Athari

Athari (Arabic: أثري), or "textualism", is derived from the Arabic word athar, literally meaning "remnant", and also referring to "narrations". Their disciples are called the Atharis. The founding principle is to maintain the theology of the early Muslims known as the Salaf. Their theological viewpoint aspires to assimilate with the beliefs of the early Muslims, being the first three generations otherwise known as the Salaf. This theology was taken from exegesis of the Quran and statements of the early Muslims and later codified by a number of scholars, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn Qudamah (in his work Lum'at-ul-'Itiqaad which details the creed of the early Imams of the Sunni Muslims), Imam Al-Dhahabi (in his work al-Uloow which details the opinions of early scholars in matters of creed) and in later generations the most well known being the 13th century Syrian scholar Ibn Taymiyyah (primarily in his work Al-Aqidah Al-Waasitiyyah). This was later upheld by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab in his various works on theology.