SANKORE'

Institute of Islamic - African Studies International


 
 

     
     
www.siiasi.org
The Islamic Inquisition (al-Mihna): A Case study in Academic Warfare
By
Amir al-Hajj Tahir Abdullah
In spite of the accelerated growth of the Islamic domains that occurred under
Umayyad1 rule, by the mid 8th century the Umayyad Amirs (Governors) had fallen out
of favor with the masses due largely to governmental policies that gave primacy of the
Arabs over their newly conquered non-Arab/Muslim populace. There emerged
among the non-Arab segments of the Dar al-Islam alienation2 and resentment over
the rule of the Umayyads that had become synonymous with political nepotism,
religious impropriety and oppression of theahll bayt, family of the Prophet
Muhammad3. Adding to this was the fact that many of the Umayyad rulers justified
their shortcomings by exclaiming that everything they did was the will of God, even if
their actions ran contrary to Islams religious prohibitions.4
In response to the Umayyads theological fatalism there emerged a group of
scholars lead by Hasan al-Basri who utterly refuted he idea of God sanctioning the
evil that men do. Al-Basri argued that God, indeed, had pre-determined the fate of
mankind, however, He also gave man the limited free will to choose between right
and wrong. The theologians who clung to this idea of God allowing man the ability to
choose became known as Qadariyya (believers in free will). This debate between the
fatalist Umayyad Caliphs and scholars who upheld the concept of free-will was the
first of several theological arguments centered on two key questions: 1) who
possessed the authority to interpret revelationThe Caliph or the scholar? And 2)
what was the correct way for man to understand the nature of God and the divine, or
stated another way, could reason be used to understand scripture, or, was scripture to
be understood by means of scripture alone?
The theological unrest and civil dissatisfaction that plagued the later years of the
Umayyad dynasty led to a series of violent revolts throughout the Dar a-Islam,

The Ummayyds were the second of four great Caliphal empires in Islam who ruled from 661-750AD.
Their name indicates that they were from tribe of Umayya, a group of Arab noblemen from the city of
Mecca. They were the first Islamic dynasty based on lineage. The first four Caliphs, or successors to
Prophet Muhammad, were collectively known as the Rashiduun (Rightly Guided) Caliphs. These four
men were some of the Prophets closest companions and between them they shared no blood relations.
2
Egger 87
3
The phrase literally means people of the house and denotes specific members of Prophet
Muhammads family namely his daughter, Fatima, her husband and the Prophets cousin Ali ibn abi
Talib, and their two twin sons (the Prophets grandsons) Hasan and Husayn. Anyone who descends
from Hasan and Husayn are also considered ahll bayt.
4
Watt 26

particularly among sectarian factions like the Shia 5 (supporters of the Prophets
descendents) and the Khawarij6 (extremist egalitarian rebels). It is out of this milieu
of social upheaval and political unrest that the Abbasids emerge. 7 Unlike the
Umayyads the Abbasids claimed lineage from the family of the Prophet and had
appropriated the cause of the Shia as a socio-political galvanizing force. Thus, the
Abbasids believed that their blood relation to the Prophet of Islam, not necessarily
Gods divine will, legitimized them as the rightful heirs to Muslim rule. 8 Also, from
the very beginning the Abbasid saw themselves as not only the temporal rulers of the
Caiphate, but they believed themselves to be possessed of a particular insight that
gave them the authority to dictate and discuss matters of religion as well. (Site) There
active role in encouraging the development of a legal system based explicitly upon
Islamic values9, may have endeared them to a Muslim society who had lived under a
kind of tyranny sanctioned by God.
The Dar al-Islam that the Abbasids inherited was not only predominantly nonArab by the time they had taken power, but by the mid 8th century this non-Arab
population had managed to exert significant influence of over its Abbasid rulers. The
huge swath of territory over which the Abbasid Caliphs presided, now Persians,
Berbers, Sub-Saharan Africans, Turkic speaking Central Asians and people from Sind
the Hindu-Kush regions of South Asia. 10 Muslim governors had as their subjects
Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus and individuals who adhered to an array of
pagan customs and traditions all subsumed under Islamic suzerainty. Thus as one
might expect, the Abbasid capitol at Baghdad had become a cultural nexus, and
melting pot of cultures and ideas from civilizations far older than the nascent yet
bourgeoning Islamic state.11
Under the Abbasids, there emerged a sea of social, political and cultural changes
that would forever shape the contours of the Muslim world. From the 8th century
onward Baghdad flowered as an epicenter of trade, intellectual exchange, and Islamic
learning the influence of which could be seen in the opulent palaces, bathhouses,
mosques, market places and libraries that dotted the this bustling metropolis 12 .
Traders, scholars, students and those seeking stability and a new life, flooded
Baghdad and by the 9th century the Abbasid capitol had become the centre of a
Muslim civilization and culture of very wide extent13. The influence of the myriad
cultures that comprised the new capitol could now been in the government. A
5

The Shia were the party of Ali ibn abi Talib and his descendents. They believed that all successive
Caliphs after the Prophet Muhammad should be members of the Prophets family, and since Ali was
the prophets cousin and companion, the Shia felt he should have been the first to succeed the Prophet.
6
The Khawarij were a group of rebels who emerged during the reign of the fourth Rashiduun Caliph,
Ali ibn Abi Talib. During the battle of Siffin (657AD) the Muslim community was split between those
who sided with the Caliph Ali, and those who sided with the heir-apparent to the Umayyad Caliphate,
Muaawiya bin Abu Sufyan. The two sides agreed to an armistice but thereafter a third group emerged
from the side of Caliph Ali who rebelled and insisted that Ali had no right to agree to a truce with
Muaawiya. They are called the Khawarij because they leftkharaja, both sides and formed their
own.
7
The Abbasids were the 3rd great Islamic dynasty who ruled from 750-1258AD. Like the Ummayyads,
Abbasid rule was based on lineage, which in their case meant being a descendent of the Prphet
Muhammad.
8
Watt 28
9
Egger 116
10
ibid 57
11
Smith 1
12
Egger 86
13
Smith 1

synthesis of Persian and Arab culture now dominated the Abbasid court, such that the
ascension of a new Amir or the appointment of a Sultan (regional governor) or Waizr
(minister), now resembled the coronations of the Pre-Islamic Sasanian kings of
Persia more than it did the humble simplicity indicative of the transfer of power
amongst the Prophet and his companions14.
Early on the Amirs of the Abbasid Caliphate had been keen to extract from their
newly conquered subjects, those skills most suited to knowledge acquisition, or that
was deemed useful within the realm of government and politics. The seeds of
religious plurality were sewn under the 2nd Abbasid Caliph beginning with Caliph alMansur who ruled from 754-775AD15. Thus within the Abbasid Court it was quite
common to see Christians employed as secretaries scribes physicians and
interpreters (Smith p.2). In fact it was during al-Mansurs reign that the Dar al-Islam
began to enter its intellectual peak, or what many historians call the Islamic Golden
Age (site). Caliph al-Mansurs zeal for philosophy and intellectual pursuits was said
to be so acute that as a part of his peace treaties with the Byzantines emperors, he
would bestow lavish gifts upon the Christian emperor in exchange for Greek
philosophical text.16
The third Abbasid Caliph, Abu Jafar Abdullah al-Mamun, who ruled the Dar alIslam from 813-833AD, was also a fervent patron of the arts and under his
administration the building of Bayt al-Hikmah (The house of Wisdom)an
enormous library equipped with an astrological observatory, was commissioned. 17
along with the largest translation project in human history. Caliph al-Mamun had set
out to translate many of the Greek philosophical texts that had been amassed during
the time of his brotherthe previous Caliph al-Mansur. As historian Gaston Weit
explains, Caliph Mamun had managed to procure from these Byzantine rulers
works on Plato, Aristotle Hippocrates, Galen, Euclid and Ptolemy The Caliph
would then choose:
the most experienced translators and commissioned them to translate these works to the
best of their ability. After the translating was done as perfectly as possible, the Caliph urged
his subjects to read the translations and encourage them to study them. Consequently, the
scientific movement became stronger under this prince's reign. Scholars held high rank, and
the caliph surrounded himself with learned men, legal experts, traditionalists, rationalist
18
theologians, lexicographers, annalists, metricians, and genealogists.

The language skills required to translate these works necessitated that a person be
fluent in Greek, Syriac and Arabiccompetencies that were predominant among the
Caliphs Christian subjects.19
New knowledge flowed into the Dar al-Islam from every corner of the empire,
finding its niche within the scholarly circles in and around Baghdad. The intellectual
revolution Caliph al-Mamun had nurtured, flourished following the creation of Bayt
al-Hikmah. As a result of his state sponsored patronage the Persian literary movement
known as Shuubiyya blossomed. This group was known for its affinity towards the
Abbasid Caliphate, anti-Arab sentiment, prodigious literary output, and philosophical
debates around religion. Poetry, prose, satire and literature related to proper etiquette
14

Egger 87

15

Weit "Wiet. Baghdad." FORDHAM.EDU. Web. 28 Mar. 2011.

<http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/wiet.html>.
16

ibid
Smith 3

17

18

Weit "Wiet. Baghdad." FORDHAM.EDU. Web. 28 Mar. 2011.

<http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/wiet.html>.
19

Smith 3

(adab) flourished as a result of the Shuubiyyah movement. (Look at Encyclopedia of

Islam)
This patronage also extended towards other networks of intellectuals around Baghdad
particularly those who had distinguished themselves in dialectic disputation and
debate (Hurvitz 117) One such group who had earned the Caliphs clientage were the
Mutazilah.
Many historians consider the Mutazilah an outgrowth of the Qadariyya based on
the connection between a student of Hasan al-BasriAmr ibn Ubayd who figures
prominently in the narrative surrounding Mutazilah origins.20 Amr was said to have
separated or withdrawn (itazala) from the circle of al-Basri after giving a
controversial answer on theology for which he was ridiculed. There is no doubt
however that the Mutazilah were not only adherents to the doctrine free will, but they
shared Caliph al-Mamuns propensity for Greek philosophy and are thus credited for
bringing Greek conceptions into the discussions of Islamic dogma, that is, in the
first elaboration of the discipline of Kalam. 21 During the 9th century Muslim
theologians used the term kalam22 rather broadly to denote any manner of dialectic to
explain matters of religion: reason, analogy, speculative-theology, neo-Platonism and
Aristotelian logic.
During the reign of Caliph al-Mamun the Mutazilah were the champions of kalam
and set about establishing the parameters for what may have been the first formal
Islamic school of theology. (Egger 154) The Mutazilah upheld five key principles23,
two of which provided the foundation upon which their theological doctrine was
predicated. The first of those principles was the belief in tawhid, or oneness of God.
The Mutazilah conception of monotheism differed from the popular notion of tawhid
that all observant Muslims recognized. The Mutazilah argued that Gods 99
attributes as enumerated in the Quran, did not function in any hypostatic way but
were merely a part of his essence. To consider Gods attributes as independent of his
essence, according to the Mutazilah, was tantamount to disbelief.
The second principle which formed the foundation of Mutazilah doctrine was
adljustice. The idea being that since God endowed man with free-will, and God
showed man all that is necessary to obey Him, the place man earned in either
heaven or hell, must of necessity be an act of Gods justice. Thus, the Mutazilah
conception of justice insisted that Gods system of rewards and punishments hinged
on mans actions alone. Therefore, God was bound to be just by punishing the
sinner and rewarding the obedient.24
These two principles were so integral to the core of Mutazilah doctrine that its
proponents began to refer to themselves as ahl al-tawhid wa al-adl the people of
monotheism and justice. The ideas of monotheism and justice fomented a type of
insistence on moral Puritanism that made the Mutazilah akin to the Khawarij in both
belief and controversy. However, the Mutazilah differed significantly from the
Khawarij in the extent to which they deployed reason to arrive at their theological
conclusions. In addition to their complete rejection of the idea of God creating evil
20

Watt 47-52
Ibid 46
22
Discuss what ilm al-kalam is now
23
Watt outlines the five key principles of Mutazilah doctrine as follows: 1) tawhidmonotheism
2)adljustice 3) al wad wal waidthe promise and the threat (of punishment or paradise) 4) almanzilah bayna manzilataynthe intermediate position (between sinner and believer) and 5) al-amr
bil maruf wa nayhi anal munkarcommanding the good and forbidding the evil.
24
Egger 134
21

and mans free-will, the Mutazilah understanding of the principle of tawhid led them
to believe that the Quran, as Gods speech, was an attribute of Goda created
thing, and not coeternal with Gods essence. Therefore, accepting the Quran as the
eternal, uncreated word of God would have completely undermined the Mutazilah
construction of tawhid and was thus unacceptable.
The works of Plato and Aristotle circulated widely throughout the Caliphate
during the 9th century, fueling the environment of debate around the place of reason in
Islamic theology. We also begin to see the usage of kalam, and its partisans taking
center stage at the Abbasid court at Baghdad; its most loyal patron being none other
than Caliph al-Mamun himself.
Through their intellectual prowess, the Mutazilah had managed to grab the
attention of Caliph al-Mamun and were thus welcome to join him and a host of
scholars to debate their ideas at his court. These scholars were from a plethora of
ideological sects: Murji25, Zaydi Shia, Mutazilah and Sunnis or traditionalists. All
enjoyed the Caliphs fiscal support, as well as, being appointed to prominent positions
as judges and scholars endowed with the official sanction of Abbasid authority.
Caliph al-Mamun had spent practically his entire life studying the sciences and
philosophy and erected institutions precisely for the preservation of such pursuits.
Scholars like Hurvitz and others suggest that as a result of his pension for intellectual
endeavors and perhaps with the support of scholars who shared his intellectual
proclivities26, the Caliph became a staunch partisan of kalam and had adopted the
Mutazilah view that the Quran was created.
During the last four months of his life he had indeed become convinced that his
ideas and the intellectual culture he helped create27, had to be preservedeven if by
force. Thus in the year 833AD, and for reasons that are highly debated among
scholars and historians, Caliph al-Mamun set about instituting a policy of state
sponsored interrogation, that quickly devolved into terrorism, known as the
inquisition, or al-mihna.
Caliph al-Mamuns adoption of the view that the Quran was created became the
litmus test by which loyalty to his ideas, and authority, were tested. The Caliph
insisted that all of the judges and scholars of repute adopt the view that the Quran
was created or else face torture, imprisonment or death. Anyone who did not
acquiesce to the Caliphs ideas was subject to persecution. (Egger 135) What actually
provoked Caliph al-Mamun to institute the mihna, has been highly debated by
historians. Scholars, like Egger argue, that; Mutazilism appealed to him (Caliph alMamun) in part because he was a rationalist himself, and in part because the doctrine
of the createdness of the Quran could more easily allow the caliph, like the Shiite
Imam, to interpret and expand on the Quran as he felt was necessary28
Eggers ideas combine to form what historian Nimrod Hurvitz calls the single
person approach in unraveling Caliph al-Mamuns motivations for the mihna.
Hurvitz argues that, until fairly recently, scholars have made Caliph al-Mamun the
center of the discussion around the mihna and have (inadvertently) ignored the
historical context out of which the policies of the mihna emerge by asserting the
25

The Murji-those who postpone judgement were a sect that emerged out of the conflict with the
khawarij during the Umayyad period. They believed that the punishment of sinners should be left ot
god and that we should postopone judgement of them. Seale, Morris S. Muslim theology: A Study of
origins with reference to Church Fathers. London. Luzac and Company: (1964).
26
Hurvitz. The Mihna as Self-Defense 102
27
Nawas 698
28
Egger 135

following: 1) al-Mamun was inspired by the Mutazilah and Shiais and 2) .the
mihna occurred because the caliph wanted to establish himself as the supreme arbiter
of spiritual matters. 29 . According to Hurvitz, both of these narratives adopt the
single person approach while neglecting the perspectives of those scholars around
the Caliph and the debates that had taken place between them prior to the mihna.
Hurvitz asserts that the events of the mihna were not about who had the power to
interpret scripture. The Caliph, in his opinion, never makes the mihna a personal issue
between him and a particular group of ulema (scholars)30; nor was the mihna about
one specific doctrinal issue like the createdness of the Quran. For Hurvitz the mihna
was about the mutakallimuns (rationalists) right, better yet obligation, to debate
its createdness. For him the issue was first and foremost about the politics of
theology.31
That the mihna did set in motion a debate around theological issues that became
the very touchstone for Islamic orthodoxy. Walter Patton, one of the earliest scholars
to elucidate the history of the mihna makes no bones about the magnitude of issues at
stake when he writes: The importance of them [theological questions raised] lies in
the fact that they settled the orthodox character of Islam for all following ages; and in
the preservation of orthodoxy lies the preservation of Islam itself, in our
judgement. 32 Ironically perhaps, Patton was considered by Hurvitz to be the
progenitor of the single person approach to the mihna, claiming that authors simply
followed Pattons lead after his publication of the mihna in 1897.33
For Hurvitz and others, at the heart of the issue of the mihna was the role of kalam
within religious Islamic discourse, and the evidence suggests that the scholars who
engaged in these intellectual duals saw the mihna in the very terms which Patton
suggests. The issue of whether or not to use reason for the purpose of understanding
the Quran and habitual practice of Prophet Muhammad known collectively as
sunnah, reached an apex during the mihna and split the Muslim theologians into two
distinct camps.
There were the Mutakallimunthose who engaged in kalam. This was initially a
pejorative term used by the traditionist but was later reconciled by Muslim
theologians to describe any scholar who deployed rational proofs, reason, or any
myriad of philosophical techniques to explain matters of religion. Caliph al-Mamun
and the vast majority of those scholars at the Abbasid court during his reign were
considered mutakallimun. The head of these partisans of dialiectic34 was Ibn abi
Duad; a mutazilah scholar who was brought into the Abbasid court by Caliph alMamun. Ibn abi Duad was also considered the first among the Caliphs courtly
entourage to engage in kalam during debate.35 Ibn abi Duad had managed to impress
the Caliph to such an extent that he was eventually appointed chief judgea
position from which he wielded tremendous power.36
On the other side of the debate were the muhadduthun or traditionists camp.
This group of scholars that adhered to a literalist interpretation of the Quran,
eschewing kalam while vehemently insisting that textual evidence from the Quran
29

Hurvitz. The Mihna as Self-Defense 94

ibid. Hanbalism 20
31
ibid. The Mihna as Self-Defense 102
32
Patton 2
33
Hurvitz The Mihna as Self-Defence 93
34
Egger 134
35
Patton 55
36
Hurvitz 124
30

and sunnah alone, be used to explain matters of religion. The muhaddithun were a
unique brand of scholars who gained prominence during the 8th century; their
specialty was indentifying, compiling, memorizing and transmitting the thousands of
Prophetic narrations or traditions known as hadith that circulated throughout the
Dar al-Islam37.
Despite his philosophical bent, Caliph al-Mamun was no stranger to traditionist
discourse, for he had received at least part of his Islamic education under Imam
Malik, one of the most celebrated jurists and muhaddithun of the 8th century. 38
Further, Caliph al-Mamun had a cadre of traditionists among his courtly patrons who
received judicial appointments and stipends for their services. 39 Yet, not all of the
muhaddithun were accepting of the Caliphs favors and that at some point al-Mamun
began to view certain key individuals from among the muhaddithun as a threat to his
authority and ideas.
From the thorough empirical analysis of Nawas40 we know that of the hundreds
of scholars and judges targeted and interrogated during the mihna, forty of them were,
highly esteemed for their intellects as well as for their social status and influence
indeed the crme de la crme of Baghdadi hadith-scholarship41 The most ardent
of the hadith scholars to reject the Caliphs overtures was Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
Ibn Hanbals family was from the region of Khorosan, an area now encompassing
eastern Iran, Afghanistan and the Central Asian countries bordering the Caspian Sea.
Ibn Hanbals parents migrated from Khorasan to Baghdad while he was still in his
mothers womb, and it was there in Baghdad, during the year 780AD, that Ibn Hanbal
was born.42 Ahmad quickly developed a reputation as a gifted student and became the
pupil of the most venerated jurist and muhaddith of the timeal-Shafi. It is even
recorded that al-Shafi took Prophetic traditions from ibn Hanbal, and may have
perhaps even acknowledged the latters superiority as a muhaddith.43
Ibn Hanbal did indeed become a celebrated traditionist who was known for his
scrupulous piety, prodigious memory, mild asceticism (zuhd) and social
criticism44. It was as a result of these qualities that ibn Hanbal earned the respect and
support of thousands of followers throughout the Dar al-Islam. Ibn Hanbal was also
assertive in his preaching and consciously sought out individuals who shared his
passion for religious devotion. With his vast knowledge and religious zeal ibn Hanbal
quickly galvanized around him a following of like-minded scholars and disciples
dubbed the Hanabila by his later students. The followers of ibn Hanbal not only
shared his passion for religious devotions, but meticulous piety became the very
bulwark by which an individual was inducted into his circle of disciples.45
Throughout his career Ahmad ibn Hanbal may have amassed as many adversaries
as he had students. He was never shy to speak out whenever he felt that his
contemporaries had plunged into heretical innovation. The practice of kalam was
simply one of the many practices for which ibn Hanbal had disdain. He rejected the
practice of ray (sound reasoning) and qiyas (analogy) which caused him to diverge
37

Nawas 705
Patton 2
39
Ibid 119
40
Nawas uses the scientific method to look at various hypotheses around the cause of the mihna in his
journal article The Mihna of 218 A.H./833 A.D. Revisted: An Empirical Study.
41
Nawas 705
42
Patton 10. The author gives the Hijri year of 164AH
43
Hurvitz 54
44
Ibid 67
45
Ibid 93
38

from the teachings of his teacher, al-Shafi, and the other canonical schools of Islamic
jurisprudence who deploy it. 46 Ibn Hanbal also disliked the Shia because they
slandered the four Rashiduun Caliphs who assumed power after Muhammads death.
It seems that Caliph al-Mamun embodied myriad qualities that, ideologically,
would have made him the object of ibn Hanbals criticism. After all, the Abbasid
Caliphate was built on the back of Shia propaganda and the Caliphs adoption of
kalam, particularly the Mutazilah notion of that the Quran was created, made him no
ally of ibn Hanbal. However, as the history of the mihna demonstrates, Caliph alMamun and the mutakallimun were the aggressors during the mihna and Islamic
sources record a series of letters written by the Caliph to his governor at Baghdad,
Ishaq ibn Ibrahim, that clearly demonstrate that fact.
These letters were written over the course of four months and delineate alMamuns theological position regarding the use of kalam, his attitude towards the
muhaddithun (Sunnis), as well as, a series of ultimatums outlining exactly what he
expected from those being interrogated. The following tract from Caliph al-Mamuns
first letter articulates the rationale behind the interrogation:
I (The Commander of the faithful) realized 47 that the broad mass and the overwhelming
concentration of the base elements of the ordinary people and the lower strata of the
commonalty are those who, in all the regions and far horizons of the world, have no
farsightedness, or vision, or faculty of reasoning by means of such evidential proofs as God
approves along the right way which He provides, or faculty of seeking illumination by means
of the light of knowledge and Gods decisive proofs. They are a people sunk in ignorance and
in blindness about God, plunged into error regarding the true nature of His religion and His
unity and faith in Him; too far off the right track from His clear marks for guidance and the
obligation of following in His way; a people who fall short of being able to grasp the reality of
God as He should be recognized, to acknowledge Him exactly as He should be acknowledged
and to distinguish between Him and His creation. This is because of the feebleness of their
judgment, the deficiency of their intellects and their lack of facility in reflecting upon things
48
and calling them to mind.

The Caliph sees his intervention, clearly, as one of necessity brought on by a

preponderance of ignorance and ineptitude regarding the reality of God that had
befallen the masses. The next passage below demonstrates the manner in which
Caliph al-Mamun interpreted verses of the Quran to explain and defend his view that
Quran was created by God and not the eternal speech of God:
All this arises from the fact that they consider as perfectly equal God Himself and the Quran
which He has revealed. They have agreed with one voice and have asserted unequivocally that it is
eternal and primordial, not created nor originated nor invented in any way by God. Yet God has
said in the clear and unambiguous parts of His Bookwhich He has set forth as a healing for the
anguish in peoples breasts and as a mercy and guidance for the believers"Indeed, We have
made it an Arabic Quran" (43:2). Now everything which God made He must have created. He has
also said, "Praise be to God who has created the heavens and earth and has made the darkness and
the light" (6:1). He has further said, "In this way, We recount to you some of the stories of the
past" (20:99), and He gives the information that this is an account of events which He brought into
existence subsequently to those events happening, and with it He followed up the beginnings of the
events. He has also said, "Alif, lm, r. A book, whose miraculous signs have been clearly set
forth and then made distinct, from One wise and well-informed" (11:1). Now everything which has
been clearly set forth and made distinct must necessarily have an agent who brings these actions to

46

Melchert 235-36
Pattons translation says Commander of the faithful which is a translation of the Arabic word
Amir.
48
al-Tabari 200
47

pass; God is the One who has clearly set forth His Book and made it distinct, and He is its creator
49
and originator.

The above citation shows the extent to which Caliph al-Mamun was familiar with the
theological proofs used to defend the position of the created Quran. Al-Mamun also
includes within his letter some disparaging remarks aimed at those who claim to
follow the Sunnaa reference to the muhaddithun. The tract reads as follows:
They consider themselves adherents of the Sunna, whereas in every section of the Book of
God there is an account related by Him which invalidates their words and gives the lie to their
claims, turning their sayings and their call to adopt their professed beliefs back on themselves.
Despite all this, they go on to make an outward show of being people of the divine truth, the
real religion and community of Muslims, and assert that all other are people of false beliefs,
infidelity and schism. They raise themselves up importunately against the people with these
assertions, and thereby deliberately lead astray the ignorant; to the point that a group of
adherents of the false way, who display submissiveness to someone other than God and who
lead an ascetic lifebut for another cause and not the true faithhave inclined towards
agreement with them and accordance with their evil opinions, thereby acquiring for
themselves glory in their eyes and securing for themselves leadership and a reputation for
probity amongst them. These people have forsaken the divine truth for their own delusions
and have adopted for themselves a supporter for their error to the exclusion of God. . . .
These are the people whom "God has made deaf and has blinded their eyes. Do they not
consider the Quran, or are there locks on their hearts?" (47:23-24) I consider that these people
are the worst of the Muslim community and the chief ones in error, the ones who are defective
in their belief in the divine unity and who have an imperfect share in the faith. They are
vessels of ignorance, banners of mendaciousness and the tongue of Iblis, who speaks through
his companions and strikes terror into the hearts of his adversaries, the people of Gods own
50
religion.

This last citation lists the demands and expectations the Caliph wishes to enforce on
those being interrogated.
Therefore, summon together all the judges in your sphere of jurisdiction and read out to them this
letter from me to you. Begin by testing them out concerning what they say and by finding out from
them their beliefs about Gods creating and originating the Quran in time. Inform them too that I
will not seek the assistance in any of my administrative tasks of anyone whose religion, whose
sincerity of faith in Gods unity, and whose own religious beliefs are not deemed trustworthy, nor
will I place any reliance on such a man in the responsibilities laid on me by God and in the affairs
of my subjects which have been entrusted to me. Then, when they have publicly declared that the
Quran is created and have shown full agreement with me concerning it and are on the road of
right guidance and salvation, order them to interrogate closely the legal witnesses within their
sphere of jurisdiction and to question them about their knowledge of the Quran. They are no
longer to recognize the validity of the testimony of those failing to affirm or hold the view that the
Quran was created and originated in time, and they are to prevent the admission and
countersigning of such testimony in the judges own court. Write me back what you learn from the
judges over the people within your administrative province as to the results of their enquiries and
their ordering these processes to be set in motion. Then keep a close oversight of them and search
out what they have been doing, to such a point that Gods decrees are only put into execution on
the testimony of people clear-sighted in religion and wholly sincere in belief in the divine unity.
51
Write me about what happens in regard to all this, if God wills.

There was a second letter sent by Caliph al-Mamun intended specifically for the
seven leading muhaddithun of Baghdad, which initially included Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
However, sources allege that Ibn Hanbals name was erased by the Mutazila and chief
49

Ibid 201
ibid 201-02
51
ibid 203
50

judge Ibn Abu Duad. 52 These scholars were then summoned to Caliph al-Mamun
who was stationed at Raqqah (Syria) at the time.53 They were made to profess, under
threat to their lives, that the Quran was created in front of the Caliph himself. The
seven scholars were then sent back to Baghdad and further shamed by being made to
proclaim that the Quran was created in front of the most venerated jurists and
muhaddithun of Baghdad.54
There was a third letter written by Caliph al-Mamun where he again explains his
rationale and how he, the Commander of the Faithful has made plain to himself by
reflection, and has situated intently by his thinking the need to enforce his policy
of interrogating given the great danger, corruption and harm to the religion
the sayings which Muslims are passing around among themselves about the
Quran55. With each letter it seemed that the Caliphs sense of urgency increases;
according to many historians this has to do with the fact that his ideas were not
popular with the influential masses.56 In spite of this lack of popular support, the
Caliph persisted in his demands, and under his deputy Ishaq ibn Ibrahim, yet another
group of jurists and muhaddithun were summoned and questioned at Baghdad; this
time Ahmad ibn Hanbal was among them.
The following is a tract from the incident of the mihna as recorded by the Muslim
historian al-Tabari. After interrogating several other scholars over the createdness of
the Quran, Ishaq ibn Ibrahim turns to ibn Hanbal for questioning. Below is the
exchange between the two of them:
He then came back to Ahmad ibn Hanbal and said to him, "What is your view concerning the
Quran?"
Ahmad replied, "It is the word of God."
Ishaq said, "Is it created?"
Ahmad retorted, "It is the word of God; I cannot add any more to these words."
Ishaq then put him to the test with the contents of the document. When he came to the words
"There is nothing like Him, and He is the hearing and seeing one," he held back from the
phrase "whom nothing of His creation resembles in any meaning or sense whatsoever." Ibn alBakka al-Asghar interrupted him and said, "May God grant you righteousness! It speaks of a
hearing one because of ears and a seeing one because of eyes!"
Ishaq said to Ahmad ibn Hanbal, "What do the words a hearing and seeing one mean?"
Ahmad replied, "God is even as He has described Himself."
"But what does it mean?"
"I dont know; He is even as He has described Himself"
In regard to Ibn al-Bakka al-Akbar, he replied that the Quran was something made because
of Gods words, "Indeed, we have made it [jaalnahu] an Arabic Quran" (43:2), and
something originated because of His words, "No recently-originated (muhdath) warning has
come to them from their Lord" (21:2).
Ishaq said to him, "Is, then, what is made, created?"
"Yes"
"So the Quran is created?"
"I dont say that it is created, but that it is something made."
57
Ishaq then wrote down what he had said.

The above mentioned citation is interesting because it demonstrates the reticence

with which Ahmad ibn Hanbal spoke on the issue of the Qurans createdness. The
governor Ishaq, following the Caliphs orders, reported the testimony exactly as ibn
52

Patton 64
Al-Tabari 199
54
Patton 65
55
ibid 206
56
Hurvitz. The Mihna as Self-Defense 102
57
Al-Tabari 212
53

Hanbal had stated it. His reply was, of course, completely unsatisfactory as far as
Caliph al-Mamun was concerned. This caused al-Mamun to proclaim, As for Ahmad
ibn Hanbal and what you write about him, tell him that I have understood the
significance of that view and his conduct regarding it, and from it I deduce as proven
his ignorance and defective intelligence.58
Of those scholars gathered during this particular round of questioning, only two
refused to acknowledge that the Quran was createdAhmad ibn Hanbal, and a lesser
known muhaddith, Muhammad ibn Nuh. They were placed in iron fetters and sent to
the garrison town of Tarsus where they were to remain, imprisoned, until the arrival
of Caliph al-Mamun. Perhaps fortunately for the two of them, Caliph al-Mamun died
before ever having reached them at Tarsus.59 After having been transported back and
forth between various towns throughout the Caliphate, ibn Nuh finally died at the
town of Raqqa, Syria.60 Now alone, ibn Hanbal performed the prayer of the dead over
his friend, and was again shipped off to Baghdad where he was, badgered for his
beliefs, beaten, often to the point of unconsciousness61 (Patton 111) and imprisoned.62
Ibn Hanbal was now the only man remaining from among those who were
interrogated that not only refused to profess that the Quran was created, but he had
stood his ground and endured horrific conditions for his beliefs.
Through various political machinations and cunning, the mutazilah judge, Ibn Abi
Duad was able to maintain his post for some time following Caliph al-Mamuns
death in 833AD63. He also became the chief administrator of the mihnas proceeding
and continued to viciously persecute the traditionist and Ibn Hanbal under the
administrations of Caliph al-Mutasim (833-842AD) and al-Wathiq (842-847AD).
The story of ibn Hanbals continued interrogation under ibn abi Duad is recorded in a
text written by the famous scholar al-Jahiz of Baghdad.
Al-Jahiz was a Mutazili and literary polymath who wrote hundreds of books on
everything from zoology to philosophy. The following tract is from a text regarding
the createdness of the Quran and the history of the Islamic inquisition written after
the mihna in 869AD. The account below in an exchange between Abi Duad and Ibn
Hanbal during the latters interrogation that took place in the presence of Caliph alMutasim in 834AD. In the comments by al-Jahiz one may notice his disdain towards
the muhaddithun through by his insults of Ibn Hanbal. The passage reads as follows:
The mans stubborn refusal to acknowledge the truth when it was before his eyes reached its
highest point when Ahmad ibn Abi Duad (the Mutazili chief qadi) asked him, "Is it true that a
thing must be either created or uncreated?"
"Yes."
"And the Quran is a thing?"
"Yes."
"Is it true that only God is uncreated?"
"Yes."
"So the Quran is created?"
"I am no dialectician," he replied at last. This was his way when dealing with questions; when he
reached an impasse, the point at which a single word from him would have lost him the support of
his followers, he would reply, "I am no dialectician." He neither said at the outset that he was
unskilled in dialectic nor, having had his say and arrived at a crux in the disputation, was he
willing to acknowledge the truth.
58
59

62
63

ibid 217
ibid 222

Patton 86
Hurvitz 124-25

At this point the caliph exclaimed contemptuously, "Shame on this man, who is ignorant at one
moment and obstinate the next!"
The moment when he had the effrontery to lie brazenly to the caliph and insult the community,
thus demonstrating his indifference and incurable stubbornness, was when Ahmad ibn Abi Duad
asked him, "Do you consider God the lord of the Quran?"
"If I had heard anyone say so, I would say so also."
"Have you never heard it in an oath or a question, on the lips of a stump orator, or in verses or
hadiths?"
The caliph saw that he was as untruthful as he was stubborn in the face of irrefutable arguments.
Ahmad ibn Abi Duad was too skilled at this sort of dialectic, and other methods also, to suppose
that he could make these questions a main issue in the hearing; he merely wished to bring out the
insolence of the mans lies, just as he had exposed the shamelessness of his obstinacy. It was at
this point that the caliph struck him.
He maintained on that day that the word of God is like His learning: just as it is impossible to
accept that His learning is created, so it is impossible to accept that HIs word is. Ahmad ibn Abi
Duad said to him, "Is it not true that God can substitue one verse for another, or withdraw this
Quran and put another in its place, seeing that all this is plainly written in the Quran?"
"Yes."
"And is the same thing possible with His learning? Can God amend it, or put another in its place?"
"No."
"We have supported our argument by quoting prophetic hadiths, by reciting verses from the
Quran, and by showing you the rational proof that distinguishes truth from falsehood; now it is
your turn to answer us in one of these three ways."
But he could make no reply.
Our friend said, "Mental reservation (taqiyya) is permissible only when a Muslim is in infidel
territory." If his statements about the creation of the Quran are the result of his using mental
reservation, then he has practised it in the territory of Islam, and has been dishonest with himself.
Conversely, if what he says is what he really thinks, then you no longer have anything in common
64
with him, and he is not one of you.

Ahmad ibn Hanbals unyielding criticism of kalam was demonstrated in his

stubborness and refusal to acquiesce to the Caliphs demands. This made him the
focus of al-Mamuns hostility and the primary target of the mihna which lasted for
some fifteen years. The mihna did finally come to an end in under Caliph alMutawwakil, two years into his reign in 234 A.H. (849AD)65, and with it began the
genesis of Sunni dominance of Baghdad until the coming of the Mongols in 1258AD.
Ahmad ibn Hanbals life and public persona are important to the history of the
mihna, and the subsequent development of Sunnism (traditionalist Islamic theology),
because they illustrate the power and influence wielded by scholars of his caliber, and
the difficult circumstances out of which they and their ideas emerged. After the
mihna, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal became the epitome of an emerging cadre of grass roots
religious scholars that were able to readily accommodate the common persons need
for pragmatic approaches to sacred law that addressed every aspect of their lives.
I have identified Caliph al-Mamun and ibn Hanbal as being representative of
the two opposing sides in this debate in lieu of Hurvitzs rejection of the Caliph verses
the ulema hypothesis.66 Nawas is also in disagreement with Hurvitz and accepts what
essentially amounts to a single person or caliphal authority hypothesisthe idea
being that in order to understand the Islamic inquisition one needs to recognize that
the mihna (functioned) as an instrument which al-Mamun used to secure for the
64

Al-Jahiz 48-50
Patton 122. In most of the sources used for this research paper, the writers use the Hijra
(immigration) year or Islamic calendar year to mark events in Islamic history. The 1st hijra year began
in 622AD when the Prophet Muhammad and his companions migrated from the city of Mecca to
Medina, Arabia.
66
Hurvitz 94
65

generations of caliphs to come the total and unquestioned authority on all matters
religious and secular67
I agree with Nawass view that the muhaddithun represented the greatest
threat to the authority of Caliph al-Mamun, not simply because of their not engaging
in kalam, but by their creating an alternative source of religious authority that was
outside the control of the Caliph. They were able to accomplish this feat by taking on
the enormous task of collecting and codifying the thousands of Prophetic traditions
that were circulating through-out the Dar al-Islamthrowing out those traditions
deemed spurious and preserving and transmitting those validated as authentic and in
accordance with Quranic injunctions. 68The religious institutions that developed out
of this daunting task were the ijmaor a scholarly consensus of the traditionist,
and the codex of ethical religious behavior for the four schools of Sunni Islamic law.
That these activities were happening out side of the Abbasid court posed the greatest
threat to Caliphal authority.69
Hurvitz also notices that with the proliferation of hadith and the rijal
literature connected to itthat is, the science of authenticating the men in the chains
of hadith transmitters, the mutakallimun suffered from having been labeled as
unreliable transmitters. 70 This status of unreliability remained permanent in most
instances and was not simply confined to the realm of Prophetic traditions. The
mutakallimun were tagged, in Sunni circles, as unreliable transmitters for nearly every
branch of the sacred sciences of Islam: fiqh (jurisprudence), tafsir (explanation of the
Quran), and tassawuf (Islamic spirituality). The broad network of scholars and
adherents of the traditionists milieu were not only a threat to Caliphal authority, but
they were equally menacing to the partisans of reason and speculative theology who
sought refuge and favor at the court of al-Mamun and relished in the his persecution
of the traditionists.
I believe that the mihna was very much about the power struggle between the
Abbasid Caliphate and muhaddithun like ibn Hanbal, who had amassed huge social
capitol amongst the masses by the time of the inquisition. Even Hurvitz admits that,
Prior to the mihna, the anthropomorphists (literalist/traditionist) forged alliances with
varying segments of the society and built a large body of followers that opposed
kalam. These networks of rabble and merchants led to the isolation of the
mutakallimun.71 Whether one labels them as rabble, or scholars, most historians
I think would agree that the traditionists won the political battle with the ascension of
al-Mutwwakil, an alledged Shafi adherent72, to the office of Caliph in 847AD and his
subsequent abolition of the mihna. Further, with the release, public requital and
emergence of Ahamd ibn Hanbal as the living martyr of the mihna, this nascent Sunni
body politic had a champion whose persecution during the mihna accelerated the
spread of Sunnism (traditionism) and in my opinion, anti-government/Abbasid
sentiment as well.
The mihna, like many ideological struggles or academic duals, was a
multifaceted conflict that was very much about the supremacy of ideas on one hand,
and the solidification of state power on the other. The mutakallimun chose the path of
government patronage assuming that with the apparatus of the state behind them, they
67

Nawas 707
Ibid 706
69
Ibid 708
70
Hurvitz 110
71
ibid 101
72
Patton 130
68

stood a better chance of having their ideas reign supreme throughout the Dar al-Islam.
The letters of al-Mamun and the chronicle of events by al-Jahiz also reveal that
mutakallimun saw themselves as the intellectually superior group and that they
were the most deserving to guide the community73. However, this posture proved
to be a tactical error that only served to alienate them further from the masses.
This alienation from the masses may have led to a miscalculation in Caliph alMamuns thinking. His first targeting the muhaddithun for his policy of forced
ideological conversion, showed that he grossly underestimated the muhaddithuns
capacity to resist persecution. He also appeared to be ignorant of how entrenched
traditionist ideas had become amongst the masses. His policies also wrongfully
assumed that there was an intellectual void among the Islamic body politic that
needed to be filled, and that this intellectual vacuum needed the sheer power of the
Islamic state to fill it.
In light of the mihna, Ahmad ibn Hanbal and the muhaddithun represent the
kind of public intellectuals who were able to resist state coercion by generating a
profound base of public support for their ideas. The traditionist-Sunnis also
demonstrated that, regardless of how powerful and repressive the policies of the state
may be, people power may be harnessed as a type of protection for the public
intellectual in times of academic, and even physical warfare.

73

Hurvitz The Mihna as Self-Defense 102

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