as ignorant fools—an act of injustice, transgression, arbitrary judgment, and tyranny.

Moreover, he declares Muslims unbelievers on the basis of what these men say; for they have no evidence for declaring the ummah unbelievers other than its disagreement with their views, without their error having become clear to them from the Book or the sunnah. Rather, what constitutes their error in their eyes is their turning away from the opinions they have advanced in support of their dialectical arguments, their refusal to follow their doctrine, and their preference for their own schools of thought. Thus, he is as Allah, exalted is He, says:

“And among the people is he who disputes concerning Allah without knowledge or guidance or an illuminating Book, twisting his side to lead others astray from the way of Allah. For him is disgrace in this world, and on the Day of Resurrection We will make him taste the punishment of the Burning Fire.” [al-Hajj: 8]

The Muʿtazilah’s Position toward the Sunnah and the Community

Then there are the charges of blind imitation and superfluity which they have flung at the Muslims.

If the true nature of their doctrines were laid bare to them, their dark foundations, novel opinions, and reprehensible assertions would prove more deserving of the charge of blind imitation and more aptly described by the superfluity they have ascribed to others. For their adoption of a school has no chain of transmission leading back to an earlier revealed law, nor is what they claim founded upon any statement of the early generations of this ummah, whether agreed upon or disputed by opponents and supporters alike.

For he prides himself over his opponents on his cleverness and on extracting the subtleties of his doctrines through his own reason and thought, claiming that no one preceded him in his innovation except a hypocrite who had departed from the faith, or one who defiantly opposed and contended with the Sacred Law. It is therefore not fitting for one whose principles are such to disparage one who follows the Book of Allah