Naqd al-Darimi ala al-Marisi
- Author died
- 280 AH
- Editions
- t al-Almai · t al-Shawami
Naqd al-Darimi ala al-Marisi (al-Naqd ala Bishr al-Marisi; "The Refutation of al-Marisi") is a 3rd-century AH polemical theological work by the hadith scholar Uthman ibn Said al-Darimi (d. 280 AH / 894 CE), written to refute Jahmi theology and vindicate the traditionalist Sunni doctrine of the divine names and attributes.
Background and Title
The work is known in biographical and bibliographical literature by two primary titles: al-Radd ala Bishr al-Marisi and al-Naqd ala Bishr al-Marisi. In manuscript copies, its full formal title is recorded as Naqd al-Imam Abi Said Uthman ibn Said ala al-Marisi al-Jahmi al-Anid fima Iftara ala Allah min al-Tawhid ("The Refutation by Imam Abu Sa'id Uthman ibn Sa'id of the Stubborn Jahmi al-Marisi Regarding What He Fabricated Concerning God's Unity").
Al-Darimi composed the text after an unnamed opponent (al-muʿāriḍ) wrote a work challenging traditionalist criticisms of Jahmism, relying upon the interpretations and theological treatises of the Hanafi theologian Bishr al-Marisi as well as reports from Ibn al-Thalji. Al-Darimi responded systematically by refuting the claims transmitted from al-Marisi and his followers point by point.
Structure and Method
The book is arranged into three principal parts:
- Part One introduces the opponent, discusses the uncreated nature of God's names, and addresses various divine attributes, including the descent (al-nuzūl), the boundary and the Throne (al-ḥadd wa-l-ʿarsh), the divine hands, hearing and sight, coming (al-ityān and al-majīʾ), the divine face, eyes, fingers, and the beatific vision (al-ruʾyah).
- Part Two examines narrations concerning the Throne and its bearers, divine highness (al-fawqiyyah), God's distinctness from creation (al-baynūnah), the question of where God is (ayn Allāh), the attribute of divine speech, the uncreated nature of the Quran, and early scholarly judgments regarding Jahmism.
- Part Three focuses on the defense and encouragement of hadith transmission, defending hadith specialists and companions of the Prophet such as Abu Hurayrah, Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, and Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As against criticisms, before returning to detailed refutations of Jahmi arguments and figurative interpretations (taʾwīl).
Methodologically, al-Darimi combines hadith scholarship with rational polemics; he provides transmitted reports and prophetic traditions complete with chains of narration (asānīd) while utilizing scriptural texts, Arabic linguistic analysis, and rational counter-arguments to contest metaphorical interpretations.
Reception and Critique
The treatise became one of the most prominent early traditionalist texts on creed and polemics against Jahmi doctrines. Later scholars, including Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim, frequently cited extensive passages from it in works such as Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql and Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh al-Islāmiyyah. Ibn al-Qayyim commended al-Darimi’s two refutations—this work and al-Radd ala al-Jahmiyyah—noting that they contain rational and textual affirmations of divine names and attributes rarely found elsewhere, and he praised both works in his al-Kāfiyah al-Shāfiyah (al-Nūniyyah).
Conversely, the historian and biographer al-Dhahabi remarked regarding the book that al-Darimi engaged in extraordinary debates with al-Marisi in which he went to extremes in theological affirmation (al-ithbāt), commenting that remaining silent on such matters is closer to the way of early and later predecessors.
Notable Editions
- Edited by Rashid ibn Hasan al-Alma'i as an academic thesis at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University and published by Maktabat al-Rushd (Riyadh, 1418 AH).
- Edited by Abu Asim al-Shawami al-Athari and published by al-Maktabah al-Islamiyyah.
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