Shi‘i Encounters with the Muʿtazila
On 27 November 2023, Dr Gurdofarid Miskinzoda and Dr Maria De Cillis, Shiʿi Studies Unit at The Institute of Ismaili Studies in collaboration with Professor Daniel De Smet, French National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS), held an interactive workshop at the Aga Khan Centre, entitled, Shiʿi Encounters with the Muʿtazila.
This colloquium aimed to examine the interaction between the Shiʿa and the Muʿtazila viewed as a continuous process of interpretation and interplay between the representatives of these two pivotal intellectual and religious trends in Islam. It explored this interaction as a mutually enriching process of historical and intellectual exchange through the examination of key features in the domain of theology, law, philosophy, and the understanding of history. In particular, the project investigated the permeation of ostensible examples of rational argumentation into Shiʿi concepts and questioned the extent to which this was due to the influence of the Muʿtazili trends and approaches. It investigated whether any adaptation and further elaboration of Shiʿi ideas also penetrated Muʿtazili milieu to be employed in substantiating their arguments on historical, political and doctrinal stands.
While taking into account the inherently diverse encounters between the Muʿtazila and the Shiʿa, the colloquium’s participants remained cognisant to remain cognisant of the complexity of the analytical definitions of ‘Muʿtazili’ and ‘Shiʿi’ as categories and of the ideas, doctrines, arguments and scholarly affiliation assigned to either of them.
The most common understanding of the relationship between Shiʿi and Muʿtazili thought is that the former, and especially its Ithnāʿasharī and Zaydī forms, was highly influenced by Muʿtazili rationalism. Although some convergences between Muʿtazilism and Shiʿism have been considered as later developments and not original, a particularly vivid influence is seen about major Muʿtazili tenets such as tawḥīd (unity of God) and ʿadl (justice of God). The often-repeated argument is that these notions have been directly borrowed from the Muʿtazila. Necessarily then, the influence of Muʿtazili thought on these two core usūl al-dīn (principles of faith) will be explored in detail.
The works of jurist-theologians of Shiʿism and, in particular, the founding figures of its Ithnāʿasharī tradition, such as al-Shaykh al-Mufīd, al-Sharīf al-Raḍī and al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā, are also seen as strongly marked by the Muʿtazili rationalist approach. Furthermore, the emergence of a nuanced legal tradition among both the Ithnāʿasharīs and the Zaydīs is considered to have developed under a strong Muʿtazili influence. It is also important to investigate the position of Ismaili theologians towards Muʿtazilism as it is paramount to know whether there was any influence of Muʿtazilim on Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān’s legal theory. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, this project also explores the Muʿtazili impact on the development of the doctrine of Imama, which is often seen as a contentious issue still in need of investigation.
Another area of inquiry is the historical circumstances that facilitated the development of Muʿtazili thought and allowed its permeation within the Shiʿi intellectual milieus of the 3rd-6th/9th-11th centuries. The alleged acceptance of Muʿtazili thought within Shiʿi circles is examined against the background of the ʿAbbasid revolution and rule; the Būyid influence; the establishment of the Zaydī states in Ṭabaristan and Yemen; the establishment of the Fatimid state in Egypt and the overall success of the Fatimid Ismaili daʿwa; and the greater occultation of the Twelfth Imam of the Ithnāʿasharī tradition and the subsequent rise of the ʿulamāʾ as nuwwāb ʿamm of the Imam in ghayba. In recent years, the study of Muʿtazilism has been furthered through the investigation of Jewish and Shiʿi sources employed by Sabine Schmidtke and David Sklare to identify Muʿtazili manuscripts through their ‘Muʿtazilite Project Group’. Most recently, Habib Mazahir and Hussein Ali Abdulsater have discussed the influence of Muʿtazili thought on Imami theology. Following such latest findings, this project aimed to widen the research areas seeking to examine Muʿtazilism’s purported relationship with all major Shiʿi branches to include aspects of Zaydī and Ismaili interactions. The colloquium was the first step in a wider project examining this topic.
