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Goldziher
noticed that the Ibadhi Aqidah of Amr b. Jumai contains views of
evident Mu'tazili nature. Among those views, he set forth the
following:
a) The
Qur’an is created
b) The
impossibility of the vision of God in the Hereafter.
c) The
application of the allegorical method (ta'wil) to
anthropomorphic expressions in the Qur’an, especially in
relation to God's sitting on the throne, and to certain matters
concerning the Day of Resurrection, such as the Bridge (sirat)
and the Scale (mizan).124
Later,
Nallino pointed out that there are still further points in which
Ibadhis maintain the same views as Mu'tazilis, as follows:
a) God
does not forgive grave sins, unless the sinner repents before
death.
b)
Eternity of punishment for Muslims who persist in grave sins,
and they have, furthermore, no right to intercession unless they
repent before death.
c)
Allah's attributes are not additional to his essence.125
It appears
that the European scholars who discussed the subject agree that
all those views in Ibadhi theology were of Mu'tazili origin, but
the question which they had not answered yet was when and where
this influence made itself felt.126
Although
William Thomson has suggested a new line of discussion of this
question, pointing out the possibility of some of those views
having arisen naturally among the Ibadhis,127 this
line of investigation has not been carried out by later
scholars. As it was possible to consult a later number of
Ibadhi sources which were not available before, a clearer view
of the development of Ibadhi theology can now be established,
and the nature of its relation to other Islamic schisms better
understood.
It would be
difficult to decide about certain views, as to whether they were
a result of natural development within a particular schism, or a
result of outside influence. Most of the early discussions of
theological problems by Muslim theologians were directed in one
way or another by the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet, and by
the interpretation of one or other of those sources, and the
degree of reasoning used by those theologians in their
interpretation.
One
fundamental difference between Ibadhis and Mu'tazilites was that
the latter were well known for using rational methods in
theology128 and
for their little consideration of hadith,129 while
Ibadhis gave no consideration to reasoning when an authentic
Tradition was reported. As for their foundation, most of the
Ibadhi views were settled considerably earlier than those of the
Mu'tazilites.
Bearing
these two facts in mind, only one point of the above mentioned
six, can remain as a possibility of Mu'tazili influence on
Ibadhi theology, i.e. the creation of the Qur’an. All other
points were settled by Ibadhi authorities at an early stage. In
fact, they were settled by the Companions on the basis of
Traditions remounting to the Prophet. The role of Ibadhi
authorities was only in narrating those views and adopting them.
It has
already been mentioned that a larger number of Traditions
recorded in the Ibadhi collection of Hadith stated clearly the
impossibility of the vision of God on the Last day, and rejected
all forms of anthropomorphism. As for the attributes of God not
being additional, this attitude was taken in order to assure the
Unity of God which is fundamental to the Islamic faith.
With regard
to the two questions concerning the eternity of punishment for
Muslims persistent in major sin, and the relation of
intercession and God's forgiveness of those who have committed
major sin, these questions were also dealt with by Jabir b. Zaid,
the first Imam of the Ibadhi school, on the basis of Qur’anic
verses and Traditions of the Prophet.
The question
arose from the following verse: "If you avoid the heinous sins
that are forbidden to you, We will acquit you of your evil
deeds."131
According to Ibn Abbas, committing what is forbidden in the
Qur’an is a major sin, and committing what is forbidden by the
Sunnah is minor sin. Forgiveness mentioned in the above verse
is concerned only with (saiyi'at) minor sins, so all major sins
remain as giving a cause for 'threat', (waid).132 |
