A Study of the Deviant Sects Claiming Affiliation with Islam

PART 1: The Mu‘tazilah ▪️History: The Mu‘tazilah sect was established in the late Umayyad period, in the second century AH, specifically in Basra. ▪️Founder: The true founder of this group is considered to be Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭāʾ. ▪️Origin: The story of the Mu‘tazilah began when Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭāʾ disagreed with his teacher, Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī, regarding the ruling on one who commits a major sin (such as theft, fornication, drinking wine, lying, backbiting, wearing amulets, etc.). While Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī held that such a person remains a sinful believer, Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭāʾ asserted that he occupies “a position between two positions”—that is, neither a believer nor a disbeliever. He then withdrew from the circle of Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī, and from this act of separation came the name Mu‘tazilah (“Those Who Withdraw”). ▪️Doctrines: The Mu‘tazilah adopted several distinctive views and concepts, the most prominent of which are: 📌 The Position Between Two Positions: Their stance on the grave sinner is that he is neither a believer nor an unbeliever, but occupies a position between the two, and that the one who commits a major sin will abide eternally in the Hellfire. 📌 Divine Justice: They held that Allāh is just and does not wrong people, and that human actions are created by humans themselves, for which they are fully responsible; Allāh, they claim, does not create human actions. 📌 Divine Unity (Tawḥīd): They affirmed for Allāh only seven attributes (knowledge, life, existence, will, hearing, sight, and speech), while negating the rest. They considered affirming additional attributes as anthropomorphism and corporealism, and they denied the possibility of seeing Allah in this world or the Hereafter. 📌 The Createdness of the Qur'ān: They held that the Qur'ān is created and originated, not an eternal attribute of Allāh. 📌 Preferring Reason over Revelation: They emphasised the centrality of reason in understanding religion and gave it precedence over textual evidence whenever a conflict appeared between the two. ▪️Prominent Scholars of the Mu‘tazilah: In addition to Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭāʾ, notable figures of this group include: ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd, Abū Al-Hudhayl Al-ʿAllāf, Abū Bakr Al-Aṣamm, Abūl-Qāsim Al-Kaʿbī, and Abūl-Ḥasan Ar-Rummānī. ▪️The Five Principles of Religion in Mu‘tazilah Thought: 1. Divine Unity (Tawḥīd) 2. Divine Justice 3. The Promise and the Threat 4. The Position Between Two Positions 5. Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil ▪️Influence of the Mu‘tazilah: The Mu‘tazilah played an important role in the history of Islamic thought, influencing many sciences and disciplines. They sparked widespread debates over numerous intellectual and theological issues, and their influence extended into political and social life during the Abbasid era, with traces of their thought persisting into the modern era. They are called Mu‘tazilah because, in their view, the one who commits a major sin is in an intermediate state between belief and disbelief, yet will be eternally consigned to Hellfire. They are a misguided and deviant sect in opposition to the Sunnah and the mainstream of the Muslim community. Source: https://t.me/abdelgniomry/15000