# Who were the Mu'tazila and what did they believe?

*Who were the Mu'tazila? The sinner's limbo, and why some came to distrust the intellect*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/smoocevigde/s/7/
- Date: 2019-11-03 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: A Response to Yasir Qadhi on Miracles | Mufti Abu Layth (25:33–28:07)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMOOcEVIGDE&t=1533s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/smoocevigde/

**Topics:** Creed and the schools of theology; Reason and revelation

**Question as asked:** Can you define what the Mu'tazila were?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The Mu'tazila were an extinct early sect who held that a sinning Muslim is neither believer nor kafir; Mufti Abu Layth says later theologians' defensive reaction left some Muslims thinking the intellect is bad, which he calls the dumbest idea.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says that the belief of some Muslims that the intellect is bad is the dumbest thing anybody could say.

**Evidence, his words at 27:28:** “it created a problem which we're still dealing with today that some Muslims believed think that maybe the intellect is bad which is the dumbest the dumbest thing anybody could say” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMOOcEVIGDE&t=1648s)

## Longer summary

Asked by a viewer to define the Mu'tazila, Mufti Abu Layth says they were an extreme, now extinct sect of early Islam whose founding pillar was that a Muslim who commits a sin is neither a Muslim nor a kafir but in a limbo, al-manzila bayn al-manzilatayn, until they renew their faith. He says this was the first of their five key beliefs, and that they later developed others, such as God being bound by certain structures. He says that some later theologians, four or five hundred years after the Prophet, answered the Mu'tazila's mockery by accusing them of using their intellect instead of meeting idea with idea. That, he says, created a problem still with us, the belief of some Muslims that the intellect is bad, which he calls the dumbest thing anybody could say.

## Sources and names cited

- Mu'tazila
- al-manzila bayn al-manzilatayn (the position between the two positions)
- kafir
- aql (intellect)

## Transcript (machine tier, 25:33–28:07)

[24:54] category come from of the Wahhabis now not me I'm actually quite inclusive I say the hobbies as well are under the Sunni spectrum but most Sunnis no way most Sunnis categorically the a shoddy is do not consider our hobbies to be Sunni Muslims so to start off with this is such an irony ok let's put that aside of course I'm so me - you know this thing of somebody asked here question about Martha silly just to define that

[25:32] Martha city is an extreme extinct sect from early Islam it emerged on extremist grounds that anybody and this is what this was the pillar of the creed that any person who commits a sin is no longer a Muslim but he's not a kaffir they came up with a purgatory state they believed that there was this thing this purgatory state called Zillah banal manzil attain any muslim who commits a sin is in that limbo state forever until they don't renew their faith they would chuck them out of Islam

[26:11] but they wouldn't declare them kaffir but they wouldn't accept them as Muslims either this extremist sect that began with this as the core belief so they have five key beliefs and this is number one that you must believe this to be martyrs II write this sect and then they developed other you know that God is bound by certain structures and things like this so just because later theologians write later theologians write when they got into certain debates with Martha Zilla so some of the martyrs

[26:50] Allah mocked some of the theologians for being thick so as their defence instead of taking them you know taking the bull by the wounds some of those theologians this is hundreds of years after the Prophet by the way this is like four hundred five hundred years after the Prophet some of these theologians instead of saying no let's clap you know you bring your idea will meet idea of an idea they started to say oh you're mocking us because what we say stupid oh so you're using your uncle you're using your intellect hahaha

[27:28] so because some theologians started to do that it created a problem which we're still dealing with today that some Muslims believed think that maybe the intellect is bad which is the dumbest the dumbest thing anybody could say right so okay let's put that argument there let's leave that day let's return to judge dredd Mia and Joseph RB right so Mia Jessica V he says that okay people like me for questioning certain interpretations that exist today should

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment sMOOcEVIGDE/s/7. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/smoocevigde/s/7/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.