(Part 24)
The Fourth Topic
The Continuation
The Second Speech: Islamic Sects
The first theological disagreements began in the late era of the Companions with the emergence of Qadariyya, followed during the time of the Followers (Tabi‘un) by the development of Mu‘tazila in Basra, Jahmiyya and Mujassima in Khorasan, and later the Ash‘arites. There is no doubt that discussions on predestination and free will, and the rise of free will advocates labeled as Qadariyya by opponents, were prevalent among early generations of Muslims. The central belief of the Qadariyya was that humans act out of free will and not predetermined paths. They also held that God has no likeness among creation, and His speech is created and temporal. The Qadariyya did not believe the caliphate was exclusive to the Quraysh and considered it subject to consultation among Muslims.
Many hadiths report that the Prophet of Islam criticized the sects of Qadariyya, Murji’a, and Kharijites. Likewise, several narrations exist from the Companions in refutation of the Qadariyya, Jabriyya, and Mu‘tazila. However, differences among jurists (fuqaha) do not constitute misguided sects, as the esteemed jurists agree on the fundamentals, (Al-Baghdadi 1977, pp. 5–6).
Another early sect, sometimes considered independent and sometimes grouped with the Qadariyya or Mu‘tazila, was the Jahmiyya. This school emphasized three core doctrines: the createdness of the Qur’an, denial of divine attributes, and absolute determinism (jabr). In contrast, the Mujassima school anthropomorphized God, either by likening His essence or attributes to humans. They accepted divine-human similarity either in the form of God being like man or vice versa.
One of the earliest theological questions concerned grave sinners. The Kharijites labeled them as disbelievers. In contrast, another group believed that performing or omitting religious acts did not affect the essence of faith. This tolerant view emerged in response to the Kharijites’ harshness and was called “Irja” (deferral), and its proponents were called “Murji’a.”
The Mu‘tazila school was among the earliest theological sects with a rationalist approach. Supported by the Abbasid Caliphate until the reign of al-Mutawakkil, they rose to prominence but eventually declined due to excessive rationalism and alienation from hadith scholars. Their association with Christian and Jewish thought also led to criticism. Once adopted as the official state doctrine, it caused unrest and contributed to its own dissolution. Over time, Mu‘tazila theology developed into five main principles: tawhid (divine unity), ‘adl (justice), al-wa‘d wa al-wa‘id (divine promise and threat), manzila bayn al-manzilatayn (an intermediate status for grave sinners), and enjoining good and forbidding evil. (Saberi 2009, vol. 1, pp. 55–205)
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Islamic world witnessed a new rationalist movement spanning East to West. Known as the reform and modernist movement, it comprised figures seeking a new understanding of religion, rejection of blind imitation, rational interpretation, and subsequent social reform. Although some trace modern Islamic reform back to Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, this section focuses on a movement including Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, and Rashid Rida on one side, and Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Syed Ameer Ali on the other. Its later exponents included Iqbal Lahori and Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad. These figures, though influenced by Western thought, maintained a critical stance toward Western culture and emphasized the superiority of Islamic views on life.
Imitation in The Present Age
