Concept

Mu'tazilism

Overview

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 such as Mu'awiya 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.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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But intellect, and whatever emanates from intellect, is not the foreign, but the proper ornament of the soul, for the being of the soul, when absorbed in intellect, is then alone real and true. It is, therefore, rightly said, that the beauty and good of the soul consists in her similitude to the Deity_;_ for from hence flows all her beauty, and her allotment of a better being. But the beautiful itself is that which…
Plotinus, An Essay on the Beautiful, from the Greek of Plotinus
States what Mu'tazilism is; the author is tied to Mu'tazilism in the knowledge graph.
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They do indeed co-exist with the others. Neither is it always the best power (reason), which always dominates; for the inferior powers equally have their place. Consequently, man (besides being a reasonable being) is also a sensitive being, because he possesses sense-organs. In many respects, he is also a vegetative being; for his body feeds and grows just like a plant. All these powers (reason, sensibility…
Plotinus, Plotinos
States what Mu'tazilism is; the author is tied to Mu'tazilism in the knowledge graph.
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They should not merely be free for the entry of the Mussalmans of the world by the grace or the license of non-Muslim powers, but should be the possession and property of Islam in the fullest degree. It is a religions obligation, on every Mussalman to go forth and help the Khalifa in every possible way where his unaided efforts in the defence of the Khilifat have failed. The grievance of the Indian Mussalmans is…
Mahatma Gandhi, Freedom's Battle Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation
Close in meaning to Mu'tazilism; the term itself is not named.
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Philosophers who discussed Mu'tazilism

Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

Ash'arism

Place in the tradition

Part of Atomism.

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