There are some people who call themselves Mu‘tazilah and they slander Ahlus-Sunnah and all their supporters saying they are hypocrites. Who are the Mu‘tazilites? How can we refute them?

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.

Mu‘tazilah is an Islamic sect that originated at the end of the Umayyad era and flourished during the Abbasid era. They were affected by the books and views of philosophers and consequently gave precedence to reason over revealed texts in understanding ‘Aqeedah (creed). They also caused confusion among people by spreading their deviant creed through the power of the ruling authority.

They are also known as Qadariyyah, ‘Adliyyah, Muqtasidah and Wa‘eediyyah.

Their ideology is based on five pillars: Tawheed (Islamic monotheism), promise, threat, the in-between degree, enjoining good and forbidding evil.

Muslim scholars of their time refuted their arguments. Some of those scholars were Abul-Hasan Al-’Ash‘ari who was the first one to associate with them but later he renounced their beliefs and refuted their arguments using their method in argument and debate. Imaam Ahmad also refuted them and suffered greatly because of their statements regarding the creation of the Quran. Later, Ibn Taymiyyah examined their statements and exposed them in his books.

Some contemporary writers and thinkers want to revive this thought in the hope of disuniting the Ummah (Muslim nation), stirring up doubts about the foundations of Islam and making the Muslims vulnerable to their enemies.

These people work under the slogans of rationalism, enlightenment, renewal, enlightened religious thought and modernism.

The most dangerous aim of Mu‘tazilite thought is the endeavor to change the Sharee‘ah (Islamic law) rulings that are indisputably established in the Quran and the Sunnah (Prophetic tradition), such as the prescribed punishment for apostasy, the obligation of Jihaad, the general prescribed punishments, divorce, inheritance and Hijab.

We advise the questioner to read literature that exposes their corrupt beliefs so that he may understand them and refute their allegations and arguments if he is qualified to do so. Otherwise, If this is beyond his ability , then it would be sufficient for him  to disassociate himself from them, and this was the same method followed by Ibn ‘Umar . Forsaking them is the best remedy for them until they repent.      

Allaah Knows best.