Neo-Mu'tazilites

Neo-Mu'tazilites (Arabic: المعتزلة الجدد) are modern Muslim thinkers and intellectuals inspired by the principles of the classical Mu'tazilite school of theology, which flourished in Basra and Baghdad during the 8th to 10th centuries CE. This movement, known as "Neo-Mu'tazilism", stands in relation to the "renaissance" (Nahda) of the Arab world and to modern Islamic reformism, which opposes Islamic conservatism, taqlid of the earlier generations, and fatalism.[1] Neo-Mu'tazilites emphasise the possibility of freedom in the face of divine omnipotence and rational notions of good and evil.[2]

Like their classical predecessors, Neo-Mu'tazilites emphasize the use of reason ('aql) in interpreting Islamic scripture. Neo-Mu'tazilite understanding of Islamic scripture has included de-emphasising the authoritative value of Islamic tradition, questioning much of the corpus of Hadith as either apocryphal or relevant only to prophet Muhammad's day and age, rejecting the validity of ijma (consensus), and broadening the horizon of ijtihad (independent reasoning).[3][4][5][6][7] Neo-Mu'tazilites also uphold the core historical Mu'tazilite tenet that the Qur'an is God's "created" word.[8][9][10]

In the modern period, Neo-Mu'tazilism has developed in various regions, such as in the Maghreb, Turkey, Iran, France, India, and Indonesia.[5][11][12][13][14][15] Neo-Mu'tazilites form the main composites of the Indo-Pakistan Muslim society today, alongside Barelvis, Deobandis, and Ahl al-Hadith.[16]

Notable individuals

Notable neo-Mu'tazilites have included Syed Ahmad Khan (d. 1898 CE).[5] Syed's reformist program included a rationalist, neo-Mu'tazilite understanding of Islamic scripture, questioning much of the corpus of Hadith as either apocryphal or relevant only to prophet Muhammad's day and age, rejecting the validity of ijma (consensus), broadening the horizon of ijtihad (independent reasoning), and interpreting Biblical scripture from a sympathetic Muslim point of view (see Muslim Hebraism).[5]

Other notable neo-Mu'tazilites have included Ahmad Amin (d. 1954 CE), Harun Nasution (d. 1998 CE), Fazlur Rahman Malik (d. 1988 CE), Abdolkarim Soroush (b. 1945 CE), Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari (b. 1936 CE), Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari (b. 1949 CE), Mohsen Kadivar (b. 1959 CE), and Mostafa Malekian (b. 1956 CE).[17][15][18][13]

References

  1. ^ Neuwirth, Angelika; Pflitsch, Andreas (1998). Crisis and Memory in Islamic Societies: Proceedings of the Third Summer Academy of the Working Group Modernity and Islam Held at the Orient Institute of the German Oriental Society in Beirut. Ergon Verlag in Kommission. ISBN 978-3-515-07510-7.
  2. ^ Research in African Literatures. African and Afro-American Studies and Research Center, University of Texas [at Austin]. 1992.
  3. ^ Moussa, Mohammed (29 June 2015). "The Neo-Modernity of Soroush – Mohammed Moussa". Critical Muslim. Retrieved 26 January 2026.
  4. ^ "Religions | Free Full-Text | Aḥmad Amīn's Rationalist Approach to the Qur'ān and Sunnah". Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Sayyid Ahmad Khan". mrmo.org.
  6. ^ "The new Shi'i thinkers | Cairn.info". shs.cairn.info.
  7. ^ "Le néo mutazilisme". France Culture (in French). 13 October 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2026.
  8. ^ "Dr. Soroush". www.drsoroush.com. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  9. ^ Abdullah Saeed. The Qur'an: an introduction. 2008, page 203
  10. ^ Kadri, Sadakat (2012). Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia to the Streets of the Modern Muslim World. macmillan. p. 77. ISBN 9780099523277. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  11. ^ Byrd, Anthony Robert (27 November 2007). A Euro-American 'Ulama? Mu 'tazilism, (Post)Modernity, and Minority Islam. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  12. ^ Van Ess, Joseph (2005). Jones, Lindsay (ed.). Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 9 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillian Reference USA. p. 6322.
  13. ^ a b "The new Shi'i thinkers | Cairn.info". Archived from the original on 7 February 2026. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  14. ^ "Mutazilisme". mutazilisme.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  15. ^ a b Harun Nasution, "The Mu'tazila and Rational Philosophy' translated in Defenders of Reason in Islam by Martin et al., pp.191-92.
  16. ^ Muztar, A. D. (1979). Shah Wali Allah: A Saint-scholar of Muslim India. National Commission on Historical and Cultural Research.
  17. ^ Islamic Studies. Islamic Research Institute. 1976.
  18. ^ "(PDF) From Modernism to Neo-Modernism: A Religio-Political Context of Muhammad Abduh and Fazlur Rahman".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.