The Ash'ari conception of offer in the classical period

On the one hand, the growth of the Islamic world around the conquests and the encounter of the Islamic society with societies with various beliefs, philosophies and cultures, and on the other hand, criticisms against the Islamic religion began to emerge due to the internal reasons arising from the religious, political and social problems of Muslims. Both internal and external criticisms of the basic provisions of the religion of Islam, which spreads over a very wide area, were tried to be answered by scholars. These scholarly activities led to the birth and formation of the science of kalām by trying to answer the criticisms against the whole of the Islamic religion. Following the emergence of the science of theology, Jahmiyya, Mu'tazilah, Salafiyya, Māturīdīyya, Ash'arīyya and Imāmiyya-Isnāashariyya theology were formed. These schools of theology have fallen into some controversies or made different preferences in interpreting the main principles of religion. One of these issues is the issue of taklīf. Theologians have analysed the issue of taklīf by considering the wisdom of Allah's obliging His servants with some difficulties, the obligations of the obliged, the relationship between taklīf and power, and the concepts of kesb and will. It is possible to concretise the thoughts of the Ash'arite school within the framework of these concepts as follows: The Ash'arite scholars approached the issue of the wisdom of Allah's obliging His servants with certain obligations with the argument, "Although all divine acts are the product of wisdom and justice, it is unnecessary to seek a wisdom in these acts in the sense of obtaining a benefit or eliminating a harm." Regarding the obligations of the obligants, the Ash'arites state that good and evil are sharia and that religious responsibility is fixed by revelation. Man cannot be held liable by knowing the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly by using his intellect. This is because an act is good because it is commanded by Allah and bad because it is forbidden. Again, according to the general Ash'arite scholars, human actions are created by Allah. The real perpetrator of the act is not the human being, but only the agent. Therefore, kesb consists of the influence of the created power on the occurrence of the acts of the servants. Discussing the relationship between predestination and power, Ashʿarīyya argue that it is permissible and rationally possible for God to oblige a person with what he is not capable of. Key words: Theology, Imam al-Ash'arī, offer, incapable act, power, will.