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Mu'tazilism
Mu'tazilism (Arabic: المعتزلة, romanized: al-muʿtazila, singular Arabic: معتزلي, romanized: muʿtazilī) is an Islamic theological school that appeared in early Islamic history and flourished in Basra and Baghdad. Its adherents, the Mu'tazilites, were known for their neutrality in the dispute between Ali and his opponents after the death of the third caliph, Uthman. By the 10th century the term al-muʿtazilah had come to refer to a distinctive Islamic school of speculative theology (kalām). This school of theology was founded by Wasil ibn Ata.
The later Mu'tazila school developed an Islamic type of rationalism, based around fundamental principles: the oneness (Tawhid) and justice (Al-'adl) of God, human freedom of action, and the creation of the Quran. The Mu'tazilites are best known for rejecting the doctrine of the Quran as uncreated and co-eternal with God, asserting that if the Quran is the literal word of God, he logically "must have preceded his own speech". This went against a common Sunni position (followed by the Ashʿarī and Māturīdī) which argued that with God being all-knowing, his knowledge of the Quran must have been eternal, hence uncreated just like him. The school also worked to resolve the theological "problem of evil", arguing that since God is just and wise, he cannot command what is contrary to reason or act with disregard for the welfare of His creatures; consequently evil must be regarded as something that stems from errors in human acts, arising from man's divinely bestowed free will. The Mu'tazila opposed secular rationalism, but believed that human intelligence and reason allowed Man to understand religious principles; that good and evil are rational categories that could be "established through reason".
The movement reached its political height during the Abbasid Caliphate during the "mihna", an 18-year period (833–851 CE) of religious persecution instituted by the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun where Sunni scholars were punished, imprisoned, or even killed unless they conformed to Mu'tazila doctrine, until it was reversed by al-Mutawakkil. The Aghlabids (800–909 CE) also adhered to Mu'tazilism, which they imposed as the state doctrine of Ifriqiya. Similarly, the leading elite figures of the Graeco-Arabic translation movement during the reign of the Umayyad caliph of Córdoba al-Hakam II (r. 961–976) were followers of the Mu'tazila. Mu'tazilism also flourished to some extent during the rule of the Buyids (934–1062 CE) in Iraq and Persia.
Today, Mu'tazilism persists mainly in the Maghreb among those who call themselves the Wasiliyah. Mu'tazilism has also influenced the Quranist movement and the Neo-Mu'tazila literary approach to the interpretation of the Qur'an.
The name Mu'tazili is derived from the reflexive stem VIII (iftaʿala) of the triconsonantal root ع-ز-ل "separate, segregate, retire", as in اعتزل iʿtazala "to separate (oneself); to withdraw from".
The name is derived from the founder's "withdrawal" from the study circle of Hasan al-Basri over a theological disagreement: Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭā' asked about the legal state of a sinner: is a person who has committed a serious sin a believer or an unbeliever? Hasan answered the person remains a Muslim. Wasil dissented, suggesting that a sinner was neither a believer nor an unbeliever and withdrew from the study circle. Others followed to form a new circle, including ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd. Hasan's remark, "Wāṣil has withdrawn from us", is said to be the origin of the movement's name.
The group later referred to themselves as Ahl al-Tawḥīd wa al-ʿAdl (أهل التوحيد و العدل, "people of monotheism and justice").
The verb iʿtazala is also used to designate a neutral party in a dispute (as in "withdrawing" from a dispute between two factions). According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "The name [Mu'tazila] first appears in early Islāmic history in the dispute over Ali's leadership of the Muslim community after the assassination of Uthman, the third caliph, in 656 CE. Those who would neither condemn nor sanction Ali or his opponents but took a middle position were termed the Muʿtazilah." Carlo Alfonso Nallino argued that the theological Mu'tazilism of Wasil and his successors was merely a continuation of this initial political Mu'tazilism.
Mu'tazilism
Mu'tazilism (Arabic: المعتزلة, romanized: al-muʿtazila, singular Arabic: معتزلي, romanized: muʿtazilī) is an Islamic theological school that appeared in early Islamic history and flourished in Basra and Baghdad. Its adherents, the Mu'tazilites, were known for their neutrality in the dispute between Ali and his opponents after the death of the third caliph, Uthman. By the 10th century the term al-muʿtazilah had come to refer to a distinctive Islamic school of speculative theology (kalām). This school of theology was founded by Wasil ibn Ata.
The later Mu'tazila school developed an Islamic type of rationalism, based around fundamental principles: the oneness (Tawhid) and justice (Al-'adl) of God, human freedom of action, and the creation of the Quran. The Mu'tazilites are best known for rejecting the doctrine of the Quran as uncreated and co-eternal with God, asserting that if the Quran is the literal word of God, he logically "must have preceded his own speech". This went against a common Sunni position (followed by the Ashʿarī and Māturīdī) which argued that with God being all-knowing, his knowledge of the Quran must have been eternal, hence uncreated just like him. The school also worked to resolve the theological "problem of evil", arguing that since God is just and wise, he cannot command what is contrary to reason or act with disregard for the welfare of His creatures; consequently evil must be regarded as something that stems from errors in human acts, arising from man's divinely bestowed free will. The Mu'tazila opposed secular rationalism, but believed that human intelligence and reason allowed Man to understand religious principles; that good and evil are rational categories that could be "established through reason".
The movement reached its political height during the Abbasid Caliphate during the "mihna", an 18-year period (833–851 CE) of religious persecution instituted by the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun where Sunni scholars were punished, imprisoned, or even killed unless they conformed to Mu'tazila doctrine, until it was reversed by al-Mutawakkil. The Aghlabids (800–909 CE) also adhered to Mu'tazilism, which they imposed as the state doctrine of Ifriqiya. Similarly, the leading elite figures of the Graeco-Arabic translation movement during the reign of the Umayyad caliph of Córdoba al-Hakam II (r. 961–976) were followers of the Mu'tazila. Mu'tazilism also flourished to some extent during the rule of the Buyids (934–1062 CE) in Iraq and Persia.
Today, Mu'tazilism persists mainly in the Maghreb among those who call themselves the Wasiliyah. Mu'tazilism has also influenced the Quranist movement and the Neo-Mu'tazila literary approach to the interpretation of the Qur'an.
The name Mu'tazili is derived from the reflexive stem VIII (iftaʿala) of the triconsonantal root ع-ز-ل "separate, segregate, retire", as in اعتزل iʿtazala "to separate (oneself); to withdraw from".
The name is derived from the founder's "withdrawal" from the study circle of Hasan al-Basri over a theological disagreement: Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭā' asked about the legal state of a sinner: is a person who has committed a serious sin a believer or an unbeliever? Hasan answered the person remains a Muslim. Wasil dissented, suggesting that a sinner was neither a believer nor an unbeliever and withdrew from the study circle. Others followed to form a new circle, including ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd. Hasan's remark, "Wāṣil has withdrawn from us", is said to be the origin of the movement's name.
The group later referred to themselves as Ahl al-Tawḥīd wa al-ʿAdl (أهل التوحيد و العدل, "people of monotheism and justice").
The verb iʿtazala is also used to designate a neutral party in a dispute (as in "withdrawing" from a dispute between two factions). According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "The name [Mu'tazila] first appears in early Islāmic history in the dispute over Ali's leadership of the Muslim community after the assassination of Uthman, the third caliph, in 656 CE. Those who would neither condemn nor sanction Ali or his opponents but took a middle position were termed the Muʿtazilah." Carlo Alfonso Nallino argued that the theological Mu'tazilism of Wasil and his successors was merely a continuation of this initial political Mu'tazilism.