Dr M Aamer Sarfraz traces the history of the Mu'tazila, a strain of rationalist thinking in Islamic thought that has found itself in grave danger over the centuries
I met Mr. Javed Ghamidi in the winter of 2008. He asked me to form a think-tank to find solutions for the challenges we face and write papers to be shared with relevant stakeholders. He was concerned about the rise of radical Islam and wanted to develop an alternative narrative, as it could not be fought with guns or by “winning hearts & minds”. I, in turn, proposed writing a compact book in English about Islam because of its foremost need in the West. Both of us agreed about the requisites in principle but lamented the lack of time and resources. I offered to write the book with him but he asked me instead to help translate one of his books. I looked at the book and advised that the translation would neither fulfill his aims nor address the need I had identified. Six years later, both of us live abroad and seek others to supply those answers.
Twelve centuries ago, there were others who tried to provide some other answers. This was a time when politics was tearing Islam from inside and others (non-Muslim intellectuals & philosophers) were assaulting it from outside. As a response to this, intellectual activity as a whole developed rapidly among Muslims, especially those at the centers of learning from Medina to Basra. It was probably the ripple effect, which made Wasil Bin Atta (d.748 CE) publically withdraw from the theological establishment and take an independent position on the nature of faith while distancing himself from political disputes of the time. Atta established his own school called the Mu’tazila (those who withdrew) - “The People of the Unity of Allah and of Justice”. He asserted that intellect (rationality) was the principal mode to know God, understand faith and interpret revelation. This was unchartered territory in those days as faith and rationality are two ideologies that exist in varying degrees of conflict or compatibility.
Basra, the seat of the Mu'tazila school of thought
[quote]Unfortunately, the rationalists ignored their own teaching of free will and persecuted the traditionalists[/quote]
The Mu’tazila School believed in qadariya (man’s free will & free act) as opposed to jabbariya (predestination/fate). They considered Justice as the most valued essence of God and believed that He cannot ordain evil or act in an arbitrary manner. Therefore, humans do evil out of their own free will & desire and are responsible for facing divine justice accordingly. Mu’tazila believed in absolute Unity of God and rejected all forms of shirk or polytheism and did not recognize attributes of God, whether 41 or 99. They made extensive use of rationality and opined that Reason provides answers to religious problems. However, they also stressed that reason alone is not sufficiently powerful to know everything and humans need Revelation to guide them. They considered those who commit a major sin to occupy a position between a mu’min & kafir and felt that a lighter torment awaited them between Heaven and Hell. They also believed that only a combination of faith and good deeds guarantees entry to Heaven. Therefore, one must proactively command good and prohibit evil.
A book on the Mu'tazila indicating a revival of interest in this strain of Islamic thought
Mu’tazila (the rationalists) became increasingly popular due to their righteous character, ability to uncover sensible solutions to complex social & religious issues and win arguments simultaneously against the traditionalists and the philosophers. This influence spread till Basra and a few of them inclined towards the Shiite system of belief set up base in Baghdad under Bishar ibn al-Mu’tamir. The Baghdad (Imami) School grew closer to the Abbasids including al- Ma’mun, and the rationalist creed prevailed throughout the kingdom. Unfortunately, the rationalists ignored their own teaching of free will and persecuted (the minha) the traditionalists, including Ahmad bin Hanbal (d.855 CE) who did not agree with the rationalist theology (kalam). Since this happened at the state level, it started causing resentment in the public which began to simmer.
Abu l-Hasan al-Ash’ari (d.935 CE) studied at the Mu’tazila School in Basra. He was a senior and eminent pupil until he suddenly clashed with his teacher over the doctrine of free will and left the school. He set up his own Ash’ari School subsequently where rationalist methods of Mu’tazila were used to defend orthodox notions like eternal Quran and severe limits of human reason to understand divine will.
The political situation had changed adversely by the time Caliph, al-Mutawakkil (d. 847 CE), took over. The Ash’ari belief in predestination, that everything happens as a result of “God’s will”, was music to the ears of the politically manipulative Caliph, who used this doctrine as a way of coercing the people to accept their ruler – whether just or unjust, kind or oppressive. After all, his rule was part of “God’s will” and therefore beyond contention. He adopted Ash’ari creed after condemning the Mu’tazila for all known problems in the kingdom and hunted them down mercilessly.
[quote]Mu'tazili kalam remained dead & buried for 800 years that saw a steady decline of global Muslim power[/quote]
The Ash’ari creed soon took over all aspects of the social, political and religious outlook at the state level and has continued to dominate to this day. Along the way, bright minds like al–Ghazali (d.1111 CE) and Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328 CE) appeared but only to annihilate rationalist theology by contending that there was no role or ability for man to understand Allah; man’s sole response was to obey shari’a, making any use of rational faculties irrelevant. Even ibn Khuldoon (d. 1406 CE) said that there was no reason to study kalam because it was dead. Mu’tazila were persecuted relentlessly – lives taken, properties confiscated and books burnt. We only came to know of them indirectly, through their opponents’ propaganda literature. Their teachings and academic achievements were systematically twisted and destroyed. They were made to appear as heretic philosophers who held that reason is more fundamental than revelation and is to be preferred to revelation.
Mu’tazili kalam remained apparently dead & buried for 800 years that saw a steady decline of global Muslim political, scientific and financial power. Towards the end of the 19th century, there was a desperate feeling among the Muslims that the future of Islam as a religion was at stake due to various conspiracies including the emergence of fake prophets. Without any coordination, Syed Ahmad Khan (India), Muhammad Abduh (Egypt) and Jamal-udin Afghani (Afghanistan) rose to show the way forward by resurrecting the role of rationality in religious matters. Ahmad Amin (Egypt) came with the next wave and Allama Iqbal shared these ideals as he reached similar conclusions during his studies in Europe. This Mu’tazili revival had limited but significant success, despite strong opposition from the religious establishment who declared all of them kafir one by one. Around the same time, works of Qazi Abd al-Jabbar, the last great theologian of the Mu’tazila School in Basra, were discovered. These were brought over, by the Mu’tazila who fled from persecution several centuries ago, to remote areas of Yemen and were being taught part of kalam in some Shiite schools.
Aslam Jairajpuri, one of the finest Islamic scholars of the 20th Century
Parwez is arguably one of the foremost Islamic scholars of the last millennium
Aslam Jairajpuri, a Professor of Arabic & Islamic Studies at Aligarh University, was probably the finest Islamic scholar/teacher of the 20th Century. Because of his traditional Islamic grounding, he was most suited to argue the Mu’tazili doctrine without offending anyone. He was a close friend of Allama Iqbal and both of them inspired G. A. Parwez to devote his life to the study, interpretation & teaching of the Quran. According to unbiased academics, for the volume & quality of his single-handed work, Parwez is arguably one of the foremost Islamic scholars of the last millennium. Unfortunately, his work has no copyrights (donated for the propagation of the Quran) and is not as widely available in English as that of other Mu’tazila inspired scholars Fazalur Rahman and Harun Nasution (Indonesia). All three were highly educated and familiar with modern philosophy and science. All suffered terrible persecution; Fazalur Rahman had to leave Pakistan in 1961 and spent the rest of his life teaching and writing in the USA. But due to their works, Mu’tazili theology was revived and is flourishing around the world despite having no eminent scholar to lead.
Islam is not a religion in the traditional sense; it is a deen – a way of life. Therefore, most Muslims would ideally like to live in such a manner that all aspects of their social, political and religious lives are governed by it without compromising a modern outlook. This challenge has always thrown up two simplistic solutions – secular (most western countries) or theocratic (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel) form of government. Pakistan as conceived by Jinnah & Iqbal was supposed to be different – a modern democratic sate with guiding principles of the State of Medina where all stakeholders were equal irrespective of their religious background. This back to basics (Quranic) concept & approach never saw the light of the day because Jinnah died prematurely and those who had opposed the creation of Pakistan arrived here in droves to demand that their version of Islam be implemented. The State was unable to cope with these elements, which has gradually resulted in a fundamental loss of direction eventually giving rise to a radical & irrational religious uprising in one part of the country and the ongoing confusion in the rest.
Where we stand today, glimpses of Spanish & Abbasid glory flicker in the distance. There is no point in bemoaning the Mu’tazila’s loss, or wondering what would have happened if only al-Ghazali and his ilk had been defeated. If only Ibn Rushd had prevailed. Desperate times are calling for desperate measures in Pakistan! Let us try and keep it simple just for a decade or two to recover some of the lost ground. A quick look around the Islamic world can easily inform us that Turkey, Malaysia and the UAE are doing consistently well. If we look deeper, we will find that (relative) religious freedom, tolerance and the rule of law are at work. This is exactly the remedy our doctor (Jinnah) had prescribed: “You are free…free to go to your temples…. must have unity, faith and discipline”. Why can’t we do just that? No genius, messiah, new thinking, debate or fancy footwork is required; just go ahead and implement honestly what we have in the constitution with the full might of the state. It is, actually, that simple.
The writer is a consultant psychiatrist & senior research fellow in London
