Athar (أَثَر) in Arabic means ‘tradition’ or ‘narration.’ The Athari is the ‘scripturalist.’
Athar is synonymous with the term hadith. Thus, Athari’s are also known as Ahl al-Hadith or the ‘people of hadith.’
The Athari, at the highest level, is a scholar that emphasizes reliance on scripture to extrapolate creed, and restraint in rationally interpreting theological matters or extensively explaining them beyond the transmitted texts.
Athari’s do not delve into discussions concerning the ambiguous verses (mutashabihat) and relate back their meaning to Allah alone.
Imam Ahmad Hanbal, Imam al-Bukhari, and other authoritative scholars of hadith were of this approach.
The ‘People of Hadith’ are not only Athari’s
A misconception exists; following the Ahl al-Hadith is not an indication that the Asharis or Maturidis do not utilize Hadith or Scripture. All three schools of Ahl al-Sunna are from ‘people of Hadith’ but the difference is in the methodology and framework how each group understands and uses scripture.
Asharis and Maturidis prefer using analogical reasoning (ra’yy) and the Atharis prefer using textual literalism (nusus al-nass) when extrapolating creed. These are the general principles for each school, and each can and do opt to use its counterpart methodology to come to their scholarly conclusions.
The Athari’s as part of Ahl al-Sunna
Some may understand the Athari school to not fall under Ahl al-Sunna due to some authoritative scholarly literature from previous centuries. This is primarily due to geography where scholars are based out of, the limitations of acquiring information, and sparsity of the Athari school in previous centuries.
Scholars asserted Ahl al-Sunna were primarily Ashari and Maturidi:
- Al-Zabidi in Ithaf al-Sada al-Muttaqin quoting from al-Khayali
- Ibn Hajar al-Haytami in Al-Fatawa al-Hadithiyya
- Zahid al-Kawthari in Muqaddimat al-Imam al-Kawthari
- Abu Bakr al-Mulla in Maslak al-Thiqat
The reality is that the Athari’s are a bonafide Sunni school of theology. Moreover, in recent decades they have seen a resurgence. The school had a traditional Islamic resurgence but certainly an increase in the Islamic fundamentalist resurgence through the objectives of the Salafi/Wahhabi dawah.