Early Islam, published by Luzac and Co in 1948, is an early scholarly study by one of the twentieth century's most influential Western scholars..."
This source names Sunni directly: "of acquisition, shaped mainstream Sunni theology."
Claims Backed By This Source (46 claims)
This source backs 46 claims across the atlas. As facts: 30 well-attested, 3 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 2 holds, 3 connected. Plus 8 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Articles, 19 claims: 12 well-attested, 3 connected, 4 general references.
- Doctrines, 17 claims: 10 well-attested, 3 scholarly debate, 4 general references.
- Sources, 10 claims: 8 well-attested, 2 holds.
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