[511] _Abul ’l Hasan al Ashari_ was first a Mótazalite, and the disciple of _Abu Ali al Jobbai_, from whom he disagreed in opinion as to God’s being bound (as the Mótazalites assert) to do always that which is best, or most expedient; on which account he left his master, and founded a new sect, called the _Ashárian_, who are a subdivision of the Sifatian. Their opinions were, that they allowed the attributes of God to be distinct from his essence, yet so as to forbid any comparison being made between God and his creatures. They further assert, after their master, that all the actions of men are subject to the power of God, being created by him, and that the power of man has no influence at all on that which he is empowered to do, but that, both the power and what is subject thereto, fall under the power of God. Manifold are the subtle distinctions in this abstruse subject; those who appear the least obscure, use this form: There is neither compulsion nor free liberty, but the way lies between the two; the power and will in man being both created by God, though the merit or guilt be imputed to man. Yet, after all, it is judged the safest way to follow the steps of the primitive Moslems, and, avoiding subtle disputations and too curious inquiries, to leave the knowledge of this matter wholly unto God.――(See Sale’s _Koran_, vol. I. pp. 219-225.) Abul Hasan died in Baghdad in the year of the Hejira 324 or 329 (A. D. 935 or 940).――(Herbelot.) [512] The _Keramian_ are followers of _Muhammed Ebn Kerâm_; (who died in the year of the Hejirah 255 (A. D. 868)) (_Abulfeda_, vol. II. p. 229), they are also called _Mojassemian_, or “Corporealists,” who not only admitted a resemblance between God and created beings, but declared God to be corporeal. The more sober among them, indeed, when they applied the word “body” to God, would be understood to mean that he is _a self-subsisting being_, which with them is the definition of a body: but yet some of them affirmed him to be finite and circumscribed, and others allowed that he might be felt by the hand or seen by the eye. [513] The Koran, ch. LXXV. v. 23. [514] Sáâdah is the name of a tract of Arabia. [515] See page 328, note 2. [516] See page 329, note 1. [517] The Koran, chap. III. v. 5.