The Mutazilites-Asharites debate

1. Basic tenets of the Mutazilite teaching and its early endorsement by Abbasid Caliphs
According to the well know sources on Mutazilism, there are five basic tenets or principles of Mutazilism. The first is the Divine unity, al-tawhid in Arabic.

The second is the Divine justice, al-`adl. The third is the Divine promise and threat, al-wa`d wa-al-wa`id. The fourth is the place between the two places, al-manzilah bayn al-manzilatayn. The fifth is cammanding the good and prohibiting the evil, al-amr bi al-ma`ruf wa-al-nahy `an al-munkar.

The first Mutazilite tenet, the Mutaziltes understand that God is One and His oneness makes Him differ from all existent beings created by Him. The Mutazilites deny any similarity between God and His created creatures. Due to their understanding of God's oneness, the Mutazilites interpret metaphorically all the Koranic verses indicating any similarity or likeness between God and His creatures such as the Koranic verses stating about God's hands, eyes, sitting on the throne and face. For the Mutazilites, the Koranic anthropomorphic verses should be interpreted metaphorically because if those verses of the Koran are understood literally, they attribute some similarities between God and His creatures. The literal understanding of the Koranic anthropomorphic verses is very much against the tenet of God's oneness in the eyes of the Mutazilites.

God's transcendentalism is indeed emphasized emphatically by the Mutazilites. They are very strict and serious against the anthropomorphists, the mushabbihah or the mujassimah, among Muslims. Because of their strict adherence to God's transcendentalism, their opponents called them al-mu`atillah (those who denied God's attributes). The Mutazilites replied to their opponents that they themselves do not deny God's attributes but what they indeed deny from God is His attributes are different from His essence. For the Mutazilites, God's essence does not differ from God's attributes. In other words, God's attributes are identical and inseparable from His essence. For this type of understanding regarding the relationship between God's essence and His attributes, the Mutazilites say and uphold that God is powerful by His essence, and in Arabic said, Allah qadir bi-dhatih. Meanwhile, the opponents of the Mutazilites like the Asharites understand and state that God is powerful with His power, Allah qadir bi-qudratih.

In line with their understanding of God's transcendentalism, the Mutazilites deny that God can be seen even by the peoples of Paradise in the hereafter. The Mutazilites argue that if the peoples of Paradise can see God, God must be in any material form since human eyes can only see the material things or forms. Since God is a non-material being, human eyes are impossible to see Him even in the Paradise. The Mutazilites do not differentiate between the natures of human beings in this world and their natures in the hereafter. For the Mutazilites, human eyes in this world are impossible to see God as evident from the Prophet Moses wanted to see God with his own eyes and he could not see God. What is impossible for human eyes to see in this world is also impossible for human eyes to see in the hereafter. For the Mutazilites, human eyes need light, proper distance and location to see the seen object. Since God is unseen being, He cannot be seen by human eyes. It is impossible for human eyes to see God because God is an immaterial being, unseen being.

The Mutazilites deny the Christian concept of Divine trinity. The Trinity in Christianity states the three persons of the Godhead namely the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For the Mutazilites, the principle of Trinity is contrary to God's transcendentalism that stresses nothing similar or identical with God either in His essence or His attributes.

The Mutazilites deny that the Koran is eternal and the speech of God. For them, the Koran was created by God like other created creatures. The Mutazilites deny the uncreatedness of the Koran because for them only God is eternal. Other beings are temporal, transient and finite. God is eternal and infinite. They want to defend the Divine unity when they deny the uncreatedness of the Koran. The Koran is limited and finite because it consists of letters and sentences understood by human minds. The Koran was revealed for human beings. Human beings are limited and finite. Whatever is created by God is limited and finite. Hence the Koran is limited and finite because it was created by God to be the book of guidance to all human beings.

The second tenet of the Mutazililtes is the Divine justice. They understand that God is indeed just and fair to all created creatures. To prove their understanding of God's justice, the Mutazilites advocate the concept or principle of human free will. The concept stresses that man is free to choose and act on what he has chosen. Nothing forces man either to do or not to do if he decides either to do or not to do. Man is free to carry on his intended plan or intention. The Mutazilites totally disagree with the Jabarites who advocate human predestination. The Mutazilite concept of human free will is very identical and similar with the Qadarite concept of human free will. The Qadarites are the opponents of the Jabarites in their understanding of the human power and will and God's power and will. For the Jabarites, man has no will and power to act on his own choice or preference. Man has to rely or depend on God's will and power before he is able to will and act. For the Qadarites, man has his own will and power created by God for himself to will and act or not to will and not to act. Moreover, man is free to will and to act on whatever he wills. If man decides on certain actions, he can act on them. With the power created by God in man's nature, man is capable of willing and acting or doing according to his own wishes. Since man is free from any compulsion, he consequently deserves the rewards or punishments based on his choices and actions. If man does the bad and evil actions, he deserves the punishments from God, and if man does the good and useful actions, he deserves the rewards from God. The Mutazilites deny any injustice attributed to God. God is just and He does not want or He does not will injustice. Injustice takes place because of human beings, not because of God. Indeed, God does not do injustice to any human being.

To defend the Divine justice, the Mutazilites deny the concept or the principle of Divine intercession in the hereafter. For the Mutazilites, the Divine intercession contradicts the Divine justice. The Divine intercession in the hereafter is said to be for the Muslims who committed the grave sins and tney became the grave sinners before they died. For the Mutazilites, God will not intercede or help the grave sinners and God will put them in the Hell because they chose to commit the grave sins prohibted by God. God will not help them. God will judge them according to their own deeds, bad or good deeds. In other words, because of the Divine justice, God will punish the grave sinners in the Hell. The opponents of the Mutazilites like the Asharites uphold the view that God will intercede the grave sinners and take them out from the Hell after they have completed their punishemnts in the Hell.

In line with the Divine justice, God does the better and best things for human beings. For examples, God created human beings in the best form of human bodily structure in comparison with animals. God granted human beings with minds that are not available among animals. God sent His prophets to guide human beings and sent down His books of revelations to human beings from time to time until the last and final revelation revealed to the last and final prophet named Muhammad in the seventh century in Arabia. He was sent by God to all human beings.

The Mutazilite concept of God's doing the better and the best things for human beings is known in Arabic as fi`l al-salah wa-al-aslah lil-nas. God showed human beings the two different ways or broadways namely the good and the evil ways. The good way is leading to the good life in this world and then in the hereafter. Meanwhile, the evil way is leading to the evil and miserable life in this world and then in the hereafter. In other words, God showed and proved to human beings the two opposite ways, God's way and Satan's way. Human beings who follow God's way are going to the Paradise in the hereafter and human beings who follow Satan's way are going to the Hell in the hereafter. Human beings have no any reason or word to blame God for their own bad and miserable fates or destinations in this world and then in the hereafter since God did the better and the best things for human beings. God's just and fair actions are evident and apparent to all human beings.

The third Mutazilite tenet is the Divine promise and threat. This one is very much to complement the second Mutazilite tenet. According to the Mutazilites God promises human beings with the rewards if they obey God's commands and God threats human beings with the punishments if they disobey God's commands. God keeps and fulfills all His promises to all human beings. God also will punish all human beings who have disregarded and disobeyed God's commands. There is no possibility of thinking and assuming that God does not keep His promises. The Mutazilites understand that God makes the promises and He will fulfill them. God makes the threats and He will accomplish His threats. For this third tenet of the Mutazilites, the opponents of the Mutazilites like the Asharites claimed that the Mutazilites have imposed on God the duty or obligation to fulfill His promises and to carry out His threats. The Mutazilites reply to their opponents that God Himself imposes on Himself to keep all His promises and to carry out all His threats. Hence human beings cannot claim that God does not keep His promises. Not keeping the promise is bad among human beings and in God's divine law, and God does not do bad action. Fulfilling the promise is good and commanded by God's divine law and God fulfills His promises because it is a good thing to do. God does not do the bad, evil and ugly things. Human beings do all the bad, evil and ugly things if they choose to disobey God's commands.

The fourth Mutazilite tenet is the place between the two places. It means that the Muslims who have committed the grave sins cannot be placed among the Muslims nor among the disbelievers. The grave sinners have to be placed between the Muslims and the disbelievers. The grave sinners cannot be equated with the disbelievers because they still have faith in their hearts while the disbelievers do not have any faith in their hearts. The grave sinners cannot be equated with the Muslims because they have committed the grave sins prohibited by God. Hence, the Mutaziltes introduce the third place for the Muslims who have committed the grave sins. Their place is between the disbelievers and the Muslims who do not commit the grave sins.

The fifth Mutazilite tenet is commanding the good and prohibiting the evil. This one is for human beings to attain the rewards from God since God promises human beings with the rewards if they do the good actions in this world. Commanding human beings to do the good actions is a good action. Prohibiting human beings from doing the evil actions is a good action. If all Muslims command themselves and others to do the good actions, they are all good Muslims who deserve to attain what God has promised for them. If all Muslims prohibit themselves and others from doing the bad and evil actions, they are all good Muslims who deserve to attain what God has promised for them. The fifth Mutazilite tenet is related to commanding the good and prohibiting the evil among human beings for human peaceful life and prosperity in this world. If all Muslims implement the Mutazilite fifth tenet, there would be no crimes and criminals in all Muslim societies.

The Abbasid caliphs known in Muslim history who have endorsed the five basic tenets of Mutazilism are al-Ma'mun, al-Wathiq and al-Mu`tasim.

'2. Reaction of the scholars and the development and basic tenets of the Asharites' The Mutazilite-Asharite debate took place between the student and teacher of Mutazilism. The teacher was Abu Ali al-Jubbaii who was the leader of the Mutazilite school of Basra. His student was Abu Hasan al-Ashari. Al-Ashari was not convinced by his teacher regarding the Mutazilite concept of free will and the Mutazilite concept of God's doing the better and the best things for human beings.

According to the Mutazilite concept of free will, man is free to decide and strive for his future and final destination. If man does the good deeds in his life and dies, he is surely going to attain the good life in the hereafter i.e. he will be in the Paradise. It is obligatory upon God to reward the good man with the good or better life in the Paradise. If man does the evil deeds in his life and dies, he is surely going to be punished in the Hell. It is obligatory upon God to punish the evil man with severe and painful punishment in the Hell. In other words, man is free to choose and act on his choice of good or evil deeds and he will be rewarded or punished accordingly depending on his good or evil choices and deeds. God does not make man a believer or a disbeliever. Man himself decides to be a believer or a disbeliever of God's existence and oneness and then to follow God's commands to do the good deeds and to avoid the evil deeds.

To dispute and refute the two Mutazilite concepts above, al-Ashari posed to his teacher the cases of three brothers whose fates or final destinations were totally different. The first brother lived and died as a believer. The second brother lived and died as a non-believer or an infidel. The third brother died when he was still small or minor.

The first brother was going to the Paradise because he chose to become the faithful or the believer and he did the good deeds. So the case of first brother was in line with the Mutazilite concept of free will and the Mutazilite concept of God's doing the better and the best things for human beings. God surely rewards the believer with the good and better life in the Paradise. In this case, the first brother is in the Paradise because of his good faith and good deeds.

The second brother is going to be in the Hell because he chose to disbelieve and did the evil deeds. He is in Hell because of his choice and free will. He chose and did the evil faith and deeds and the unavoidable consequence of his choice is the Hell in the hereafter. For the second brother, al-Asharite asked his teacher, what was the better or best thing that God did to him? God permitted the second brother to live and die as an infidel and then to be in the Hell. His teacher replied that God punishes the second brother because he chooses the evil faith and deeds in his life in this world. God is just and His justice makes Him punish the wrong doer and reward the good doer.

The third brother is neither in the Paradise nor in the Hell because he did not have enough time to become a believer like his first brother or to become an infidel like his second brother. Again, al-Ashari asked his teacher, what was the better and best thing that God did to the third brother? His teacher replied that God knows the best for him to die when he was still small or minor because if the third brother were to grow up, he would become an infidel or a non-believer like his second brother. Hence, it is better for the third brother to die when he was still small or minor.

Al-Ashari said that why did God prolong the life of the second brother even though God knows that he grew up and old and died as an infidel? Being an infidel is not good for the second brother. If the Mutazilite concept of God's doing the better and the best things for human beings was true, as the Mutaziltes claimed, there would be no single infidel living in this world since an infidel is not good to live in this world. In the hereafter, an infidel is going to be in the Hell. God must make all human beings believers because the final rewards for the believers are surely the Paradise in the hereafter, if the Mutazilite concept of God's doing the better and the best things for human beings is an acceptable and reliable concept. In reality, infidels or non-believers are more than believers living in this world. Hence, the Mutazilite concept of God's doing the better and the best things for human beings does not agree with human history in this world.

Although al-Ashari had been the student of al-Jubaii for almost forty years according the very popular story or narrated traditon about their student-teacher relationship, finally al-Ashari debated and disputed the two Mutazilite concepts namely human free will and God's doing the better and the best for human beings. Al-Ashari was doubtful about the two Mutazilte concepts and he soon left his teacher al-Jubaii. Al-Ashari later on known as the founder of the Muslim theological school named Asharism that opposed many Mutazilte concepts and principles of faith or belief.

buddhism

The Buddha

"Buddha" is not a name, it is a title meaning the "enlightened one," "awakened one".
Who was the Buddha?The man who would become The Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama of the Sakya clan of the Kshatriya caste in NE India. He was born a Hindu, a prince of Noble lineage. He is also called Sakyamuni - ("Sage of the Sakya Clan") and Gautama Buddha.
When and where did he live?Born in 563 BCE, died 483 BCE during the Upanishadic transitional period of Hinduism (a contemporary of Mahavira [founder of Jainism]).

The texts of the religion tell of a miraculous conception (he was conceived in a dream) and accounts of wonders attending his birth (he walked and talked immediately after the painless birth in a beautiful garden).

His early life:Two possible destinies were predicted for the child by a seer who came to visit shortly after he was born: Siddhartha was to become either a great teacher or a great ruler.
His father was determined to raise Siddhartha to follow in his father’s footsteps and be a great ruler. As such, Siddhartha was sheltered from the evils of the world and raised in great luxury.
The "Four Sights":But Siddhartha saw the famous "four sights" which left him wondering about life:
· an old man, withered with age
· a sick man, in pain and misery
· a dead man
· and a Monk, who seemed contented

The first three were suffering but the monk was not suffering. These sights were to make a deep impact on the prince.

The householder:As a young man, Siddhartha married and had a son, as expected of him.
Renunciation and yogic practice:But at the age of 29 he took vows of renunciation, left his home and his family to become a wandering monk in search of enlightenment and contentment.
For six years Siddhartha went from one guru to another, learning different philosophies, practicing various yogic techniques including extreme asceticism (which came to be associated with Jainism which was also developing at this same time in NE India).

But none of these paths satisfied his spiritual quest and so, after six years he took off on his own, rejecting both the life of luxury he'd been raised in as well as ascetic withdrawal and self-denial. His was to be the "Middle Way".

Enlightenment - A Buddha is born . . .:As the story goes, Siddhartha sat under a tree, refusing to move or do anything until he achieved the enlightenment he sought. He sat thusly in meditation, resisted tempting visions of beautiful women and delectable foods, until, after (some stories say) 40 days, he became enlightened, seeing and understanding the truth of all existence.
He had thus become the Buddha - the "Awakened One" and the tree become known as the "Bodhi Tree". Bodhi (the root word of "Buddha") means wisdom.
. . . and becomes a teacher:Gautama Buddha spent the remaining 45 years of his life teaching to others the Truth he’d found.

Buddhism is called the "Middle Way" of compassion and wisdom.
It began in India some 2500 years ago, spread to East Asia and ultimately disappeared from India by 1000 CE

A number of recent commercial movies have focused on Buddhism, most notably: Little Buddha and Kundun (you might want to view these videos as you learn about this religion)
There are three basic components to Buddhism known as the "Three Refuges" (or the "Three Jewels"):
· Buddha (teacher): like the doctor who diagnoses the problem and prescribes the cure (medicine)
· Dharma (teaching): like the medicine which cures the problem (most important - more so than the "doctor" himself)
· Sangha (community): like the nurses who assist us in using the medicine correctly for the greatest benefit (includes monks and heavenly beings).

The Dharma
In his first sermon, the "Deer Park Sermon" in Banares, the Buddha summed up the Truth of existence in what is known as the "Four Noble Truths":
· Life is suffering (dukkha)
In a perfect world we would get everything we want and want everything we get. But this is not a perfect world.
· The cause of suffering is self-centered desire and attachments (ego), personal preferences and rejections, cravings and repulsion, likes and dislikes
What makes this life problematic is that our wants (desires) are out of alignment with our life experience.
· There is a state of no desire and no suffering (Nirvana) a non-possessive, dispassionate, carefree mental state
We cannot change the world but we can change ourselves. "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you just might find, you get what you need" (can want what you get).
· The way to achieve this is the "Eight-Fold Path" (the life of morality, concentration and wisdom)

The "Eight-Fold Path" consists of three parts:
· Wisdom (dharma):
1. Right understanding, views, knowledge (of the Four Noble Truths)
2. Right motivation, intention, aspiration, thought (dispassionate benevolence) (think good thoughts)
· Morality (outer, ethical discipline):
3. Right speech (no lying, no gossip, no slander, no idle talk) (speak good words)
4. Right action, behavior (no stealing, no killing, no illicit sex, no intoxicants) (do good deeds)
5. Right livelihood (earn a living so as not to commit wrong speech or action) (live a good life)
· Concentration (inner, mental discipline):
6. Right effort (avoid arousing evil thoughts, cut off unwholesome states of past, present and future [change old, bad habits])
7. Right mindfulness, awareness (full awareness in every moment)
8. Right meditation, concentration, absorption (quieting the mind, do not be distracted in one’s meditation practice, be centered and still. Undistracted concentration on a particular object or image, e.g. a statue of the Buddha or a Tanka or mandala)

By "right" Buddha meant "complete", "proper", or "perfected". The path is about aspiring to such perfection.

The Five Precepts: (see right speech and right action, above)
The basic ethical guidelines for a Buddhist life:
· Do not kill or harm other living beings
· Do not steal or take what has not been given to you
· Do not participate in illicit or improper sexual relations (i.e., outside of marriage)
· Do not lie
· Do not ingest intoxicants (alcohol) or illicit drugs (which confuse the mind)

islamic philosophy

The attempt to fuse religion and philosophy is difficult because there are no clear preconditions.
Philosophers typically hold that one must accept the possibility of truth from any source and follow the argument wherever it leads.

On the other hand, classical religious believers have a set of religious principles that they hold to be unchallengeable fact.

Given these divergent goals and views, some hold that one cannot simultaneously be a philosopher and a true adherent of Islam, which is believed to be a revealed religion by its adherents. In this view, all attempts at synthesis ultimately fail.
However, others believe that a synthesis between Islam and philosophy is possible.
One way to find a synthesis is to use philosophical arguments to prove that one's preset religious principles are true.

This is a common technique found in the writings of many religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but this is not generally accepted as true philosophy by philosophers.

Another way to find a synthesis is to abstain from holding as true any religious principles of one's faith at all, unless one independently comes to those conclusions from a philosophical analysis.
However, this is not generally accepted as being faithful to one's religion by adherents of that religion.

A third, rarer and more difficult path is to apply analytical philosophy to one's own religion.

In this case a religious person would also be a philosopher, by asking questions such as:

What is the nature of God? How do we know that God exists?
What is the nature of revelation? How do we know that God reveals his will to mankind?
What is the nature of divinely guided Messengers vis à vis philosophers?
What is the nature of Imamat or vicegerency of humans on earth?
Which of our religious traditions must be interpreted literally?
Which of our religious traditions must be interpreted allegorically?
What must one actually believe to be considered a true adherent of our religion?
How can one reconcile the findings of philosophy with religion?
How can one reconcile the findings of science with religion?
How can one reconcile the findings of math with religion?

In early Islamic thought, two main currents may be distinguished.

The first is Kalam, that mainly dealt with theological questions, and the other is Falsafa, that was founded on interpretations of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism.

There were attempts by later philosopher-theologians at harmonizing both trends, notably by Avicenna who founded the school of Avicennism, Averroes who founded the school of Averroism, and others such as Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen), Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, Ibn Tufayl (Abubacer) and Ibn al-Nafis.

Kalam
Independent minds exploiting the methods of ijtihad sought to investigate the doctrines of the Qur'an, which until then had been accepted in faith on the authority of divine revelation.
One of first debates was that between partisan of the Qadar (Arabic: qadara, to have power), who affirmed free will, and the Jabarites (jabar, force, constraint), who maintained the belief in fatalism.

At the second century of the Hijra, a new movement arose in the theological school of Basra, Iraq. A pupil, Wasil ibn Ata, who was expelled from the school because his answers were contrary to then orthodox Islamic tradition and became leader of a new school, and systematized the radical opinions of preceding sects, particularly those of the Qadarites.
This new school was called Mutazilite (from i'tazala, to separate oneself, to dissent). Its principal dogmas were three:

God is an absolute unity, and no attribute can be ascribed to Him.
Man is a free agent. It is on account of these two principles that the Mu'tazilites designate themselves the "Partisans of Justice and Unity".
All knowledge necessary for the salvation of man emanates from his reason; humans could acquire knowledge before, as well as after, Revelation, by the sole light of reason. This fact makes knowledge obligatory upon all men, at all times, and in all places.

The Mutazilites, compelled to defend their principles against the orthodox Islam of their day, looked for support in philosophy, and are one of the first to pursue a rational theology called Ilm-al-Kalam (Scholastic theology); those professing it were called Mutakallamin.
This appellation became the common name for all seeking philosophical demonstration in confirmation of religious principles.

The first Mutakallamin had to debate both the orthodox and the non-Muslims, and they may be described as occupying the middle ground between those two parties.
But subsequent generations were to large extent critical towards the Mutazilite school, especially after formation of the Asharite concepts.

Falsafa

Ibn Sina, Iranian scientist and philosopher
From the ninth century onward, owing to Caliph al-Ma'mun and his successor, Greek philosophy was introduced among the Persians and Arabs, and the Peripatetic school began to find able representatives among them; such were Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), and Ibn Rushd (Averroës), all of whose fundamental principles were considered as criticized by the Mutakallamin.

During the Abbasid caliphate a number of thinkers and scientists, some of them heterodox Muslims or non-Muslims, played a role in transmitting Greek, Hindu, and other pre-Islamic knowledge to the Christian West.

They contributed to making Aristotle known in Christian Europe. Three speculative thinkers, the two Persians al-Farabi and Avicenna and the Arab al-Kindi, combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam.
They were considered by many as highly unorthodox and by some were even described as non-Islamic philosophers.

From Spain Arabic philosophic literature was translated into Hebrew and Latin, contributing to the development of modern European philosophy. The philosopher Moses Maimonides (a Jew born in Muslim Spain) was also important.