Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the ...

122 Part 3: Islamic Philosophy in History
encyclopedia of the Persian theologian Qå∂¥ ‘Abd al-Jabbår, composed in
the fifth/eleventh century. Their school survived even longer in the Yemen,
where their teachings became adopted by the Zayd¥s of that land. 2
In the history of Islamic thought the Mu‘tazilites came to be
known for five principles or affirmations (al-u„¶l al-khamsah), which in
fact summarize their basic teachings. These are unity (al-taw÷¥d), justice
(al-‘adl), the promise and the threat (al-wa‘d wa˘l-wa‘¥d), in-between
position in relation to a Muslim who commits a sin (al-manzilah bayn
al-manzilatayn), and exhorting to perform the good and forbidding to
commit evil (al-amr bi˘l-ma‘r¶f wa˘l-nahy ‘an al-munkar).
The Mu‘tazilites possessed a rational concept of the unity of God,
and as a result they emphasized God’s transcendence in such a manner
as to reduce God almost to an abstract idea. In an atmosphere in
which a great deal of debate was taking place concerning the meaning
of God’s Attributes and Qualities as mentioned in the Quran, they
sought to avoid all possible anthropomorphism. As a result, they
claimed that man cannot understand the real meaning of such Divine
Attributes as Hearing or Seeing and that such Attributes have no reality
of their own. Rather, they are identical with the Divine Essence.
They also denied the possibility of knowledge of God’s Nature. In
denying any reality to Attributes, the Mu‘tazilites also denied the eternity
of the Quran as the Word of God. This view became their most
famous and contested thesis because of its sociopolitical implications.
The Mu‘tazilites also emphasized justice to the extent that they
became known as the “people of unity and justice.” Justice for them
meant that God, being All-Wise, must have a purpose in the creation
of the universe and that there is objective justice and good and evil in
God’s creation even if one puts aside the teachings of the Divine Law
(al-Shar¥‘ah) concerning good and evil. Because God is just and good
and cannot go against His Nature, He must always act for the best and
is just. Furthermore, God does not will evil. Rather, evil is created by
human beings, who have been given by God the freedom to act in
either a good or an evil manner. They are therefore responsible for
their actions and will be rewarded or punished by God accordingly.
The third principle, al-wa‘d wa˘l-wa‘¥d, which means literally
“promise and threat,” refers to the ultimate fate of various classes of
people, namely, the believers (mu˘min¶n), those who are nominally
Muslims but who have committed sin (fåsiq¶n) and those who are
unbelievers (kuffår). The Mu‘tazilites had a severe view of sin and
condemned both sinners and infidels to the punishment of hell. For
the Mu‘tazilites, faith (¥mån) was not only the assertion of the unity of