Religious and Philosophical Views of ʼAbū al-Ḥasan al-Ṣūrī II. God and Created Universe

Abstract

The history of Samaritan religious and philosophical thought is a true terra incognita of modern humanities: while most of Samaritan scribes remain un­published, the philosophy of their community has not yet attracted the attention of specialists. The series of articles offered to the reader is intended to fill this gap of philosophical oriental studies and shed light on the heritage of the founder of Arab-speaking Samaritan theology, ʼAbū al-Ḥasan al-Ṣūrī (11th century). In his second article the author considers the problem of the relationship be­tween God and the world, solved by al-Ṣūrī through the Mu’tazili theory of le­gal obligation (tаklīf). God, according to the Samaritan thinker, enters with man into a contract, which requires rights and responsibilities of each side. The idea of legal obligation necessarily leads al-Ṣūrī to the conclusion about the exis­tence of eternal reward or eternal punishment assigned by God to the subject in accordance with his this-worldly deeds. As a result, and for the first time in the history of Samaritan theology, al-Ṣūrī creates an original eschatology, supporting it with relativistic arguments drawn from the text of the Samaritan Pentateuch. Human action, according to al-Ṣūrī, is an external consequence of internal accidental power, indirectly associated with the will. Separately, al-Ṣūrī describes the structure of the Samaritan community, the highest power in which belongs to the High priest – the final authority in exegetical and legal theological disputes.