When did the ideology of the Murji'ah appear?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

The Murji'ah are the followers of an ideological group which appeared at the end of the first century AH in Kufa. It was initially introduced by Hammaad Ibn Abi Sulaymaan.

The Arabic word ‘Murji'ah’ is a derivative of the Arabic infinitive  ’Irjaa’, which means ‘postponement’. The derivation of this verb in the infinitive was mentioned in the Quran [7: 111] where Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): ‘Arjihi wa akhaah,’ (what means): {Postpone [the matter of] him and his brother.} The word ‘Irjaa'’ could also mean ‘to give hope’.

This group is guilty of religious innovations and its name might have been derived from the first indication of the word that means ‘postponement’,  because they give Eemaan (faith) priority but postpone action, meaning, acts of worship and obedience to Allaah The Almighty.  

 The name might have also been derived from the second indication of the word that means ‘to give hope’. This is because it has been reported that their extremists maintained that acts of disobedience were meaningless as long as the person who did them was a believer; just as acts of obedience were fruitless as long as the person who did them was a disbeliever. Thereby, they gave disobedient believers the hope that they will still receive the reward from Allaah The Almighty.

Abul-Hassan ‘Ali Ibn Ismaa‘eel Al-Ash‘ari divided this group into ten  sects. The following are the most important ideas that this group is based upon:

1-      Imaan (faith) is mere acknowledgment in the heart and knowledge of Allaah The Almighty, while Kufr (disbelief) is the state of being ignorant about Allaah The Almighty. This is according to Al-Jahm Ibn Safwaan, the head of the Jahmiyyah sect. 

2-      Imaan is a spoken acknowledgment while acknowledgement in  the heart is not necessary. This is according to Muhammad Ibn Karraam, the head of the Karraamiyyah sect.

3-      Imaan is acknowledgment  in the heart accompanied by profession of the tongue and it never increases or decreases. They do not include the physical actions within the definition of  faith. This is  according to the Murji'ah jurists (the jurists from Ahl As-Sunnah wa'l Jamaa‘ah (the Sunni mainstream) who adopted the Murji’ah’s view of excluding the actions from the definition of faith), Abu Haneefah and his followers.

Allaah Knows best.