Editing Mu'tazilism (section)

==History==

===Origin===
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]]. Those who would neither condemn nor sanction Ali or his opponents but took a middle position between him and his opponents at the [[battle of Siffin]] and the [[battle of Jamal]] were termed the Mu'tazila.<ref name="Mutazilah">[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/399752/Mutazilah Muʿtazilah] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100202054617/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/399752/Mutazilah |date=2010-02-02 }} at the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]. Accessed 13 March 2014. Some of the [[Companions of the Prophet|Companions of Muhammad]] such as [[Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas]] and [[Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab|Abdullah ibn Umar]] were neutral in the dispute between ʿAlī and his opponents ([[Muawiyah I]]). ''[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]'' [http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ei2/mu-tazila.htm s.v. "Mu'tazila"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100425070247/http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ei2/mu-tazila.htm |date=2010-04-25 }}, Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands (1999):
"It is an explanation of this kind which today, in particular as a result of the studies undertaken by Nallino ("Sull'origine del nome dei Mu'taziliti", in ''RSO'', vii [1916]), is generally accepted: ''i'tizal'' would designate a position of neutrality in the face of opposing factions. Nallino drew support for the argument from the fact that at the time of the first civil war, some of the Companions ('Abd Allah b. 'Umar, Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas, etc.), who had chosen to side neither with ʿAli nor with his adversaries, were for that reason called muʿtazila. He even drew the conclusion that the theological Mu'tazilism of Wasil and his successors was merely a continuation of this initial political Mu'tazilism; in reality, there does not seem to have been the least connection between one and the other. But, in its principle, this explanation is probably valid."</ref> By the 10th century CE the term had also come to refer to an Islamic school of speculative theology (kalām) that flourished in Basra and Baghdad (8th–10th century).<ref name="britannica2"/><ref name="robinson2"/><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Different views on human freedom – Mu'tazilites and Asharites – Authority in Islam – GCSE Religious Studies Revision – OCR|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zkdkw6f/revision/3|access-date=2021-06-19|website=BBC Bitesize|language=en-GB|archive-date=2021-06-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210621143801/https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zkdkw6f/revision/3|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to Sunni sources, Mu'tazili theology originated in the eighth century in Basra (now in Iraq) when [[Wasil ibn Ata|Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭā']] (died 131 AH/748 AD) left the teaching lessons of [[Hasan al-Basri]] after a theological dispute regarding the issue of ''al-Manzilah bayna al-Manzilatayn'' (''a position between two positions'').<ref name=ad /> Though Mu'tazilis later relied on [[Logic in Islamic philosophy|logic]] and different aspects of [[early Islamic philosophy]] and [[ancient Greek philosophy]]. The basics of Islam were their starting point and ultimate reference.{{sfn|Walzer|1967}}{{sfn|Craig|2000}}
The accusations leveled against them by rival schools of theology that they gave absolute authority to extra-Islamic paradigms reflect more the fierce polemics between various schools of theology than any objective reality. For instance, most Mu'tazilis adopted the doctrine of creation ''[[ex nihilo]]'', contrary to certain [[List of Muslim philosophers|Muslim philosophers]] who, with the exception of [[al-Kindi]], believed in the eternity of the world in some form or another.{{sfn|Craig|2000}}

Mu'tazili theology faced implacable opposition from Hanbali and Zahiri traditionalists, on the one hand, and from the Ash'ari school (founded by a former Mu'tazili, Abu al Hasan al-Ash'ari) and Maturidi theologians on the other.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Campo|first=Juan Eduardo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC&q=Mutazili+theology+faced+implacable+opposi-%EF%BB%BF+tion+from+Hanbali+and+Zahiri+traditionalists+(ahl+%EF%BB%BF+al-sunna),+on+the+one+hand,+and+from+the+ashari%EF%BB%BF+school+(founded+by+a+former+Mutazili,+Abu+al-%EF%BB%BF+Hasan+al-Ashari)+and+Maturidi+theologians+on+the+%EF%BB%BF+other.|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|date=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-2696-8|pages=512|language=en|access-date=2021-10-14|archive-date=2021-10-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211014234228/https://books.google.com/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC&q=Mutazili+theology+faced+implacable+opposi-%EF%BB%BF+tion+from+Hanbali+and+Zahiri+traditionalists+%28ahl+%EF%BB%BF+al-sunna%29%2C+on+the+one+hand%2C+and+from+the+ashari%EF%BB%BF+school+%28founded+by+a+former+Mutazili%2C+Abu+al-%EF%BB%BF+Hasan+al-Ashari%29+and+Maturidi+theologians+on+the+%EF%BB%BF+other.|url-status=live}}</ref>

===''Ahl al-kalām''===
Scholar [[Daniel W. Brown]] describes the Mu'tazila as "the later ''ahl al-kalām''", suggesting the ''ahl al-kalām'' were forerunners of the Mu'tazili.<ref name=DWBRTMIT1996:15>[[#DWBRTMIT1996|Brown, ''Rethinking tradition in modern Islamic thought'', 1996]]: p.15</ref> The ''ahl al-kalām'' are remembered in Islamic history as opponents of [[Al-Shafi‘i]] and his principle that the final authority of Islam was the [[hadith]] of [[Muhammad]],<ref name=DWBRTMIT1996:13-15>[[#DWBRTMIT1996|Brown, ''Rethinking tradition in modern Islamic thought'', 1996]]: p.13-15</ref> so that even the Qur'an was "to be interpreted in the light of [the hadith], and not vice versa."<ref>J. SCHACHT, ''An Introduction to Islamic Law'' (1964), supra note 5, at 47</ref><ref name="Forte-1978-13">{{cite journal|last1=Forte|first1=David F.|title=Islamic Law; the impact of Joseph Schacht|journal=Loyola Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review|date=1978|volume=1|page=13|url=http://www.soerenkern.com/pdfs/islam/IslamicLawTheImpactofJosephSchacht.pdf|access-date=19 April 2018|archive-date=20 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420073952/http://www.soerenkern.com/pdfs/islam/IslamicLawTheImpactofJosephSchacht.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Historical development===
Abu al-Hudhayl al-'Allaf (died 235 AH/849 AD), who lived a few generations after Wāṣil ibn ʿAtāʾ (واصل بن عطاء) and [[Amr ibn Ubayd|ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd]], is considered the theologian who systematized and formalized Mu'tazilism in Basra.{{sfn|Martin|1997|}} Another branch of the school found a home in [[Baghdad]] under the direction of [[Bishriyya|Bishr ibn al-Mu'tamir]] (died 210 AH/825 AD);{{sfn|Martin|1997|}} the instigators thought it was the Caliph's own scheme:{{sfn|Nawas|1994}}{{sfn|Nawas|1996}}{{sfn|Cooperson|2005}}{{sfn|Ess|2006}} under [[al-Ma'mun]] (813–833) "Mu'tazilism became the established faith."

[[Umayyad]] [[Caliphs]] who were known for supporting the Mu'tazila include [[Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik]]<ref name="Schirrmacher-2020-82">{{cite book |last1=Schirrmacher |first1=Christine |editor1-last=Enstedt |editor1-first=Daniel |editor2-last=Larsson |editor2-first=Göran |editor3-last=Mantsinen |editor3-first=Teemu T. |title=Handbook of Leaving Religion |date=2020 |publisher=Brill |page=82 |url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/43466/external_content.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=6 January 2021 |chapter=Leaving Islam |archive-date=8 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108155642/https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/43466/external_content.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Yazid III]].

The Mu'tazilites maintained man's creation<ref>Adamson, Peter. "Al-Kindi and Mu'tazila: Divine Attributes, Creation and Freedom." ''Arabic Sciences and Philosophy'' 1 (2003): 45–77.</ref> of [[free will]], as did the [[Qadarites]] of the later Umayyad period. The Mu'tazilites also maintained that justice and reason must form the foundation of the action God takes toward men. Both of these doctrines were repudiated by the later orthodox school of the [[Ashʿari]]tes.<ref>William Thomson, "The Moslem World", in [[William L. Langer]] (1948), ed., ''An Encyclopedia of World History'', rev. edition, Boston:  Houghton Mifflin, p.189.</ref>

===Mihna===
The persecution campaign, nonetheless, cost them their theology and generally, the sympathy of the Muslim masses in the Abbasid state. 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. The problem was exacerbated by the [[Mihna]], the inquisition launched under the Abbasid [[Caliphate|Caliph]] [[al-Ma'mun]] (died 218 AH/833 AD).

The movement reached its political height during the Mihna, the period of [[religious persecution]] instituted by the 'Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun in AD 833 in which religious scholars (such as [[Sunnis]] and [[Shias]]) were punished, imprisoned, or even killed unless they conformed to Mu'tazila doctrine. The policy lasted for 18 years (833–851 CE) as it continued through the reigns of al-Ma'mun's immediate successors, [[al-Mu'tasim]] and [[al-Wathiq]], and the first four years of the reign of [[al-Mutawakkil]], who reversed the policy in 851.<ref name="Zaman1997b"/><ref>[https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/downloads/4x51hp478?locale=en] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614002428/https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/downloads/4x51hp478?locale=en|date=2021-06-14}} (PDF)</ref>

[[Ahmad ibn Hanbal]], the Sunni jurist and founder of the [[Hanbali]] school of thought was a victim of al-Ma'mun's Mihna. 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.<ref name="Hadith Literature">{{cite book|last=Siddiqi|first=Muhammad|title=Hadith Literature|year=1993|publisher=The Islamic Texts Society|location=Oxford|isbn=0-946621-38-1|page=47}}</ref>

===Post-Mihna===
Under Caliph [[al-Mutawakkil]] (847–861), "who sought to reestablish the traditional Muslim's faith" (he intentionally wanted to restore his legitimacy due to the backlash towards Ahmad ibn Hanbal's persecution under previous Caliphs), Mu'tazilite doctrine was repudiated and Mu'tazilite professors were persecuted in the Abbasid Caliphate; [[Shia Muslims]], [[Christianity|Christians]] and [[Judaism|Jews]] were also persecuted.<ref>William Thomson, "The Moslem World", in William L. Langer (1948), ed., ''An Encyclopedia of World History'', rev. edition, Boston:  Houghton Mifflin, p. 189.</ref> 

The [[Aghlabids]], an [[Arab]] dynasty centered in [[Ifriqiya]] from 800 to 909, also adhered to Mu'tazilism, which they imposed as the state doctrine of Ifriqiya.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abun-Nasr |first=Jamil M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdlKbZ46YYkC&pg=PP1 |title=A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period |date=1987-08-20 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-33767-0 |language=en}}</ref> Similarly, the leading elite figures of the [[Graeco-Arabic translation movement]] during the reign of [[al-Hakam II]] were followers of the Mu'tazila.<ref name="SamsóFierro2019"/> Mu'tazilism also flourished to some extent during the rule of the [[Buyids]] in Iraq and [[Persia]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://albert.ias.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.12111/66/Schmidtke_2017_IAS%20fall%20newsletter%20Monotheism.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |title=Archived copy |access-date=2020-10-29 |archive-date=2021-08-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830121626/https://albert.ias.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.12111/66/Schmidtke_2017_IAS%20fall%20newsletter%20Monotheism.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |url-status=live }}</ref>

Severe persecution against the Mu'tazilites occurred during the reign of [[al-Qadir]] (991–1031), who issued a decree to kill anyone who openly adhered to the Mu'tazilism.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Busse |first=Heribert |title=Chalif und Grosskönig: die Buyiden im Irak (945-1055) |date=2004 |publisher=Ergon Verlag Würzburg in Kommission |place=Würzburg |isbn=9783899130058}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The encyclopaedia of Islam. 4: Iran - Kha / ed. by E. van Donzel |date=1997 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-05745-6 |editor-last=Donzel |editor-first=Emeri J. van |edition=3. impr |location=Leiden}}</ref> This trend of persecution continued and became stronger with the emergence of the [[Seljuk Turk]] rulers who made Sunni Islam the official state religion, and their support for [[Nizamiyah College|Sunni madrasa]] and scholars further excluded Mu'tazilite influence.<ref>{{Citation |last=Arnaldez |first=Roger |title=Le Mutazilisme, théologie de la liberté |date=2005 |work= |pages=35 |url= |access-date= |publisher= |isbn=}}</ref> At that time the Mu'tazilism were banned, their books were burned, and their teachings began to be unknown except through the texts of Sunni theologians who attacked them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tritton |first=A. S. |date= 1950|title=Introduction à la Théologie Musulmane; essai de théologie comparée. By Louis Gardet and M.-M. Anawati. (Etudes de Philosophie Médiévale, XXXVII.) pp. 543. Paris, 1948. |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/s0035869x00103521 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |volume=82 |issue=1–2 |pages=83–85 |doi=10.1017/s0035869x00103521 |issn=1356-1863}}</ref> Until at the end of the [[Islamic Golden Age]] due to the [[Mongol invasions and conquests|Mongol Invasion]], the Mu'tazilite influence disappeared for a long time from [[Muslim world|Islamic society]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crone |first=Patricia |title=Medieval Islamic Political Thought |date=2022 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-4650-0 |series=The New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys NEIS |location=Edinburgh}}</ref>