Is God in Islam Just and Rational as Mutazillah believed or Arbitrary and Despotic as Hanbali-Zahiri

A Story by New Age Islam

You consider Mutazillah “atheists of their time” who were “more wedded to philosophy than to the Quran.” Also, you think that Asharis have “through their misinterpretations of otherwise very clear.

Dear Naseer Saheb, I am bringing our discussion to a separate thread as it has gone beyond the scope of the earlier article where we started our conversation.

You consider Mutazillah “atheists of their time” who were “more wedded to philosophy than to the Quran.” Also, you think that Asharis have “through their misinterpretations of otherwise very clear Muhkamat verses, made Islam an unjust and immoral religion, only because they imagine Allah to be like themselves."

But if you study their literature you will find that the mainspring of thinking of both these groups, indeed all Islamic scholars of all schools of thought was Quran and except in the case of Mutazillah, Hadith. All of them may have violently disagreed with one another, even thrown each other in prison and got one another lashed, but they were all very sincere seekers of the Truth of Islam. The proof of their sincerely lies in the fact that not one of them recanted, despite facing extreme persecution by the Khulafa of their times. And the source of their thinking was Quran alone in the case of Mutazillah and Hadith and Seerah too in the case of others. Apart from Zahiris and Hanbalis, all of them had studied Greek philosophy, but their primary faith was in Islam and Islamic scriptures.

Mutazallah view of God’s Rationality and Justice and encouragement to reasoning emanate from the following and similar verses in the Holy Quran:

Surely the worst of beasts in God's sight are those that are deaf and dumb and do not reason. (8:22)

Qur'an explains its verses to a “tribe, nation or community (qawm) who thinks" and chastises "those who do not use their reason" (see for instance, al-Baqara 2:164; al-Ma'idah 5:58; al-Ra'd 13:4; al-Nahl 16:12).

And He lays abomination upon those who do not reason. (10:100)

(2:164) (To guide) those who use their reason (to this Truth) there are many Signs in the structure of the heavens and the earth, in the constant alternation of night and day, in the vessels which speed across the sea carrying goods that are of profit to people, in the water which Allah sends down from the sky and thereby quickens the earth after it was dead, and disperse over it all manner of animals, and in the changing courses of the winds and the clouds pressed into service between heaven and earth.162

“A book We have sent down to thee, blessed, that men possessed of mind may ponder its signs end so remember.” (38:29)

“That thou mayest bring forth your people from the darkness into the light ... “ (14:5)

Justice:

“And We sent down with them the Book and the Balance so that men might uphold justice ... “(57:25)

“We have not sent thee, save as a mercy unto all beings. “(21:107)

“A Book We have sent down to thee that thou mayest bring forth mankind from the darkness into the light... “ (14:1)

It is incumbent upon Allah to show you the right way. (16:9)

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Hanbali-Ashari-Maturidi view of God as Omnipotent, Whimsical, Arbitrary, Wilful, Despotic, not limited by canons of Justice and rationality emanate from the following and similar verses of the Holy Quran (as well as many Ahadith, specially mutawatir ahadith, considered totally authentic and akin to revelation by most Muslims). I am not quoting Hadith here but apart from Quran, it was a large number of Hadith narrations that solidified their view:

“Allah does what he wills.” (14:27)

(Allah is) the Doer of what He wills.7 (85:16)

“He forgiveth whom He pleaseth, He punishes whom He pleaseth.” (2: 284)

“He forgives whom He wills, and He punishes whom He wills. And to Allah belongs the dominions of the heavens and the earth and whatever is in between them and to Him is the final destination,” (5: 18)

“He punishes whom He wills and forgives whom He wills, and Allah is over all things competent.” (5: 40)

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“In their hearts is a sickness, and God has increased that sickness ...” (2:10)

“God has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a covering ... “(2:7)

“We lay veils upon their hearts lest they understand it ..”. (6:25)

“So does God seal the hearts of the unbelievers.” (7:101)

“God is the Protector of the believers; He brings them forth from the darkness into the light. And the unbelievers --their protectors are taghut, that bring them forth from the light into the darkness ...”(2:257)

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“So, whosoever Allah wants to Guide, He expands his breast to Islam and whoever He wants to misguide, He makes his breast tight and constricted as though he were climbing into the sky.” (Quran 6: 125).

Also, “If Allah so willed, he could make you all one people. But he leaves straying whom He pleases, and He guides whom He pleases and you shall certainly be called to account for all your actions.” Quran (16: 93).

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Imam Ghazali sums up the Islamic theology of consensus (Hanbali, Ashari, Maturidi, etc. minus Mutazalah), in these words: He puts the following in the mouth of God:

“These to Bliss, and I care not; And these to the Fire, and I care not.”

It’s this supposed indifference and arbitrariness of God that Ibn-e-Rushd countered in his famous “Incoherence of the Incoherence” that was a line-by-line refutation of Imam Ghazali’s “Incoherence of the Philosophers.” But all of Ibn-e-Rushd’s books were burnt down in supposedly liberal Muslim Spain and he had to go into exile. His books survived only because they had already been translated in European languages. As a result, Europe got its renaissance and Muslim world pushed itself into a darkness from which it is still to emerge.

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Previous comments from the earlier thread:

By Sultan Shahin - 8/26/2018 12:33:51 PM

· Dear Naseer Saheb, you have said: "They (Islamic Scholars) have through their misinterpretations of otherwise very clear Muhkamat verses, made Islam an unjust and immoral religion, only because they imagine Allah to be like themselves."

This is how Mutazilla scholars would have, must have, responded to the now-dominant Asharite doctrine of God being Omnipotent and Omniscient, Free to implement His Will, not necessarily Just or Moral, as we humans understand these attributes. Their view was that the condition of Justice imposed on God is a limitation on God’s power and questioned His Omnipotence. He not only guides but also misguides people and then rewards and punishes them for their behaviour.

[“So, whosoever Allah wants to Guide, He expands his breast to Islam and whoever He wants to misguide, He makes his breast tight and constricted as though he were climbing into the sky.” (Quran 6: 125).]

Also, “If Allah so willed, he could make you all one people. But he leaves straying whom He pleases, and He guides whom He pleases and you shall certainly be called to account for all your actions.” Quran (16: 93).

This cannot be considered just or rational by any human canon of morality and rationality. However, it is not for us mortals, Asharites said, following the Jabariyya before them, to apply our sense of morality or justice or rationality on God. His Omnipotence is not to be limited by human canons of morality or rationality or Justice. After all, God is al-Jabbar, the Compeller. (Quran 59: 23). His power is absolute. He wills and it happens.

So, it’s wrong to say that Jabariyya or Ashariya present God as a whimsical power-lord “only because they imagine Allah to be like themselves.” This is not correct. As the Qadariyya or later Mutazallah position of human free will was based on Quran, so was the Qadariyya and Ashariyya position of total predetermination based on Quran, and in both cases, as you rightly point out, its Muhkamat (clear) verses, not on Mustashbihat (allegorical) that buttress their positions. Of course, Ashariyya and even Maturidi positions are also based on a plethora of Ahadith, in addition to Quran. But Qadriyyah and Mutazillah positions are based entirely on Quran.

By Sultan Shahin - 8/26/2018 12:33:51 PM

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By Naseer Ahmed - 8/27/2018 11:10:54 AM

: “…. the essential "Zaat" of Allah, is strangely misunderstood by even the scholars, philosophers and the Sufis, and their understanding contradicts Muhkamat verses.” (This sentence has been slightly edited to remove confusion, as it has been taken from another thread. -- Editor)

Allah manifests His attributes through His creation as well as through His revelations. What the Quran and other Scriptures mostly contain is knowledge that is unavailable to man in foresight and could have only come through Divine revelations but which can be easily understood in hindsight. Science is knowledge that man can gain through foresight and most of it is left to man to unravel. The Quran merely points out to the natural phenomena that sustain life as God’s handiwork.

The Mutazilla scholars did not distinguish between these two sources of knowledge, and took up a position, like the philosophers whom they admired, that all morality or the Deen can come from human reason alone. They were the atheists of their times and a bad influence which is why the reaction to them was strong. Perhaps, they were only reacting to the Asharite doctrine, but they took the wrong approach and were therefore easily neutralized by a single Imam Ghazali, who did a very good job of defeating them comprehensively. Unfortunately, the pendulum swung to the other extreme. If only the Mutazilla had confined their reasoning to prove the Asharite wrong by the explicit Quranic verses, we would have had the right balance, but they were more wedded to philosophy than to the Quran.

Most of what we see of Islamic scholarship is by people from Iran or Uzbekistan and from people from other faiths who had accepted Islam. The influence of other faith systems and cultures is immense. All the six books of Ahadith are by scholars from these two regions and all the six scholars are contemporaries - strange coincidence?

The way forward is to question the wrong understanding of the scholars and not question the Quran itself. The Mutazilla, the rationalists, the atheists, the self-certified progressives and moderates will deservedly get ignored because they are not seen as Muslim in the first place. The Quran and Islam are only for the believers and those who approach it with humility and not for those who consider the Book a 7th century anachronism as the people of the Prophet's time did calling it a Book containing "tales of the ancient". Allah allows such people to go astray.

Source URL: http://www.newageislam.com/debating-islam/by-sultan-shahin,-founding-editor,-new-age-islam/is-god-in-islam-just-and-rational-as-mutazillah-believed-or-arbitrary-and-despotic-as-hanbali-zahiri-ashari-maturidi-postulate?--does-quran-support-both-positions?/d/116231