Science in Islam: The Mu'tazila & Free Will | Historical Analysis

'Ilm al-Kalam' (Theology) is defined as a discipline that establishes religious beliefs through rational arguments and refutes objections. The term 'Kalam' refers to the major issue within this field that generates significant debate. There are two categories of 'Mahuwah' (nature): Real Nature (things existing independently in reality) and Conceptual Nature (concepts constructed by human reasoning). 'Ilm al-Kalam' is a conceptual nature - a compound of conceptual elements constructed by scholars. The eight major theological schools are: Ahl al-Sunnah, Mu'tazilah, Shia, Khawarij, Murji'ah, Jabriyah, Mushabbiha, and Najariyah. Theological disagreements did not exist during the Prophet's time but emerged after the revelation of 'Today I have perfected your religion' (Surah Al-Ma'idah, 5:3), beginning with disputes about the Prophet's illness and death. After the Prophet's death, disagreements emerged regarding his burial place, leadership succession, and the caliphates of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. The Khawarij emerged after the Battle of Siffin, and theological disputes continued to expand due to Islamic conquests and the entry of people from various religions. During Caliph al-Ma'mun's reign, the doors of Islamic knowledge were opened to all religions and philosophies, leading to the completion of theological disputes. In the late third and early fourth centuries AH, Allah sent Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari and Abu Mansur al-Maturidi to reform Islamic theology. Before them, Abu Sa'id al-Kulaybi translated the Quran and Sunnah into the language of reason. These scholars created philosophical arguments using rational language, refuting atheistic movements and stabilizing theological positions. The relationship between faith and 'Ilm al-Kalam' is that of cause and effect. Faith consists of beliefs about Allah, prophethood, and the Hereafter. 'Ilm al-Kalam' proves the existence and truth of these beliefs and refutes objections. While divine revelation is sufficient for establishing truth, 'Ilm al-Kalam' provides additional intellectual support for those who seek to understand and defend their faith through rational arguments. 'Usul al-Din' (Foundations of Religion) and 'Ilm al-Kalam' are synonymous terms. Like 'Usul al-Fiqh', 'Usul al-Din' has branches that are not essential for salvation but are subjects of disagreement among schools. Ahl al-Sunnah holds three principles: Tawhid, Prophethood, and the Hereafter. The Mu'tazilah hold five principles: Tawhid, Divine Justice, Divine Wrath, the Intermediate Position, and the Command to do good and forbid evil. The Shia hold five principles: Tawhid, Divine Justice, Prophethood, Imamate, and the Hereafter. These ultimately reduce to Tawhid and Prophethood.

This section explores the intellectual debates that shaped Islamic theology during the Abbasid period. Three major streams emerged: traditionalists rejecting rational inquiry, rationalists emphasizing reason, and Ash'arites seeking equilibrium between faith and philosophy. Core debates centered on God's oneness (tawhid): the relationship between divine essence and attributes, divine transcendence versus immanence, and interpreting anthropomorphic Quranic descriptions. Islamic theologians adopted occasionalism, denying causal power in material things and proposing that God's power replaces causality. The Kalam cosmological argument developed, asserting that infinite regress is impossible and therefore a first cause (God) must exist. These debates established frameworks for engaging with philosophical questions while maintaining religious commitments.

This segment covers Islamic theology (kalam) and its branches. Kalam is divided into 'Mesal' (fundamental beliefs) and 'Vesail' (tools for proving beliefs). Theodicy is explored: the Eşariyye view holds Allah creates both good and evil, while Maturidiyye sees evil as existing but not created by Allah. The relationship between reason and revelation is discussed: Maturidiyye advocates balance, holding that while reason can understand many things, some matters require revelation. The instructor explains that certain things (like wisdom behind religious practices) cannot be fully understood through reason alone. Historical development of theological schools is covered, explaining how each school's approach reflects the intellectual climate of its time.

Kalam (Islamic theology) addresses fundamental questions about divine revelation, Allah's nature, and the Creator-creation relationship. These questions remain relevant today, making Kalam a living field. According to Imam al-Ghazali in 'al-Mustasfa', all Islamic sciences are fundamentally based on Kalam because it establishes that the Quran is Allah's book. Without this foundational truth, other sciences like Fiqh and Tafsir lack essential basis. The Prophet's primary mission was theological - establishing faith principles through rational discourse, not providing practical rulings.

Kalam is theology, which is the construction of belief. It establishes principles and rules for what one should believe. Kalam addresses topics including God, the afterlife, prophecy, revelation, morality, and ethics. It constructs a coherent belief system that adherents accept. A fundamental difference exists between Islam during Prophet Muhammad's lifetime and Kalam. During Prophet Muhammad's time, believers accepted what was revealed to him. In Kalam, believers accept what scholars have constructed with their principles and rules. This represents a 'huge difference' in the nature of religious belief and authority.

One of the most significant theological debates in early Islam centered on free will versus predestination (fate). The Jabriya school believed that everything in life is predetermined by divine decree, and human actions are entirely controlled by fate. In contrast, the Qadariya school argued that humans possess complete free will and the ability to choose their actions and determine their own destinies. This debate was revolutionary because it challenged the notion of an authoritarian divine rule and suggested that divine justice requires human responsibility. The Qadariya position ultimately prevailed in Islamic theology, establishing the principle that humans bear responsibility for their choices.

Qadar (divine predestination) is one of the six pillars of faith in Islam. The Prophet Muhammad stated that faith consists of believing in Allah, His angels, His messengers, the Last Day, and in Qadar. Qadar means that Allah has eternally predetermined everything that comes into existence, including all substances, acts, movements, and immobilities. While Allah has predestined and created everything, including human will and choices, He has also given humans free will. Humans are judged in the afterlife for their voluntary actions. Although Allah knows from eternity what humans will choose, humans themselves do not know their future. Therefore, humans must act according to their own choices and adjust their actions to obey Allah. The Sunni position holds that Allah has predestined both good and evil, while deviant groups like the Qadariyyah claimed Allah created only good, which constitutes shirk.

Qadar (Destiny/Predestination) is one of the six essential articles of faith in Islam, mandatory for complete Iman. Literally meaning 'due measure,' it encompasses everything in the universe—from galaxies to quantum physics to humans. Islamic scholars define Qadar with two components: Ilm (Allah's infinite knowledge of all events) and Qaza (Allah's creation of events recorded in the Book of Destiny). Historically, two extreme schools emerged: Jabriyyah (fatalistic determinism claiming humans have no free will) and Mu'tazilah (rationalist school claiming absolute human free will). The mainstream Ahl al-Sunnah position takes the middle path, reconciling divine predestination with human agency.

The distinction between qadar (divine decree) and qada (divine execution) is explained as follows: qadar refers to Allah's writing of destiny, while qada refers to the actual execution of that destiny. Humans are responsible for how they execute Allah's decree through their actions and choices. The speaker describes her father's teaching that while outcomes are predetermined, human effort and moral choices remain meaningful within that framework. She emphasizes that this understanding helps people accept difficult circumstances while still taking appropriate action.

Qada and Qadar represent Allah's divine decree and predestination in Islam. Qada refers to the initial planning, while Qadar is its execution. All events, from major life occurrences to the smallest details like falling leaves, are predetermined by Allah. The video explains that this concept has been debated among Islamic schools: Mu'tazilah argued it contradicts divine justice by denying human free will, Jabariyah believed everything is predetermined, while Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah held balanced views. The speaker emphasizes that these debates often stem from different perspectives rather than fundamental disagreements, and that accepting divine decree requires understanding that Allah's wisdom transcends human comprehension.

The Islamic era saw the appropriation of Greek philosophy into professional debates, beginning with Patriarch Timothy I who attested to the prevalence of Greek literature in his world. In his letter to students in Mosul, he wrote that Syriacs had become inheritors of logic and orthodox teaching, meaning Aristotelian logic and Greek writings brought into Arabic. This represents the beginning of the understanding of the Greco-Arabic translation movement that would result in hundreds of Greek literary works being translated into Arabic through the medium of Syriac.

In the 9th century, Caliph Al-Ma'mun launched from the House of Wisdom the formidable translation movement that would continue throughout the century. He welcomed not a selection of Greek works, not only the logic of Aristotle, but the entire Greek philosophical heritage, including Plato through the Neoplatonic school. This event was unprecedented in human history. A conquering religion that had reached the height of its power freely welcomed in its own sanctuary another vision of the world that necessarily placed itself in competition with it. The most original contribution of philosophy in the Islamic world consisted in thinking for the first time the relationship between the word of God and human experience, between knowledge and wisdom. The majority of philosophers applied themselves to situate the Quranic teaching in relation to Greek thought, with major contributions from Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes. This reflection was based on the distinction between two modes of knowledge: that of the prophets (accessing truth by divine grace) and that of the philosophers (accessing truth through reason and sensory experience).

The translation movement began during the Umayyad period and peaked under the Abbasid Caliphate, particularly under Caliph Al-Ma'mun. Notable translators included Hunayn ibn Ishaq (a Christian), his son Ishaq ibn Ishaq, and Ibn Adi. These translations made Aristotle's works accessible to Islamic scholars. The transmission chain from Aristotle to Al-Farabi ran through Abu Yahya Al-Marwazi and his students Ibrahim Al-Marwazi and Abu Bisyr Matta Yunus, who taught Aristotelian philosophy in the Islamic intellectual center. Al-Farabi studied logic under them, establishing the foundational curriculum for Islamic logical education.

The Greco-Arabic translation movement emerged from centuries of Greek-Arabic intellectual contact, beginning with Arabic and Aramaic speakers in Syria and Jordan familiarizing themselves with Greek texts during Queen Zenobia's rebellion in the 3rd century CE. By the 7th-8th centuries, this evolved into a systematic translation effort spanning from the mid-8th to late 10th centuries. The movement translated non-literary secular Greek texts including medicine, astrology, astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, and music theory into Arabic. Islamic scholars developed sophisticated criteria distinguishing legitimate sciences (astronomy, chemistry) from unscientific practices (astrology, alchemy). Multilingual translators—often Christians fluent in Greek, Arabic, and Syriac—rendered complex philosophical concepts. This massive intellectual enterprise transformed ancient Greek knowledge into Arabic, creating a bridge between civilizations that would influence European thought for centuries.

When Greek philosophical works were translated into Arabic, Aristotle's logic texts were translated as a complete body. Alongside these translations, commentaries and glosses written by Muslim scholars on Aristotle's logic works were also absorbed into the Islamic intellectual tradition. This created a widespread discourse in the philosophical tradition that the object's reality was logical in nature. This translation movement established the foundation for integrating Greek logic into Islamic education.