Ašʿarite theology
How a theological school born in the East became, in the Maghreb, the official doctrine of an empire — and what it actually said.
Islamicist · Agrégé in Arabic
الْعِلْمُ نُورٌ
Reading the texts, clarifying the thought
Editing, translating and commenting the major works of the Islamic West, so that Islamic theology and law recover the precision of their language and the clarity of their history.
The scholar
Ilyass Amharar
An Islamicist and agrégé in Arabic, holder of a doctorate from Aix-Marseille University, Ilyass Amharar devotes his work to the intellectual history of the medieval Maghreb, approached through the demanding path of philology: the manuscript first, the language next, the idea last.
His research addresses Ašʿarism and Mālikism in the Islamic West, legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh), and the transmission of Sībawayh's grammar. An associate researcher at IREMAM and at the Centre Jacques Berque, he directs a programme devoted to the history of kalām in the Maghreb.
A well-established text is worth a thousand commentaries: understanding is born of exactness.
A few landmarks
2
Published monographs
11
Articles and chapters
1st
Agrégation in Arabic, 2022
4
Teaching cycles
Transmitting
Teaching cycles
Four progressive cycles, designed to lead from elementary vocabulary to the direct reading of the sources, without ever trading rigour for simplicity.
The foundations of Islamic law
Islamic law is not a list of rules but a theory of interpretation. This cycle takes its mechanism apart.
Classical Arabic grammar
Entering grammar not as one enters a textbook, but as one enters a science of language built twelve centuries ago.
Manuscripts and philology
A practical workshop: reading a Maghrebi hand, dating a copy, collating witnesses, establishing a text.
Writing
Recent publications
Critical editions, annotated translations and studies: texts that long remained in manuscript, made readable and open to discussion.
Ašʿarism in Fez, from the Almohads to the Marinids
The edition, translation and commentary of a text that had remained unpublished, documenting the implantation of Ašʿarite theology in the Almohad Maghreb.
Language and theology in Abū Bakr Ibn al-ʿArabī
Six hundred and fifteen pages devoted to a major Andalusi commentary on legal theory: the book that earned its translator the 2024 Sheikh Hamad Award.
More on Abū ʿImrān al-Ǧawrāʾī
Two years after the first edition, an unexpected manuscript witness completes the text and corrects a received reading.
Bookshop
Books and resources
Books and study resources, available directly, to accompany both reading and teaching.
Ašʿarism in Fez, from the Almohads to the Marinids
The profession of faith of Abū ʿImrān al-Ǧawrāʾī, established from the manuscripts, translated and annotated.
Language and theology in Abū Bakr Ibn al-ʿArabī
The volume awarded the 2024 Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation: edition, complete translation and study.
Introduction to kalām — recorded cycle
The complete introductory cycle on Islamic theology, to follow at your own pace, with the texts studied.