277
See also: Defining the indefinable 184–85 ■ The pathway to harmonious living 272–75 ■ The unity of divinity is
necessary 280–81
ISLAM
had encouraged the development
of scholarship and the arts in
the Islamic world, and Arabic
translations of works by Greek
philosophers, such as Aristotle,
became available to Muslim
theologians. Some of these scholars
applied the new Greek ways
of thinking to the content of the
Qur’an. They formed a group called
the Mu‘tazilites, which became
a prominent force in Islamic
theology in the 9th century.
Radical thinkers
The Mu‘tazilites were inspired by
the idea that Greek philosophical
methods could be used to resolve
apparent contradictions in the
Qur’an. The Qur’an stresses the
unity of God—he is indivisible,
and so cannot have any kind of
body, made up of parts, as humans
have. Yet there are passages in
the Qur’an that specifically refer,
for example, to God’s hands and
eyes. To take descriptions such
as these literally would lead to
anthropomorphism (attributing
human characteristics to God)
and might be seen as comparing
God with the beings he created,
which was the greatest sin. The
Mu‘tazilites proposed that such
references are metaphorical. So, for
example, a reference to God’s hand
could be interpreted as indicating
his power. They then applied Greek
logic to other theological issues,
such as free will, predestination,
and determining the nature of
the Qur’an itself—whether it had
existed eternally, or had been
created by God at some point.
Before long, however, the
wide-ranging speculation of
the Mu‘tazilites began to attract
censure and turn public opinion
against them. Theological and
philosophical speculation about
God is permissible and indeed
important to Islamic thought, but
seeking answers to questions not
specifically addressed by the Qur’an
or Muhammad is, according to
Islam, not only unnecessary, but also
a sin—bid‘ah, the sin of innovation.
One Mu‘tazilite thinker,
al-Ash‘ari, refused to reduce the
Qur’an’s descriptions of God to
metaphors, but he also refused
to anthropomorphize God. Instead,he asserted that God might be
described as having hands without
Muslims knowing how this might
be possible. Al-Ash‘ari and his
group of fellow-thinkers, known
as the Ash‘arites, left the words
of the Qur’an intact, but also kept
theological thinking about God
pure, by refraining from speaking
about him in human terms, since
God is beyond comprehension. ■Islamic scholars are free to think
about God and reflect on aspects of
who he is and what he does, but they
must never expect to understand his
nature or his actions.God...is unlike whatever
occurs to the mind or is
pictured in the imagination...
‘Ali al-Ash‘ariAbu al-Hasan
al-Ash‘ariAbu al-Hasan al-Ash‘ari
was born in around 873 CE
in Basra, in present-day Iraq.
He is credited with much of
the development of kalam (the
science of discourse on divine
topics), and taught many of
Islam’s greatest scholars.
Through his thinking and the
work of his pupils, Ash‘arite
theology became the dominant
school of theology for orthodox
Muslims. He remained aMu‘tazilite theologian until the
age of 40, when he abandoned
much of Mu‘tazilite thought.
Some say this followed a
theological dispute with his
teacher, others that he realized
there were contradictions
between Islam and Mu‘tazilite
theology. He died in 935.Key works9th–10th century Theological
Opinions of the Muslims; The
Clarification of the Bases of
the Religion