Causality in Mu'tazilism Theological System: Conceptology, Branches and Examples

Hashemi, Seyyed Hamed

doi:10.22034/hpi.2024.473789.1097

Causality in Mu'tazilism Theological System: Conceptology, Branches and Examples

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Seyyed Hamed Hashemi

Ph.D. in Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Iranian Research Institute of Philosophy, Tehran, Iran.

10.22034/hpi.2024.473789.1097

Abstract

Mu'tazilism, as one of the main theological currents in the Islamic world, has discussed causation, its branches and examples, in the form of various theological topics such as creation, ability, will and action of God and man in direct and indirect (Mutawallid) actions, wich extracting and analyzing their opinions has a great contribution in understanding the course of philosophical and theological thinking of this sect, and also shows their intellectual influence from other thinkers.

Mu'tazilites of Basra and Baghdad, each divided into two groups, the earlier and the later, have common and sometimes different opinions about the definition and explanation of the concept of causality and its types, the branches of the rule of causality, the criterion of effect’s need for a cause and the method of causality of God and man. In this article, we have tried to extract their views on the above topics from the authentic works of prominent Mu'tazilite scholars and show their intra-sect differences while explaining the common opinions. Finally, it seems that Mu'tazilites differ among themselves on many issues such as the rule of unity (al-Wāhid), God's causality with regard to substances and accidents, how bodies survive and perish, what is ability, and human causality in indirect actions. Also, some of them have come close to the views of philosophers in discussions such as the rule of unity and the criterion of effect’s need for a cause.

Keywords

Branches of causality

Causality

Cause and effect

Examples of causality

Mu'

tazilites

Subjects

The History of Islamic Philosophy

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