The Mu`tazila ("Seceders") and the Mutakallimūn ("Rationalist Theologians").

IN PROGRESS 2008-9


Stephen Lambden (UC-Merced).

 

The  Mu`tazila ("Seceders")  and the Mutakallimūn ("Rationalist  theologians"): Muslim exponents  of `ilm al‑kalam  (`Dogmatic Theology’),.

             Kalam (= speech, word, debate, apologetics, theology) is fundamentally the determining and consolidation of the religious parameters of faith as rooted in the Q.  The early growth of kalām  owed a good deal to the debate with Christian theologians and apologists at Damascus, Baghdad and elsewhere. The founder of the Mu`tazila religious  movement which in one form or another lasted for in excess of 500 years,  was Wāṣil b. `Aṭā (d. 131/748), a one time disciple of Ḥasan al‑Baṣrī. It was the early Mu`tazilah who systematized the `ilm al‑kalam.  Among them persons from Baṣrā and Baghdad, including Ḍirār b. Amr (d. 200/ 915) , Abū al‑Ḥudhayl al‑`Allaf (d.ADD/949);  al‑Naẓẓām (d. 221/836); al‑Jaiz (d. XXX/ 872) Bishr ibn al‑Mu`tamir (d. XXX/825) Abū Mūsā al‑Mirdar (d. XXX/841) and Thumāmah ibn al‑Ashras (d. Xxx /828). Though variously understood the foregoing  are believed to have championed five basic affirmations: 

[1] al‑tawīd (the Divine Unity)

[2] al‑`adl (Divine Justice)

[3] the promise and the threat (al‑wa`d wa’l‑wa` īd) 

[4] the "neutral" position of the sinner (al‑manzil ahatayn) and

[5] the"commanding of good and the forbidding of evil"  (Anawati, Kalam EIr. 8:235).

 ____________________

 

 

van Ess, J.:

  • art. "Mu'tazilah," in: The Encyclopedia of Religion, New York: Macmillan, and London: Collicr-Macmillan, 1986, vii: 220 9.

Obermann, Julian.

  • "Political Theology in Early Islam: Hasan al-Başris Treatise on Qadar." Journal of the American Oriental Society 55 (1935), 138-62.

Salisbury, Edward E.

  • "Materials for the History of the Muhammadan Doctrine of Predestination and Free Will: Compiled from Original Sources." Journal of the Amercian Oriental Society 8 (1866), 105-82.

Camilla Adang, David Sklare, and Sabine Schmidtke. eds.

  • A Common Rationality: Mu'tazilism in Islam and Judaism. Proceedings of the First Conference of the Mu'tazilite Manuscripts Group (Istanbuler Texte und Studien). Würzburg: Ergon, 2007.

Gimaret, D.

  • La doctrine d'al-Ash'ari (The Doctrine of al-Ash'ari), Paris: Éditions du Cerf. 1996.
  • 'Mu'tazila', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Vol. VII, fasc. 127-8: 783-93. 1992.

Mourad, Soleiman A.

  • Ibn al-Khallāl al-Basrī (d. after 377/988) and His Śuvre on the Problematic Verses of the Qur'ān Kitāb al-Radd 'alā al-jabriyya al-qadariyya (Refutation of the Predestinarian Compulsionists). In A Common Rationality: Mu'tazilism in Islam and Judaism. Proceedings of the First Conference of the Mu'tazilite Manuscripts Group (Istanbuler Texte und Studien). Ed. Camilla Adang, David Sklare, and Sabine Schmidtke. Würzburg: Ergon, 2007. Pp. 81-99.

 

Wāṣil b. `Aṭā al-Ghazzal also called Abu Hudhayfah (c. XXX/700 - d. 131/748).

 واصل بن عطاء

An early Muslim theologian who studied under Abu Hashim Abd-Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya the son of  Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 40/661) and later in Basra under Hasan al-Basri (d.        ). Certain of his ideas contributed to evolution of Mu`tazilite doctrine. .

 Al‑Jubbā’ī (d.303/933)

  Abū al‑Ḥasan al‑`Ash`arī (ADD/ADD) was a one time disciple of the leading Mu`tazali  of Baṣrā al‑Jubbā’ī who came to favour a literalist traditionalism of Ibn Ḥanbal (ADD/ADD) which he ultimately went beyond holding a concilatory position between Mu`tazilī viewpoints and those who championed conflicting or opposite theological opinions (see Anawatī’s diagrammatic synopsis in ibid, EIr. 8:237). Al‑MāturīdI (d. Xxx/965) was an important follower of al‑Ash`arī though he differed with him in some respects.

The Mu`tazilites and Shī`ī Islam.

            The basic Mu`tazilite theological theses were accepted by various non‑Sunnī  Muslim factions. They have been  perpetuated in various ways by Shī`ī groups from the 3/9th century , including the Zaydīs and those groups that later became the Twelvers. This, for example, through the family of Abū Sahl al‑Nawbakhtī (d. 311/924)  and the disciple of Ibn Bābūya known as al‑Shaykh al‑Mufīd (d.413/1022). Such is evident, for example, in the Qur’ān commentaries of al‑Ṭūsī (d.559/1067) and Tabarsī [Tabrīzī] (d.548/1155) (Gimaret, EI2:786). 

 al‑Qāḍī Abū’l‑Ḥasan b. Amad al‑Hamadānī (d. 41?/ 1035)

        The Shāfi` ī jurist and Mu`tazilite theologian al‑Qāḍī Abu’l‑Ḥasan b. Amad al‑Hamadānī (d. 41?/ 1035) known as `Abd al‑Jabbār wrote in 385/995 a work establishing the prophethood of Muhammad, the Tathbīt dalā’il al‑nubuwwa nabiyyinā Muhammad  as well as other important theological works and a refutation of Christianity (Stern EI21:59‑60; Anawatī, ERel. 1:3‑4).

Pines, Stern and others have discussed whether this work reflects the influence of possibly pre‑Islamic, Judaeo‑Christian materials.  The section of Christians includes polemic against the three main Christian factions, Jacobites, Nestorians and Orthodox. The position of Paul is that of a manipulator of the primitive ecclesia who was crucified horizontally. Jesus was not God’s Son neither was he crucified. In this work Abd al‑ Jabbār has it that the original Gospel given to Jesus is no longer in the possession  of Christians. Similar agruments were made Ibn Hazm in his Al‑Fi®al fi’l‑milal.. `The Bahā’ ī leader Abd al‑Bahā’ also held to a form of this belief when he stated in one of his numerous alwā  that the lost original Gospel was in Hebrew. The Gospel as cited here by `Abd al‑Jabbār  reckons that Jesus’ childhood sojurn in Egypt lasted for twelve years (Pines, 1966 [Jewish Christians] 51; cf. Idem, 1967:190). ADD : Reynolds analysis in his : Gabriel Said, A Muslim Theologian in the Sectarian milieu, `Abd al-Jabbār and the Crituque of Christian Origins. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2004.

 

 

 

 

`Abd al-Jabbār al-Hamadhānī

=  al-Qaḍī  `Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Ahmad `Abd al-Jabbār Asadābādī ( 386-415 AH = c. 935 = 1024 CE).

Major late Mu`tazilite theologian See Sezgin 1:624-626. .

  • al-Mughnī fi abwāb al-tawḥīd wa'l-`adl. 14 vols. ed. Taha Husayn, Cairo: Dar al-Misriyya li'l-Ta'lif wa'l-Tarjama. 1958-1965.
  • al-Mughnī fi abwāb al-tawḥīd wa'l-`adl. XX vols. Cairo: al-Mu`assa al-Miṣriyya al-`Āmma li'-Kitāb. [Cairo]  n.d.  *
  •  al-Mughnī fi abwāb al-tawḥīd wa'l-`adl. 14 vols. in 16, Cairo: Wizarat al-Thaqāfa wa'l-Irshād al-Qawmi, al-Idara al-֊'Amma lil-Thaqāfa, 1960.

  • Vol. XVI =  I'jaz al-Qur'an.
  • Vol. VI Pt. II (ed. Georges Anawati).
  • Vol. VIII (ed. Tawfīq al-Ta`wil and Sa'īd Zāyid).
  • al-Mughnī fi abwāb al-tawḥīd wa'l-`adl.  Cairo: Dar al-kutub, 1370/1960. Rep.  c. 2000??  Introd.  Ibrahim al-Abyārī + Ibrahim Madkur, et. al.  ed. Muhammad `Ali Najjār / `Abd al-Halim Najjār  /  Ṭāhā Ḥusayn. 16 vols.*
  • Sharh al-usul al-khamsa bi-ta'lîq al-imam Ahmad b. al-Husayn b. Abi Hăshim. ed. 'Abd al-Karim 'Uthmān. Cairo: Maktabat Wihba, 1965. : "This work is by 'Abd al֊ Jabbār's Zaydite student Manākdim" so Mourad 2006: 313)
  • Sharh al-Usul al-Khamsa. ed. ADD Dar al-Ihya' a;-Turath al-`Arabi, 1422/2001 (567pp.).*
  • Mutashābih al-Qur'ān. ed. 'Andan M. Zarzũr. Cairo: Dar al-Turāth, 1969.
  • al-Muhit fi al-taklif li-Ibn Mutawiyya
  • Tathbit Dala'il al-nubuwwa Sayyidna Muhammad.
  • Risalah fi `ilm al-kimiya'.
  • Nizam al-qawa'id wa taqrib al-murad lil-murā'id
  • Masala fi'l-Ghayb.
  • Fadl al-i'tizāl wa-ţabaqat al-mu'tazila. Ed. Fuad Sayyid. Tunis: al-Dār al-Tũnisĩya, 1974. 137-350
  • Firaq wa-tabaqăt al-mu'tazila. Ed. Alî S. al-Nashshăr and 'īsām al-Dīn M. 'Alî. Cairo: Dar al-Matbũat al-Jămi'ĩya, 1972. This edition is a reproduction of Ibn al- Murtadā's Tabaqăt al-Mu'tazila, seemingly a piracy of the edition of Susanna Diwald- Wilzer (Beirut: The Catholic Press, 1961).
  • Al-Mukhtasarfě usűl ai-din. in Rasati al- 'adi wa-l-tawhid. Ed. Muhammad 'imâra. Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 1988.1, 161-253
  • Tanzĩh al-quran 'an ai-mata in. Beirut: Dar al-Nahda al-Hadītha, n.d.

Pines, Shlomo.

  • The Jewish Christians of the Early Centuries of Christianity According to a New Source, in: Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Volume II No. 13, Jerusalem 1966,1-74.

  •  "Israel, my Firstborn" and the Sonship of Jesus. A Theme of Moslem Anti-Christian Polemics, in: Studies in Mysticism and Religion Presented to Gershom G. Scholem, Jerusalem 1967,177-190.

  • Judaeo-Christian Materials in an Arabic Jewish Treatise, in: Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, vol. XXXV, 1967, New York City 1967, 187-217.

  • "Gospel Quotations and Cognate Topics in 'Abd al-Jabbar's Tathbīt  in Relation to Early Christian and Judaeo-Christian Readings and Traditions." Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 9 (1987): 195-278.

  • Gospel Quotations and Cognate Topics in 'Abd al֊Jabbar' s Tathbîtěn. Relation to Early Christian and Judaeo-Christian Readings and Traditions, in: JSAIS (1987), 195-278.
     

Reynolds, Gabriel Said,

  • A Muslim Theologian in the Sectarian milieu, `Abd al-Jabbār and the Crituque of Christian Origins. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2004.
  • Jesus, the Qa'im and the End of the World.
  • Saint Thomas' Islamic Challenges...

 

`Abd al-Ḥamīd al‑Ghazālī (d. 505/1111).

            It has recently been reiterated that good arguments have justifiably put forward for  regarding `Abd al-Ḥamīd al‑Ghazālī (d. 505/1111) who combined  kalām ("theology" ) and Sufism as the "most influential Muslim teacher after the Prophet Muhammad" (Elmore,1999:3). His renowned I `ulūm al‑Dīn (Revival of Religious Sciences) ADD

 Sa`d b. Manṣūr Ibn Kammūna (d. 7th/13 cent.)

           A great religious tolerance is evidenced in the important essay of the Jewish oculist and philosopher Sa`d b. Manṣūr Ibn Kammūna (d. 7th/13 cent.) entitled Tanqī al‑abāth li’l‑milal al‑thālath   (An Examination of Enquiries into the Three Religious Communities) written in Baghdad in  679 /1280. 

 

Fakhr al‑Dīn al‑Razī (d. 606/1209 ).

al-Rāzī = Muhammad ibn `Umar, Abū  al-Su`ud Muhammad ibn, Muhammad Fakhr al-Dīn (d. 606/1209 )

G. C. Anawati, 'Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī' EI2 vol. 2:751-5

  تفسير مفاتيح الغيب ، التفسير الكبير  

  • Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb al-mushtahir bi'l-Tafsīr al-kabīr.   8 vols. Istanbul:  Dār-al-Tab`ah al-Amīra,  XXXX /1890.
  • al-Tafsīr al-kabir (The Extensive Commentary ) [= Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb "Keys to the Unseen" ) 32 vols. Cairo: al-Matba'ah al-Bahlyah al-Misriyya, n.d.
  • al-Tafsīr al-kabīr. 32 vols. Cairo: al-Maţba'ah al֊ Bahlyah al-Mişrîyah, n.d.
    al-Tafsīr al-kabīr (= Mafātīh al-Ghayb), ed. Muhammad Muḥyī al-Dīn `Abd al-Ḥamīd, 32 vols, in 16, Cairo 1352/1933.
  •  Beirut 1981
  • al-Tafsīr al-kablr (Mafātīh al-ghayb). 32 vols. Beirut:  Dār al-fī kr, 1981.
     
  • al-Tafsīr al-kabir (The Extensive Commentary), Beirut:  Dār al-Kutub al-`Ilmiyya,, 32 vols in 16. XXXX/1990,
  • al-Tafsīr al-kabir (The Extensive Commentary), (3rd printing) Beirut:  Dār al-Ihya al-Turath al-`Arabi, 32 vols in 16. n.d. *
  •  Tafsīr-i kabir-i Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, Persian trans.  `Ali  Asghar Ḥalabi,  Tehran : Intishārāt-i Aṣāṭīr , 1371/XXX. / vol. 4 1378/ 1999. only*

al-Risālat al-Kamaliyya

  • al-Risālat al-Kamāliyya fi'l-ḥaqā'iq al-ilāhiyya. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-`Ilmiyya, 1324/2002.  (97pp. + Mulla Sadra's  Kitab al-Masha'ir = pp.99-142+ index pp.143-4).

 

General Articles

Jane Dammen McAuliffe.

  • 1990 `Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī on āyat-jizyah and āyat al-sayf’ in M. Gevers, ed. 1990, 103-118.*
  • "Fakhr al-Din al-Razi on God as al-khaliq." God and Creation: An Ecumenical Symposium. Ed. D. Burrell and B. McGinn. Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press, 1990.

Nader, A.N.

  • Le systčme philosophique des Mu'tazila (The Philosophical System of the Mu'tazila), 2nd edn, Beirut: Dar el-Machreq.1984.  Rep. 1st ed. 1956?).
  • Fakhr Al-Din Al-Razi's Methodology in Interpreting the Qur'an. Global Academic Pub., 2002 ISBN = 1586841793

 

 

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Kalam in the writings of the Bab

            It is interesting to note at one point that in his Persian Bayān the Bāb, who was often very dismissive of centuries of Muslim learning, introduced section IV:10 of this book as follows: "It is not permissible to instruct in books aside from the Bayān unless, that is,  they are informed by `ilm al‑kalām  (theological knowledge) (131).  The Bāb evidently had some sympathy with the Muslim theological tradition of kalām.  For the Bāb this has to do with divining the murad Allāh  (The divine intention)(131). The kalām  of one who has accomplished this is as the kalām Allāh, the Word of God himself. In this part of the Bayān the Bāb does strongly interdict the pointless study of al‑manṭīq  (Logic), (Sh ī` ī), Uūl  (al‑Dīn, `Foundational  religious doctrine’) and much else besides that is unprofitable for faith.