Who Are Jahmis?

[Aabiss_Shakari 1,376]

(salam)

1. Who are Jahmis?

2. Are they Muslims?

3. Where they mostly exist?

4. Do they follow Sunni fiqh?

5. What is their main differences from other sects?

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Jahmis no longer exist. They were a long ago theological sect that followed Jahm b. Safwan (d. 126 AH), and which believed such things as the createdness of the Quran, emphasized on believing that Allah is omnipresent, and were very anti-anthropomorphic interpreting away a lot of things. Apparently their ideas came to have an influence in the doctrines of the Mu`tazilis who would also be called Jahmis by their opponents. Modern day Wahhabis however have taken to calling some of their theological opponents as "Jahmis" as a term of insult.

You can read about them here:

http://books.google....ahmiyya&f=false

Interestingly, here's a mention of them in an early Imami work (al-Idah) attributed to al-Fadl b. Shadhan, companion of the later Imams:

أقاويل الجهمية فمنهم الجهمية الذين يقولون: ان الله لا في السماء ولا في الأرض ولا بينهما، ولا أين ولا حيث [ ولا حد 1 ] ولا طول ولا قصر ولا عرض ولا نهاية ويقولون: انه هواء، فهو عندهم داخل معهم في كل شئ لا كدخول الشئ في الشئ وخارج من 2 كل شئ لا كخروج الشئ من 3 الشئ فهو عندهم داخل فيهم وفى كل ذى روح 4 على معناهم الذى وصفوا وتوهموا فيجب عليهم عند أنفسهم كما يوجبون على الناس ان يعبدوا ما هو فيهم وما في كل ذى روح من الهواء. ولا يقرون بمنكر ولا نكير ولا بعذاب القبر ولا بميزان ولا صراط، ويقولون: إذا قمت تصلى فلا تتوهم شيئا، فان توهمت شيئا فقد كفرت، ويقولون في الجملة ليس كمثله شئ ثم يصفونه بصفة العدم وصفة لا شئ، ويقولون: لا يزول ولا يتحرك ولا يتكلم ولا يأمر ولا ينهى [ انما يخلق خلقا " يتكلم ويأمر وينهى 5 ] فهو جل ثناؤه عندهم بمنزلة الموات 6 ويزعمون أنهم يكفرون بالذى قال لموسى [: انى أنا ربك 7 فلا يعبدونه، ولا يعبدون الذى قال لموسى 8: ] انى أنا الله رب العالمين، [ والذى قال لموسى: اننى انا الله لا اله الا أنا فاعبدنى 9 ] ويكفرون بعبادة الذى كلم 10 موسى تكليما " 11 ويقولون: ليس هو فوق كل شئ ولا هو تحت كل شئ، ويقولون: بسطك يديك في الدعاء إلى السماء كبسطك اياهما إلى الارض.

Doctrines of the Jahmiyya

From them are the Jahmiyya, those that say that Allah is not in the heaven and not in the Earth and not between them. There is no where, no whither, no limit, no length, no shortness, no width and no end. And they say that He is air, so He is according to them inside with them in every thing, not like the coming inside of a thing in a thing, and outside of every thing, not like the being existing of a thing from a thing. So He is according to them inside of them, and every possessor of a soul upon their meaning that they describe and imagine. So it is wajib upon them with themselves as they make it wajib upon the people that they worship that which is inside of them and in every possessor of a soul of the air. And they do not affirm Munkar and Nakeer, and not the punishment of the grave, and not the Mizan, and not the Sirat. And they say: When you rise to salat, then do not imagine anything, for if you imagine something, then you have done kufr. And they say in summary, There is no likeness unto Him, then they describe Him with the attribute of nonexistence and the attribute of nothing. And they say: He does not descend, does not move, does not speak, does not command and does not prohibit [He has only created a creation that speaks and commands and prohibits] So He is, glorified be His praise, according to them of the status of the dead. And they assert that they deny (do kufr) of the one who said to Musa [“I am your Lord” so they do not worship Him and they do not worship the one who said to Musa “Verily I am Allah, Lord of the worlds” and the one who said to Musa “verily I am Allah, there is no god but Me, so worship Me”, and they deny the worship of the one who spoke to Musa speaking. And they say: He is not over every thing and He is not under every thing. And they say: Your stetching of your hands in du`a to Heaven is as your stretching of them to the Earth.

http://www.tashayyu....kalam/al-idah-1

[3rd June 262]

Jahm ibn Safwan was a controversial Islamic theologian who attached himself to Harith b. Surayj, a rebel in Khurasan towards the end of the Umayyad period, and who was put to death in 128/745-6 by Salim b. Ahwaz

Jahm b. Safwan was heavily criticized and declared an unbeliever by orthodox Muslims. Early on, many scholars of Hadith wrote refutations of Jahm bin Safwan's doctrines, particularly Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Bukhari, and al-Darimi.The latter also wrote a large refutation of a prominent Jahmite by the name of Bishr b. Ghiyāt al-Mārisî wherein he declared him a Kafir (an unbeliever).

Jahm left no writings, but many Muslim scholars of the past wrote about his doctrines and a few modern scholars wrote studies of him.