Mukallaf di Balik Kasb: Jejak Teologi Perbuatan Manusia dalam Teori Taklīf Asy‘Ariyah

Abstract

Kasb is the Ashʿarī doctrine on the human role in one’s own acts, while taklīf is the doctrine of legal theory on who is charged with obligation. The two are rarely read together stage by stage. This study examined whether differences in the formulation of kasb among al-Ashʿarī, al-Bāqillānī, al-Juwaynī, and al-Ghazālī appear in how they understood taklīf. A qualitative library study with stage-by-stage comparison drew on scholarship mostly published in 2021–2026 and on primary editions; selected chapters of al-Lumaʿ, al-Ibānah, al-Taqrīb, al-Irshād, al-Mustaṣfā, and al-Iqtiṣād were read directly, plus two paragraphs of al-Burhān. Statements were coded by stage and three dimensions: the conditions of the mukallaf, the justification for obligation, and the position on taklīf bimā lā yuṭāq. Results show that the conditions of the mukallaf centre on the ability to understand the command, and the principle that power arises together with the act stays the same across all four figures, but the position on taklīf bimā lā yuṭāq differs. In al-Juwaynī and al-Ghazālī, theological works permit it on rational grounds, while legal-theory works reject it as a demand. Yet al-Bāqillānī’s legal-theory work al-Taqrīb chooses rational permissibility, so type of work does not explain every difference. Al-Irshād states that human power has no effect, unlike some reports. Al-Ashʿarī permits it, citing verses and Abū Lahab, but distinguishes inability caused by leaving the act from inability caused by weakness. The study contributes a stage-by-stage kasb–taklīf map and evidence that a figure’s position must be read work by work.