Mu'tazilism

Mu'tazilism is an Islamic theological school that appeared in early Islamic history and flourished in <a href="/facts/Basra/eA5CacwL">Basra</a> and <a href="/facts/Baghdad/RbtLzzHe">Baghdad</a>. Its adherents, the Mu'tazilites, were known for their neutrality in the dispute between <a href="/facts/Ali/YwM7b73C">Ali</a> and his opponents after the death of the third <a href="/facts/Caliph/qQ6hCspe">caliph</a>, <a href="/facts/Uthman/26tpuvcF">Uthman</a>. By the 10th century the term al-muʿtazilah had come to refer to a distinctive Islamic school of speculative theology (<a href="/facts/Kal%C4%81m/86GebkgK">kalām</a>). This school of <a href="/facts/Theology/N71Fyw2M">theology</a> was founded by <a href="/facts/Wasil_ibn_Ata/KvxtAFx0">Wasil ibn Ata</a>.
The later Mu'tazila school developed an <a href="/facts/Islam/zDLbL45C">Islamic</a> type of <a href="/facts/Rationalism/MNk171TG">rationalism</a>, partly influenced by <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek_philosophy/LWEkp8JX">ancient Greek philosophy</a>, based around three fundamental principles: the oneness (<a href="/facts/Tawhid/Svh5hgTS">Tawhid</a>) and justice (<a href="/facts/Theodicy/p0hb2BaU">Al-'adl</a>) of <a href="/facts/God_in_Islam/L2VNNRJm">God</a>, human freedom of action, and the creation of the <a href="/facts/Quran/39rkStko">Quran</a>. The Mu'tazilites are best known for rejecting the doctrine of the <a href="/facts/Quranic_createdness/ezbPXFVl">Quran as uncreated and co-eternal with God</a>, asserting that if the Quran is the literal word of God, he <a href="/facts/Logic/8JnpJLtt">logically</a> "must have preceded his own speech". This went against a common Sunni position (followed by the <a href="/facts/Ash%27ari/Rj57d1HI">Ashʿarī</a> and <a href="/facts/Maturidi/FtdkCJ9t">Māturīdī</a>) 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 "<a href="/facts/Problem_of_evil/NuzJgI1S">problem of evil</a>", 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 <a href="/facts/Free_will/LwkImELQ">free will</a>.
The Mu'tazila opposed <a href="/facts/Secular/uCj9a25U">secular</a> rationalism, but believed that human intelligence and reason allowed Man to understand religious principles; that <a href="/facts/Good_and_evil/nPIx3ruo">good and evil</a> are rational categories that could be "established through <a href="/facts/Reason/tcBImN8J">reason</a>".
The movement reached its political height during the <a href="/facts/Abbasid_Caliphate/mPeLAbXt">Abbasid Caliphate</a> during the "<a href="/facts/Mihna/sHHKhQV5">mihna</a>", an 18-year period (833–851 CE) of <a href="/facts/Religious_persecution/2dLY7zVX">religious persecution</a> instituted by the Abbasid <a href="/facts/Caliph/qQ6hCspe">caliph</a> <a href="/facts/Al-Ma%27mun/aaHmoQ9g">al-Ma'mun</a> where Sunni scholars were punished, imprisoned, or even killed unless they conformed to Mu'tazila doctrine, until it was reversed by <a href="/facts/Al-Mutawakkil/FUyACzaU">al-Mutawakkil</a>. The <a href="/facts/Aghlabids/hEwR767H">Aghlabids</a> (800–909 CE) also adhered to Mu'tazilism, which they imposed as the state doctrine of <a href="/facts/Ifriqiya/BVCb9fTR">Ifriqiya</a>. Similarly, the leading elite figures of the <a href="/facts/Graeco-Arabic_translation_movement/UpqshcLs">Graeco-Arabic translation movement</a> during the reign of <a href="/facts/Al-Hakam_II/3nWbv5R5">al-Hakam II</a> (r. 961–976) were followers of the Mu'tazila. Mu'tazilism also flourished to some extent during the rule of the <a href="/facts/Buyids/70QR31qF">Buyids</a> (934–1062 CE) in <a href="/facts/Iraq/pqYSFJw8">Iraq</a> and <a href="/facts/Persia/24yukge8">Persia</a>.

Mu'tazilism open-in-new

Mu'tazilism