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Fatwa CenterThe Mu‘tazilah - Their Beliefs and the New Mu‘tazilah
Question
Who are the Mu‘tazilah?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
They were called the Mu‘tazilah (literally in Arabic "those who forsook the group") because Waasil ibn ‘Ataa’ forsook the session of Al-Hasan Al-Basri 
. Waasil was of the opinion that the one who commits a grave major sin like adultery and drinking alcohol is neither a believer nor a disbeliever in the worldly life. Rather, such a person is in a middle rank between these two. He is like a traveler between two towns who cannot be attributed to either of them. However, in the Hereafter he would be doomed forever in Hell if he does not repent. It is also said that they were called Mu’tazilah because they made it obligatory to boycott and detach oneself from those who commit grave major sins.
They based their school of thought upon five foundations, which are:
1. Tawheed: By Tawheed they mean the negation of the Attributes of Allaah. They said that the Attributes are not something other than the Self because this— according to their view— would lead to claiming the existence of many eternal beings (other than Allaah The Almighty). Therefore, they negated the fact that the believers would see their Lord on the Day of Resurrection. They said that the Quran was created and many other incorrect theories.
2. Justice: They mean that Allaah The Almighty does not create the deeds of the slaves or want corruption; rather, it is the slaves who create their deeds by the ability which Allaah The Almighty made in them. They also said that Allaah The Almighty does not order something except what He wants and does not forbid except what He dislikes. They were not guided to differentiate between His Legislative Will and Universal Will. Had they been guided to this difference, they would have known that the Universal Will of Allaah The Almighty entailed the existence of disbelief and corruption for some wisdom that He knows and He does not will them by His Legislative Will. There are differences between the two Wills. One of the important differences is that Universal Will is not accompanied by love whilst the Legislative Will is. Allaah The Almighty does not want something to be done by virtue of His legislative Will unless He loves it.
3. Promise and threat: They mean that Allaah The Almighty rewards the good doer and punishes the evildoer but He does not forgive the one who commits a grave major sin. His justice necessitates not forgiving the one who commits grave major sins. Accordingly, the Mu‘tazilah denied intercession in the Hereafter for those who commit grave major sins.
4. The one between two ranks: They refer to the one who commits a grave major sin as previously mentioned.
5. Enjoining good and forbidding evil: They mean the obligation to do so. On the basis of this foundation, they advocated the obligation to rebel against the ruler if he deviates from the right path even if his act is not plain disbelief.
One of the principles of the Mu‘tazilah is to wholly depend on reason and to give it precedence over Sharee‘ah (Islamic law) texts in issues of creed and others. Saying that the authentic Sharee‘ah text contradicts reason is a false claim. Rather, Sharee‘ah and reason never contradict each other. In case of confusion, one should give precedence to the Sharee‘ah text over reason because the text reached us from an infallible man (the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).
Allaah Knows best.
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