(1) They were called Muʿtazila (“those who withdrew”) because Wasil ibn Ata left the study circle of al-Hasan al-Basri when he asserted that the grave sinner occupies an intermediate position between disbelief and faith. Al-Hasan expelled him, after which his companion ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd adopted the same view. Their doctrine later crystallised around five principles: • al-ʿAdl (divine justice): in their usage, a denial of predestination (qadar). • al-Tawhid (divine unity): understood as denying God’s attributes, which leads to the claims that the Quran is created and that God will not be seen in the hereafter. • al-Waʿd wa-l-waʿid (divine promise and threat): the grave sinner will remain eternally in Hell if he dies unrepentant. • al-Manzila bayna al-manzilatayn (the intermediate status): whoever commits a grave sin leaves the state of faith without entering disbelief, yet, if unrepentant, will be eternally damned. • al-Amr bi-l-maʿruf wa-n-nahy ʿan al-munkar (commanding right and forbidding wrong): for them, this includes the legitimacy of armed revolt against unjust rulers. For further details on the Muʿtazila and their beliefs, see: Al-Baghdadi, Al-Farqu bayna al-firaq, pp. 93–98; Al-Shahrastani, Al-Milal wa-l-nihal, 1:43; Ibn Abi l-ʿIzz, Sharh al-Tahaawiyya, p. 538; Qadi ʿAbd al-Jabbar, Sharh al-usul al-khamsa, pp. 128–141. (2) Reading of the Damascus edition (Ta): “opinion”; the Cairo manuscript (Q) reads: “statement”. (3) Supplied from the Damascus edition (Ta). (4) The Damascus edition (Ta) reads: “whoever followed their whims.”