The Asherites Deny the Principle of Alternative Possibilities

Asherites were unhappy with traditionalist theologians who accepted, for instance, that God literally has hands because of passages in the Quran which speak of God reaching out with both hands. The Asherites proposed a figurative reading of such texts, in this case suggesting that the hands referred to God's power. They did defend their system by quoting the Quran and the sayings of the prophet, but the core of their method was rational argument usually aimed dialectically against opponents.