It was so until such time that at the end of the third century AH...

It was so until such time that at the end of the third century AH, Abu’l-Hasan al-Ash‘ari separated from the Mu‘tazilah school and engaged in defending the Ahl al-Hadith school of thought within rational frameworks, and his school became known later as the Ash‘ari school.[^6] After that, the Mu‘tazilah made no progress, and kept on withdrawing in face of the Ahl al-Hadith so much so that now, the official scholastic theology of the Ahl as-Sunnah is the Ash‘ari scholasticism.

The Shi‘ah scholastic theology is the oldest of all Muslim scholastic shools. ‘Ali ( ‘a ), the first infallible Imam acknowledged by the Shi‘ah has discussed the questions on beliefs such as monotheism { tawhid }, predestination and freewill, and Attributes of God, and this kind of discussions has been recorded in Nahj al-Balaghah in the language of the Imam himself.

The scholastic discussions about Imamate among the Shi‘ah, however, commenced immediately after the demise of the Holy Prophet (S) in defending the right of the Commander of the Faithful ( ‘a ) (over the issue of Imamate and caliphate). As narrated by Shaykh as-Saduq, the first to defend the right of ‘Ali ( ‘a ) vis-à-vis the architects of Saqifah were twelve persons from among the great companions of the Prophet (S).

Few days after the event of Saqifah, they debated with Abu Bakr at the Mosque of the Prophet (S) and cornered him.[^7] After them, a person such as Abu Dharr al-Ghiffari had also not remained silent vis-à-vis the usurpers of the right of the Commander of the Faithful ( ‘a ) to such an extent that ‘Uthman ibn al-‘Affan was finally convinced to banish him to Sham and Rabdhah.

‘Abd Allah ibn al-‘Abbas, the Prophet’s ( ‘a ) cousin, a student of ‘Ali ( ‘a ), exegete { mufassir } of the Qur’an, scholar, and an outstanding Hashimite statesman, was one of the defenders of the Shi‘ah school and always championing the rightfulness of ‘Ali ( ‘a ) to such an extent that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab found fault with him for always saying, “Our right has been usurped.” Ibn al-‘Abbas became blind in his old age and one day he heard some people in a certain place uttering abusive language against the Commander of the Faithful ( ‘a ).

He said to his son ‘Ali: “Hold my hand and take me there.” When he was near them, he addressed them, saying: “Which of you was abusing God?!” They replied, “None.” He asked, “Which is you was abusing the Prophet?” “None,” they answered.