Divine Providence in the Mu‘tazila’s thought

An analytical reading and discussion of the applicative

Abstract

The divine providence in the Mu‘tazila’s though, unlike the Ash‘aris who denied it, is considered one of the most important rules of Islamic theology after the rule of “al-taḥsīn wa al-taqbīḥ al-‘aqlī”. Many religious beliefs and very important results in theology were built on it, such as: The divine justice, the Promise and the Threat “al-wa‘d wa l-wa‘id”, the moral infallibility “‘Iṣmah”. Rather, the divine Providence has been extended to the Imamiyyah to reach the principles of islamic jurisprudence, so they used it in the issues of consensus “ijmā‘”, to establish what was known as “al-ijmā‘ al-lutfī, which was theorized by Abu Ja‘far al-Tusi (d. 460 H/ 1067 CE.); In addition to islamic law, in several issues, including issues of enjoining good and forbidding wrong, and the guardianship of the Islamic Jurist. This paper attempts to critically read the rule of Divine Providence from the angle of its applicability in various fields, to conclude that the field of application of the rule in divine action is not as wide as Mu’tazili thought has pursued throughout history.