Mu'tazilism
[4] The later Mu'tazila school developed an Islamic type of rationalism, partly influenced by ancient Greek philosophy, based around three fundamental principles: the oneness (Tawhid) and justice (Al-'adl) of God,[5] human freedom of action, and the creation of the Quran.
[8] 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.
[22] 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?
[23][24] The group later referred to themselves as Ahl al-Tawḥīd wa al-ʿAdl (اهل التوحيد و العدل, "people of monotheism and justice")[25] and the name Mu'tazili was first used by its opponents.
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.
[26] The Mu'tazili appeared in early Islāmic history in the dispute over Alī's leadership of the Muslim community after the death of the third caliph, Uthman.
For instance, most Mu'tazilis adopted the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, contrary to certain Muslim philosophers who, with the exception of al-Kindi, believed in the eternity of the world in some form or another.
[35] Another branch of the school found a home in Baghdad under the direction of Bishr ibn al-Mu'tamir (died 210 AH/825 AD);[35] the instigators thought it was the Caliph's own scheme:[36][37][38][39] under al-Ma'mun (813–833) "Mu'tazilism became the established faith."
As the number of Muslims increased throughout the Abbasid Caliphate, and in reaction to the excesses of this newly imposed rationalism, theologians began to lose ground.
Due to his rejection of al-Ma'mun's demand to accept and propagate the Mu'tazila creed, ibn Hanbal was imprisoned and tortured by the Abbasid rulers.
[48][49][50] Including: According to a "leading Mu'tazilite authority" of the end of the ninth century (al-Khayyat),[51] and "clearly enunciated for the first time by Abu al-Hudhayl",[2] five basic tenets make up the Mu'tazilite creed: All Muslim schools of theology faced the dilemma of affirming divine transcendence and divine attributes, without falling into anthropomorphism on the one hand or emptying scriptural references to those attributes of all concrete meaning.
The doctrine of Tawhīd, in the words of the prominent Mu'tazili scholar Chief Justice Qadi Abd al-Jabbar (died 415 AH/1025 AD)[54] is: the knowledge that God, being unique, has attributes that no creature shares with him.
In order to explain this type of "apparent" evil, Mu'tazilis relied on the Islamic doctrine of taklif: "God does not order/give the soul of any of his creation, that which is beyond its capacity."
In conclusion, it comprised life is an ultimate "fair test" of coherent and rational choices, having a supremely just accountability in one's current state, as well as the hereafter.
He will not go back on his word, nor can he act contrary to his promise and warning, nor lie in what he reports, in contrast to what the Postponers (Murjites) hold.
Hell is not considered a monolithic state of affairs but as encompassing many degrees to accommodate the wide spectrum of human deeds and choices, and the lack of comprehension associated to The Ultimate Judge (one of the other names in Islam of God.)
[63] Mu'tazilis believed that the first obligation on humans, specifically adults in full possession of their mental faculties, is to use their intellectual power to ascertain the existence of God, and to become knowledgeable of his attributes.
About the "first duty," ʿAbd al-Jabbar said it is "speculative reasoning (al-nazar) which leads to knowledge of God, because he is not known by the way of necessity (daruratan) nor by the senses (bi l-mushahada).
"[73] The Mu'tazili position on the roles of reason and revelation is well captured by what Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (died 324 AH/935 AD), the eponym of the Ashʿari school of theology, attributed to the Mu'tazili scholar Ibrahim an-Nazzam (died 231 AH/845 AD) (1969): كل معصية كان يجوز أن يأمر الله سبحانه بها فهي قبيحة للنهي، وكل معصية كان لا يجوز أن يبيحها الله سبحانه فهي قبيحة لنفسها كالجهل به والاعتقاد بخلافه، وكذلك كل ما جاز أن لا يأمر الله سبحانه فهو حسن للأمر به وكل ما لم يجز إلا أن يأمر به فهو حسن لنفسه No sin may be ordered by God as it is wrong and forbidden, and no sin shall be permitted by God, as they are wrong by themselves.
Since God is absolutely self-sufficient (a result from the cosmological "proof" of his existence), all-knowing, and all-powerful, he is categorically free from any type of need and, consequently, he never does anything that is ridiculous, unwise, ugly, or evil.
[27][76] During the Abbasid dynasty, the poet, theologian, and jurist, Ibrahim an-Nazzam founded a madhhab called the Nazzamiyya that rejected the authority of Hadiths by Abu Hurayra.
[81] Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭāʾ (700–748 CE, by many accounts a founder of the Mu'tazilite school of thought), held that there was evidence for the veracity of a report when it had four independent transmitters.
Al-Naẓẓām's skepticism involved far more than excluding the possible verification of a report narrated by Abu Hurayra, be it single or mutawātir.
His stance also excluded the trustworthiness of consensus, which proved pivotal to classical Mu'tazilite criteria devised for verifying the single report (see below).
This radical freedom was possible precisely because the world was composed solely of inert matter rather than an immaterial spirit with an independent vital force of its own.
[85] One of the "most sharply defined" issues where the Mu'tazila disagreed with "their theological opponents" was whether Paradise and hell (Jahannam) had already been created or if their existence was waiting for Judgement Day.
The "majority of the Mu'tazila rejected categorically" the idea that God had already created the Garden and the Fire on the grounds that "the physical universe does not allow for their existence yet".
[92] After he was appointed Grand Mufti of Egypt in 1899, he attempted to adapt Islam to the modern times and to introduce changes in the teachings at Al-Azhar University.
[93] Although his reforms were disputed by traditional Sunni establishment as well as his immediate successors such as Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865–1935 C.E), 'Abduh would become the chief source of inspiration for later modernist and reformist scholars and philosophers[94] such as Fazlur Rahman (1919–1988),[95] Farid Esack (born 1959),[96] and in particular Harun Nasution (1919–1998)[97] and Nasr Abu Zayd (1943–2010).
The North African "Institute for the Faith Brigades" denounced Bin Laden's "misguided errors" and accused Abu Hafs al Mawritani, a leading figure in Al-Qaeda's juridical committee, of being a Mu'tazilite.
