Legal Opinions

According to the Sunnis, the following four elements are valid sources to derive Islamic laws

• The Quran
• The Hadith (saying of the Prophet)
• Scholarly Consensus (Ijma)
• Reasoning by Analogy (qiyas)

According to the Mutazilah, the legal opinions must only be based on

• The Quran
• The Hadith
• Human Reasoning (Aql)

Contention between the two groups can be summarized in the following philosophical question which predate Islam itself

The Hanbali traditionalists (as well as the Ash'ariya and other groups within the orthodox center) differed sharply with the Mu'tazila on whether the Law (Shari'a) that God revealed through His prophet Muhammad was good because God had revealed it, or whether God had revealed it because it was inherently good. [1]

On page 17, the authors quoted an interesting saying about the need to define your religion and to contrast it with others.

there is an obvious need for a religious group to define itself in relation to other groups, and to the world in general.[1]

The most celebrated time for the Mutazilah was under the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun (year 813-833 AD). After losing the support from the caliph, the Mutazilah madhhab began to decline. This gave rise to other Sunnite madhabs like the Ash'ari and Maturidi.

After the demise of Mutazilah scholar Abd al-Jabbar (d. 1024), the next scholar among this sect was the famous Quranic scholar, al-Zamakhshari (d. 1144).

Among the Sunni theologians, the majority of whom identified with the Ash'ari madhhab after the eleventh century, Mu'tazili doctrine was the target of attack and derision; Mu'tazili masters were often condemned from pulpits during the Friday prayer service.[1]

it was the Zaydi (Fiver) and Imami (Twelver) Shi'a more often than the Sunnis who continued to discuss the early Mu'tazili writings [1].

end at page 18

Reference
[1] Martin, Richard C, Woodward, Mark R and Atmaja, Dwi S. 1997. Defenders of Reason In Islam: Mu'tazilism and Rational Theology from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. Oneworld Oxford. Preface. ISBN 978-1851681471

Who is responsible for your acts?

Summary of pages (12 -13) from the book [1]

The Mutazila did not make God as the cause of all that happens in the universe. Humans are responsible for their own acts.

The Mu'tazila further claimed that this constantly created reality behaves according to known patterns of events or "nature" ('ada) on which human reasoning about the world is based.[1]

Sometimes, God allows Miracles to be perform by Prophets. According to them, this is the only exception to the rule. False Prophets do no perform real miracles because that would sabotage human rationality.

The Mutazila were faithful to the Islamic faith. They believe that reason can demonstrate the existence of God and that the revelation is advantageous to human rationality.

The biggest opposition to the Mutazilah came from the Hanbalite Sunnis (follower of Sunni Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal).

The term Sunni or Sunnah wal-Jamaah came from two groups of traditional Muslim groups; the people of the Sunnah (ahl al-Sunnah) and the community (wa l-Jama'a).

from which the term "Sunni" is derived. 'Traditionalist (Hanbali) and rationalist (Mu'tazili) religious leaders also belonged to this broad and dynamic Sunni majority (though some Mu'tazili mutakallimun leaned toward Imami and Zaydi Shi'i political theologies). [1]

Reference
[1] Martin, Richard C, Woodward, Mark R and Atmaja, Dwi S. 1997. Defenders of Reason In Islam: Mu'tazilism and Rational Theology from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. Oneworld Oxford. Preface. ISBN 978-1851681471

Mu'tazilah Scholarship

I am on page ten of the Mutazilah book [1]. I am summarizing key points from the book. Please read the book if you are interested to find out more about them.

The Sunnis since the ninth century have stopped recognizing the Mutazilah sect (madhab). And in my last post we saw how the Zaydis and the Shias treat the Mutazilah scholarship.

The authors then compared the Mutazilah with Western Philosophies/Philosophers of the 17th and 18th century. I am not going to reproduce anything about the western scholarship here because my goal is, if possible, to just write about Mu'tazilah thoughts/thinking/Philosophy as it was known back in the 8th, 9th and 10th century.

The Mutazili believe that God operate only with rational laws and that God would not deceive HIS creatures by creating an irrational universe. The Mutazili from Basra came out against Sufis and some Sunnis who believes in miracle stories and extraordinary signs about their saints and ancestors.

The Mutazili restrict miracles of the messenger of God only pertaining to those dealing with the claimant (of prophet hood).

Abd al-Jabbar belonged to the Basra madhhab of the Mu'tazila. They adopted what the authors termed as 'a metaphysics of atomistic occasionalism'. I don't even know what this means, so I am going to quote the authors

the Basra Mu'tazila held that physical reality is composed of basic physical entities or atoms (singular jawhar) and attributes (singular 'arad) that give beings their shape, color, and other distinguishing qualities. God creates the world in each instant by creating atoms and attributes that inhere in the physical substrates that atoms form; creation is thus a continual divine activity.

Reference
[1] Martin, Richard C, Woodward, Mark R and Atmaja, Dwi S. 1997. Defenders of Reason In Islam: Mu'tazilism and Rational Theology from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. Oneworld Oxford. Preface. ISBN 978-1851681471

My blog is changing in completely unexpected ways

I don't think I will be able to write anything about Alawi any time sooner. I am not finding good sources. Most historical information about them are conflicting. I'll only have something interesting to post if I find more information about their doctrine. Otherwise, I just have to move on. I've placed the sect label to the side with other sects.

I am also not posting much about Ismailis. I need to look for something interesting about them to post.

After Mu'tazilah, I am thinking about reading the Batini teaching and the Qaramite sect. I haven't discuss much about them.

On the Sunni front, I really wish I could return back to reading the following paper http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2011/11/two-opposing-doctrines-of-faith-in.html

So, far I've managed to introduce over 30 sects. My original plan was to first look into sects like Shia, Ismailis, Zaydi, Ghulat and Sunni. I've expanded my plan to include more sects including the extinct sects. Just because they are gone, doesn't mean we don't need to know about them.

And I've definitely not been doing anything on the obscure sects.

Feedback from a Reader

One of my readers commented (through email) that she finds it interesting that I am now reading and doing a piece about Mu'tazilah. According to her, many non-Muslims are not even aware that there is/was a rationalist group among the Muslims. She used the term monolithic to describe the non-Muslim perceptions about Islam/Muslim community.

I agree with her. Based on my experience, non-Muslim sometimes are not aware of the divisions within the Muslim community. And even if they know about the divisions (Shia/Sunni), they do not understand the causes of it or the theological differences.

I thank her for her comments.