Introduction to Islamic Studies: A brief introduction to Mutazilite school of thought

Contents

God revealed his divine knowledge to humankind through revelations to certain chosen people who are called as Prophets (May Allahs blessings are upon all of them). The prophets delivered the knowledge to the humankind with their actions, deeds, sayings and approvals. Thus, humankind came to know what god wants us to know.

As we, Muslims believe that all followers of the heavenly religions follow religious instructions into three basic categories.

1. Beliefs

2. Ethics

3. Shariah laws.

However, this is not enough. Perfection of piety is only attainable through sound knowledge of religion. That is the reason why it is worth said that a holy fool is worthless and without merit. It is evident throughout history that without sound knowledge of religious truths and teachings so many pious men fell under the deviation of falsehood.

To attain salvation it is not enough to just bear mere witness and abide by certain rules rather one need to understand the prophetic way of leading life and attain more knowledge of prophetic teachings.

The Quran commands men to search for truth. It encourages the study of nature and urges contemplation and its reflection. As man is a reasonable being it is required to understand religion not with faith only but also reasoning and reflective thinking. We can see that Quran came to us as a liberator of mind and actions. Therefore, it is observed that there have been various intellectual efforts by Muslim scholars to establish the divine truth. Thus created some departments of religious knowledge, which requires special methodology, objective, particular vantage point to understand and explore further expedition into the deep ocean of Islamic science.

Among all the Islamic sciences, Ilm al-Kalam(The science of Islamic theology) enjoys one of the most important, special position and esteem status due to its in-depth, critical arguments and ability to prove divinity and vicinity of God over the universe and creation, his exalted majesty, power over every powers and all kind of Islamic cultures.

According to Professor Dr. Saeedi Meher “ Kalam is the science that bears the responsibility of Deducing, explaining, arranging, demonstrating and defending Islamic beliefs.” [1]

According to him, Kalam is the highest and noblest of the sciences from both the aspects of subject matter and argumentation. Therefore, Kalam has been a subject of high esteem and only those who were highly knowledgeable engaged themselves into the doctrine of Kalam.

After the sad demise of the Prophet Mohammad (saw) due to political and sectarian differences among the Muslims, they gradually divided themselves into various theological sects and doctrinal school of thoughts. Among them, the following three are the most important ones.

1. Mutazilite

2. Ashaarite

3. Shiite

Here we will try to provide a general account and comparative discussion of the three prominent schools, giving special focus on Mutazilite school of thought. Basic introduction of some prominent scholars of the schools. The basic differences between the schools and refute the claim that Mutazilites are Shias and Imamite theology is influenced by Mutazilite ideology.

The historical account of Mutazilite school of thought

The Mutazilites form the earliest school in Islam, which deals with the theological problems along with philosophical ones. Mutazilites are referred to be the Rationalists. Their most outstanding feature is that they emphasis on the intellects ability to deduce, prove and defend religious belief.

The founder of Mutazila school of thought was Wasil ibn ata(80-131 A.H). The story is very interesting why The Mutazilites are called with this name.

One day Imam al‑Hasan al‑Basri(D-110 A.H.) was imparting instruction to his pupils in a mosque. A student stood up and asked his opinion about those who committed great sins and whether they should be regarded as Muslims or Non-Muslims. Hasan al‑Basri was on the point of giving a reply to this query when Wasil ibn Ata(historians describe him as a long‑necked person) got up and said: "The perpetrator of grave sins is neither a complete unbeliever nor a perfect believer; he is placed midway between unbelief and faith‑an intermediate state (manzilah bain al‑manzilatain)."

Having spoken he strode to another corner of the mosque and began to explain this belief of his to others. The Imam shot a swift glance at him and said, "I’tazala `anna," ("He has withdrawn from us."). From that very day Wasil ibn Ata and his followers were called al‑Mu'tazilah, the Withdrawers or Secessionists.

However, some historians do not agree with the above stated incident. According to them, this name is not suitable for a group of intellectuals.

We have another account in history where Nawbakti in his kitabu firaq ash-shariah says, the Mutazilites are those who separated themselves from Imam Ali but refused to fight against him. The theological Mutazilites are the successors of these political Mutazilites. Some others say that the name Mutazila came because this group used to sit in a corner of the mosque in their early times.

Whatever the reason for the name is, Mutazilites were distinguished for their rational thinking. After the formation, they dominated over the intellect of the people for three centuries.

The school was formed in Basra but after some time Bushr ibn Mutamir(D-210 A.H) founded the parallel Mutazilite school of Baghdad.

The prominent scholars of Mutazila school of thought:

Among the scholars of Basra school, the following were the most prominent.

1. Wasil ibn Ata

2. Amr bin Ubayd

3. Dzirar ibn Amr

4. Muammar ibn Abbad

5. Abul Hudhayl

6. An-Nazzam

7. Al-fuwati

8. Ahmad bin Haiit

9. Fadzal al Hadathi

10. Al-jahiz

11. Ash-Shahham

12. Al- jubbai

13. Abu Hashim

Among the scholars of Baghdad school, the following were the most prominent.

1. Bushr ibn Mutamir

2. Al-murdad

3. Thumama

4. Al-ashafi

5. Jafar ibn Harb

6. Jafar ibn Mubashshir

7. Al-Khaiyat

8. Al-Kaabi

Although there were some doctrinal differences between the two schools of Baghdad and Basra but they shared 5 common principles which were the base of this thought.

1. Tawhid (Divine unity). The strictest profession of monotheism and denial of all resemblances between God and his creatures

2. Adl (Divine justice). God is Just and all he does for his creation is best in interest for them and he does not desire any evil nor does he ordain it.

3. Al-Wad wa Al-Waid (Gods promise and punishment). There is no special mercy. Only what he promised for virtue and vice must happen.

4. Manzilat bayn al manzilatayn (Intermediate state between disbelief and belief) Sinners are in an intermediate position. Neither they can be called as unbelievers, as they have got faith and nor they can be called as believers as the word believer cannot be attributed to sinners. Their punishments will be mitigated.

5. Al Amr bi al-maruf wa al-nahy an al-munkar (enjoining good and forbidding evil). Active attitude of upholding towards what is good and right, what is evil and wrong must be preserved. Simple faith and practice of rituals would not suffice.

The Mutazilites never gained popularity but received some favor and protection from the state. That is why the Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur, Al-Hadi and Al-Mamun are considered as one among the Mutazilites. Al-Mamuns accession to the throne brought best of luck to them and made it state doctrine but at the end, it also ruined them. Al-Mamun decreed Test act(Mihna) where the Qadzi’s were supposed to judge according to this view that the Quran is created. After his death in 234 A.H. it was decreed by Al-Mutawakkil that Quran is uncreated.

They became dropped back into a struggling position and thus earned greater disfavor of the people. They tried to avert this situation by engaging into metaphysical questions but could not survive as Ashaari thoughts strangled its voice for good. However, the main idea still survives and according to contemporary scholars all the thinkers who stress on reason as a source of knowledge that is the essence of Mutazila thoughts, can be called as a mutazila.

The stand point of the Mutazila

The Mutazilites stresses on reason and their insistence on reason is based on the Quran. That is why they say, if reason were not the principal source of knowledge, then the Quranic appeal to human intellect becomes meaningless. Therefore they maintain a harmony with revelation and reasoning. But if there appears any inconsistency between reason and the literal meaning of revelation, the literal meaning should be rejected and another deeper meaning must be sought out which conforms to reason.

The Mutakallims (Theologians) do not agree with this idea. According to them the literal meaning of revelation must be accepted, the function of reason is to support it. Mutakallims give reason a special place with subordinate status to revelation.

The Falsuf (Philosophers) agree mostly with the reason but the subject matter of Mutazilla is not in harmony with philosophy. Philosophy mainly discusses metaphysical and psychological problems but the mutazilas discusses theological problems. The sources and materials of Philosophy are mainly from the early Greek philosophy but the Mutazila source and material is the Quran itself.

Sufism denies all three of the doctrines above stated, therefore Mutazila school differs with Sufism a lot as Sufis think, reason is of no use in attaining of Reality, it can be attained by means of only intuition or immediate feeling, which results from ecstasy.

The Asharite school of thought

Abu al Hasan Ali ibn Ismail Ashari founded the Ashari school of thought. He was born at Basra in 260 A.H. and died at Baghdad in 324 A.H. He was a descendent of Abu Musa Ashari(The arbiter of Imam Ali in the battle of siffin against Muawia). Before his age of forty Ashari was a follower of Mutazila school of thought and he preached Mutazila thoughts as a staunch believer under the instruction of Abdul wahhab Abu ali Jubbai al Mutazili.

Not being satisfied with the Mutazila thoughts he introduced his own Ideas which established a new school of thought and those ideas were the first principles of that school called Ashari school of thought. His views were somewhat a middle way in between the ultra-intellectualism of the mutazilites and the anti-intellectualism of the Ahl al-hadith. The western scholar De Boer remarks about Ashari “who understands how to render to god the things that are Gods and to man the things that are mans”.

Ashari renounced his faith of Mutazilites on 300A.H while summoning the Friday prayer in the mosque of Basra.

Ashari wrote hundreds of books but only handfuls are left. His book Kitabush sharh wat tafsil made controversy among the Mutazilites. His main argument is that, it is impossible to construct a system of theology based on reason alone. To build up a complete system of theology it is necessary to combine the words of God, the prophetic traditions and usage, the instructions of the Salafe salehin.

Ashari school of thought spread out throughout the world through the following later theologians.

1. Qadi abu bakar Baqillani . (D-403 A.H)

2. Abd al-Qahir Baghdadi(D-429A.H)

3. Imam al Haramayn Juwayni(D-505A.H)

4. Imam Muhammad Ghazali(D-505A.H)

5. Fakhr Razi(D-606 A.H)

6. Abd al-Rahman al-Diniji(D-756 A.H)

7. Sad al-din Taftazani (D-791A.H.)

Al Maturidi and Al Tahawi were two prominent scholars whose works helped Asharite thoughts, as they were similar in manner but with significant differences. [2]

The Imamite school of thought

Although Imamites are divided into some denominations but fundamentally, all the Imami believers believe in the basic principle of Imamate (divine guardianship) which means believing on the immediate successor ship of Ali ibn Abi-Talib after the sad demise of Prophet(saw) according to direct appointment by him(saw) under divine revelation and commands. However, due to authentic traditions of the prophet this successor ship must follow 12 Emirs who are through Imam Alis progeny that is after Al-hassans successor-ship it must be continued by Al-husseins progeny and lead to The Promised Qaem Al Mahdi. Due to the explicit commands and narrations, it is referring that Imamite means only those who follow the 12 Imams after the prophet as without breaking the chain being the successor of the prophet and Imam of the Islamic community.

There is another believe of the Imamites which is infallibility of the Imams. Only the Imamis believe in Infallibility of the progeny of the Prophet (saw) due to revelations accredited to them (as). That makes significant difference from the other part of the Ummah(The followers of the Prophet Muhammad (saw)) called Ahlus sunnah who negates the theme of infallibility to anybody rather than the prophets. Even the believe of Ahlus Sunnah is that, khilafa is a political post which needs no divine virtue and one need not be the best man of his time and once a person assumes the post of khalifah he automatically possess the Imamate. At first they used to say that a Khalifa being a Quraish(from the keenship of the Prophet) would suffice to qualify for the post but later on they derived from this idea like the Kharijis who believes that no supremacy for the Quraish.

Theologically Ahlus sunnah are those who are Muqallidin(Those who follow/conformist). However, there is Ghayre Muqallidin as well who rejects the schools of four imams of Ahlus sunnah and are infact muqallid of Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab al Najdi. They call themselves Ahle Hadith or Ahle Salfe salehin but they are usually known as Wahhabis. Some of them call themselves as Muhammadi to avoid disputes.

The Imamite Theologians are unique in their intellectual ability but still they use reason only when it is necessary to prove the rightfulness of the Imams and they solely depend on religious texts and the sayings of the infallible imams. However, due to the occultation of the Imam and lack of direct divine guidance Imamites build up systematic sciences of theology and philosophy to fill the gap of intellectual academic doctrinal discussions. After Khwaja Nasir al-Din al-Tusi(B-672A.H) Imami scholars found a strong hold for this systematic study of religion. They established distinguished philosophical concepts under the domain of Theology (Kalam).

Imamite theologians are divided according to their time-period as each of the time they had distinguished methods of intellectual discussion. Therefore, we will divide them into three groups.

1. First generation theologians: They were alive during the period of the Imams. Prominent scholars of that period are as follow:

(a) Zurara ibn Ayan(B-150 A.H)

(b) Hisham ibn Hakam (B-199A.H)

2. Second generation Theologians after the Occultation of the Mahdi: After the occultation of the Mahdi theologians were bound to build up their own rational intellectual discussion due to the lack of direct divine guidance. Most prominent theologians of that time were:

(a) Shaykh saduq(B-382 A.H)

(b) Shaykh Mufid (B-414 A.H.)

(d) Shaykh Tusi (B-460A.H)

3. After Seventh century theologians who came after Khwaja Nasir Al-Din Tusi (B-672 A.H): Khawaja Nasir Al-din Tusi was a great scholar who introduced changes and new methods of philosophical discussion, concepts and added philosophy into the domain of Theology. His illuminated work Tajrid al-Itiqad proclaimed attention by the thinkers of his time to till date, no matter what different school they belong. Most prominent theologians of that time were:

(a)Allama Hilli (B-726A.H)

(b) Fadil Miqdad (B-826A.H)

(d)Mulla Mohsin Fayd Kashani (B-1091A.H)

The theological work continued with immense importance in the Imamia school of thought and it is developing since then.

According to Dr. Saeedi Mehr, Kalam(Islamic Speculative Theology) is a science that undertakes to deduce, explain, arrange, demonstrate and defend Islamic Beliefs. Despite the fact that Kalam is the real sense and meaning of Islam many Muslims from the other parts than the Imamites forbade and warned against teaching and learning of Kalam. Ironically, many of the well-known theologians are sunnis. The Mutazilites are sunnis but still their emerged scholars of reason. Due to the similar manner some might say Mutazilites and Imamites are similar concept and faith.This is not true.

Refuting the argument about Mutazilites being Shias:

Although the Imamite theologians conducted discussions and debates about Islamic issues with all sects and denominations of Islam which we can see from the books of kalam (theology) and the polemics, they could not influence any of the schools. The Imamites believe in a school of thought, which is original from its beginning therefore it cannot be said that Imamites were influenced by any other school of thoughts. The remaining school of thoughts appeared afterwards. Likewise, Imamites have not been influenced by the Mu‘tazilah with respect to any of their beliefs, since the Mu‘tazilah sect came into being afterwards.

Although Mutazilites were the earliest among the sects to focus on reasoning but they did not get the wide acceptability and it has become extinct now a days. If we see that the Mu‘tazilah share the Imamia view in some issues it is not strange that they got the ideas from the Infallible Imams of the Shia, both directly and indirectly.

There is a proverb, “Belief in coercion and anthropomorphism is Umayyad and belief in Justice and unity is an Alawi doctrine,”

الجَبْرُ وَالتَّشبِيهُ أَمَوِيَّان وَالْعَدْلُ وَالتَّوحِيدُ عَلَوِيَّان

This confirms the fact that all the ideas of divine justice and unity in the Mutazilites are influenced from the Shias not that the shias were influenced by the Mutazilites.

This widespread rumor is spread because some Sunni scholars who considers Kalam as heresy finds Mutazilite and Imamite school against Ashaarites and later on due to their ignorance of Shia School of thought and its Kalam they labeled Mutazilites and Imamites to be same.

There is another reason why the Imamites and Mutazilites are considered to be influenced by each other. It is said that, Wasil ibn Ata was an ally of zayed ibn Ali ibnul Hussain. Some Zaidi shias adopted Mutazilite doctrine afterwards. This is the reason why it is alleged that Shias and Mutazilites borrowed from each other but still if we see the matter from a distinctive manner, it is not correct. Zaidis are not follower of the twelve infallible Imams. Therefore, they lack the idea of Infallibility which is one of the basic principle of the Imamites.

Conclusion

The Mutazilite school of thought has extinct, because it was not easy to follow by the lay people. Only the intellectuals and elites who got their interests served out of it supported this doctrine. That is why we see that the Traditionalists and the ruling Umayyad Caliphs who perceived threat to their religious, social, political and economic privileges from the Mutazilite movement declared it as heresy. On the other hand, the Abbasids made it their court doctrine.

The Mutazila ideology which went against the dominant orthodox religious views, may not suffice as a complete Islamic view of Kalam(as it lacks Imamat) but its serving against those who lack intellect and in fact was against intellect, was a great attempt of freeing mankind from the dictated orthodoxy. Mutazila movement freed Muslims from the lack of notion and created an intellectual society that encouraged free thoughts.

[1] Dr. Saeedi Meher combines all the master theologians (such as Allama Hilli, Sharif Al-jurjani, Taftazani etc) definition of Kalam and comes out with his own definition which is stated in his book “Islamic Theology”.

[2] Point to be noted: Al Maturidi and al-Tahawi were Mutakallim(theologians) whose ideas were similar to Ashari but they were different from Ashari as they followed Imam abu Hanifa whereas Ashari was a follower of Imam Shafii. Al-Maturidis Liberal orthodox theology is similar to Asharis thoughts but Maturidi and Ashari has thirteen basic differences, which makes them opposite in faith. Tahawi never gave any school rather his views were just another version of abu Hanifa with dogmatic views. Therefore both of them were regarded helping asharite thoughts.

[3]