Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh all Muslim friends, Mention the mu’tazilites comes from the story of its founder Wasil bin Atha who do not want to be involved in the conflict between the Khawarij namely people who are too rigid and easily disbelieve in fellow Muslims, with the Murji’ah namely people who are too tolerant and permissive of violations of Islamic law in the 8th century AD.
The term mu’tazilah means to separate. When finding incomprehensible differences between the Qur’an and hadith, the mu’tazilah prioritize reason, every problem they encounter is reasoned. Intellect is the judge who decides everything so that they get the title as Islamic Rationalists.
In the next period, the Mu’tazilite school mixed with Greek philosophy which also relied heavily on reason. By Salaf scholars later this mu’tazilah is said to be a deviant sect. In short, this mu’tazila school then developed rapidly to various regions and reached its peak when Caliph Al Makmun bin Al Rashid from Abbasid dynasty making it an official state school. Al Makmun was an avid lover of Greek philosophy.
During his leadership, the activity of translating foreign language books into Arabic reached its peak. In Baghdad he founded Bait Al Hikmah which became the center of the world’s libraries and translation agencies, but the most influential event in Al Makmun’s history is his controversial statement that the Qur’an is a creature. The scholars of historians know this event as Al Mihnah or slander khalqul Qur’anwhich began to emerge in 212 Hijri.
According to the mu’tazilah, the Quran is creatures or creations of Allah while according to the Ahlussunnah the Qur’an is the Word of Allah. This slander culminated when Al Makmun gave instructions to his advisors to gather the scholars to do a test or fit and proper test. What is their attitude towards this statement of Khalqul Qur’an.
Finally, under the threat of the sword of the caliph’s messenger, all scholars acknowledged that the Qur’an was a creature, except for two scholars, namely Muhammad Bin Nuh and Ahmad bin Hanbali. But on the way to Baghdad, Muhammad Bin Nuh died so that practically only Ahmad bin Hanbal remained.
When you almost reach Baghdad, qadarullah caliph Ma’mun died, then Ahmad bin Hanbal released the key. The next caliph, Al Mu’tashim, continued to adhere to the Mu’tazilite ideology and reacted very strongly against scholars who did not recognize the Qur’an as a creature. There are scholars who are tortured and killed by beheading them. At that time there was only 1 scholar who opposed it, namely Ahmad bin Hanbali who was then imprisoned, and tortured continuously for 2 years 4 months
The next caliph was Al Wasir who also believed in mu’tazilah, this caliph tended to be more lenient to scholars who opposed him, where they were only subject to house arrest.
Only then in the next caliph, namely Al Mutawakkil This understanding of the mu’tazilah was abolished, high-ranking state officials with this understanding were arrested and the caliphate returned to the understanding of Ahlussunnah.
Actually Why was the Mu’tazilites declared heretical at that time? that’s because the main rule of this understanding which reads
“Reason takes precedence over the Shari’a, the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and Ijma, and reason is the deciding word in all matters. If the Shari’a contradicts reason, then the Shari’a must be discarded (in takwil). (See the preface to the book of Al -Intishar Firraddi’alal Mu’tazilatil-Qadariyyah Al-Asyrar)
In addition, the mu’tazilah also denied the nature of Allah. refuse takbir, and deny the torment of the grave. Today, the idea of Mu’tazilah is trying to be re-appointed by liberal Muslims so that they dub themselves with the term Neo Mu’tazilah.
However, there are fundamental differences between the two. The mu’tazilah have never criticized and refuted the contents of the Qur’an, while the liberal Muslims have actually done so. Wallahu’alam Bissahwab
