man has the power to decide...

man has the power to decide, before embarking on any activity, to go ahead with it or abandon it. The believer is capable of turning into an unbeliever and vice versa. The godless is neither a believer nor an unbeliever. Reason, or intellect, is capable of distinguishing certain matters independent of any prior guidance from the sharia Law. When tradition goes contrary to reason, the latter should take precedence over tradition. The Holy Qur’an can be interpreted by way of intellection.

Social and political issues It is compulsory to uphold the duty of enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil, even if it requires taking to fighting with the sword. The succession to power of the Guided Caliphs in the order it took place is sound. Ali was more superior to those who preceded him to power. This view, however, is espoused by some Mu’tazilites. The majority of them, except Wasil bin Ata’, were of the opinion that Abu Bakr was more superior.

However, later generations maintain that Ali was more superior. It is permissible to criticise the [of the Prophet (s.a.w.)], study and analyse their works. Undertaking a comparative study of the political programmes of both [the Guided Caliphs] Omar and Ali. The above list is by no means exhaustive. In some of those issues, the Mu’tazilite views agree with those of the Ash’arites, the philosophers, the Shiites, the Kharijites and the Murj’ites.

It is to be noted, though, that the Mu’tazilites had never fallen under the influence of Greek thought, so much so that they had never espoused any of its philosophical heritage that was in vogue at the pinnacle of the Mu’tazilite ideological acumen. They even went further in writing books, refuting the claims of philosophers.

The struggle between speculative theologians (mutakalimeen) and philosophers benefited both the camps, in that the gulf between the two rivals was made very much narrower, in spite of the fact that there remained some issues, on which the two sides chose to differ. The process of change and history Naturally, these issues did not come to the fore at one go and were not advanced by a single person or a particular group.

They were propagated by several vanguards and espoused and developed steadily by others through the passage of time. Among those contentious issues was the question of compulsion and empowerment, or delegation, ( jabr and tafweedh ), which was the oldest. The Mu’tazilites adopted the principle of delegation.