¹ I should like to thank Michael Bonner, Michael Cook, Manfred Halpern, Etan Kohlberg, Prof. W. Madelung, Muhsin Mahdi and Roy Mottahedeh for their help in making the good parts of this paper. For the other parts I admit debt to nobody.

² Al-Fārābī, 'Ārā 278, 12 as distinct from the philosophers and their followers.

³ In 'Ārā', the term Nawābit appears in a distorted manner as nawā'ib, where it indicates individuals outside the excellent cities. See below, note 69.

⁴ E. I. J. Rosenthal (1971) p. 53 n. 63.

⁵ E. I. J. Rosenthal (1955) p. 5 n. 5.

⁶ Madelung (1965) p. 224.

⁷ Qur'ān, 71, 17: “Wa-Allah anbatakum min al-arḍ nabātan”

⁸ Taimiyah, Ibn, Naqd al-mantiq, p. 79, 12Google Scholar.

⁹ They speak of “lowly and poor man” (Lisān, vol. 2 p. 403, 1) but also of “nobility” (ibid., p.403, 4) and “the young generation” (ibid., p. 402, 4), or “anything fresh” (ibid., vol. 2 p. 401, 6).

¹⁰ See note 34 below. Lisān vol. 2 p. 402, 6.

¹¹ E. I. J. Rosenthal, e.g. divides them into four major and two minor groups (1955) p. 170, n. 31.

¹² Al-Fārābī, Siyāsat p. 104, 7.

¹³ The root QNS was also used by two people as a name: Bazar whose mother was called Qanas(?) (Ṭabarī, op. cit. I 1111, 1) and Qanaṣ b. Ma'ād (Ṭabarī, ibid., I 748, 7).

¹⁴ Najjar translates this term as “opportunists” in Lerner, and Mahdi, , Political Philosophy, p. 53Google Scholar.

¹⁵ See 'Ārā' p. 290, 13 for the generation of improper views in “the [excellent?] cities”.

¹⁶ The distinction between views and deeds is an important element in al-Fārābī's writings. E.g., kalām is divided into two parts according to this distinction (Iḥṣā’' al-'ulūm, p. 131, 13).

¹⁷ 'Ārā', p. 304, 3.

¹⁸ 'Ārā', p. 492.

¹⁹ Siyāsat, p. 104, 10.

²⁰ Al-Dārimī, op. cit. Muqaddimah, 56.

²¹ Al-Fārābī, , Siyasat, p. 104, 14Google Scholar.

²² Al-Fārābī, , Siyasat, p. 104, 17Google Scholar. The same group, under this name is mentioned in 'Ārā', p.280, 15. Walzer (ibid., p. 282, 22) translates the name as “those who seek the right path”.

²³ The term al-Fārābī uses is tazyīf, which in a literal sense would mean “blaming for falsity”; “refutation”. See the definition of kalām (Iḥṣā' p. 131, 10) which consists in “refuting the views that oppose the religion which the mutakallim is set to defend”.

²⁴ Al-Fārābī uses the verb rufī a in the third singular passive voice (Siyāsat, p. 105, 2).

²⁵ This description of the stage of truth corresponds to al-Fārābī's definition of truth in his K. al-Fuṣūṣ, (Haidarabad 1349), p. 21, 18. See also another definition in his k. al-Millah, p. 46, 18.

²⁶ Siyāsat p. 105, 17.

²⁷ Siyāsat p. 105, 13. A group similar to this is mentioned in 'Ārā' p. 282, 6 f.

²⁸ For al-Fārābī's definition of takhayyul see Siyāsat, p. 85, 5: “Representing them (i.e. the principles of existence) means that their representation (khyāt), likeness and things that imitate them be sketched in man's soul”.

²⁹ For al-Fārābī's definition of taṣawwur see Siyāsat p. 85, 4 “. . . their (i.e. the principles of existence) essence (dhāt) be imprinted (yursamu) in man's soul as it is in reality (ḥaqīqah)”.

³⁰ Siyāsat, p. 106, 1.

³¹ Translated by Walzer in 'Ārā' as “grounds for objection”, e.g. 'Ārā' p. 280, 11.

³² The term ghumr means a boy devoid of intelligence (Lane, op. cit., p. 2292), and it is used by al-Jāḥiẓ in connection with the Ḥashwiyah as traditionists (taqlīd), (Rasā'il, vol. 4, p. 243, 13). In Iḥṣā', 133, 11, the most excellent of men is like al-ṣabī wal-ḥhadath walghumr, compared to those of divine intellects.

³³ Siyāsat, p. 106, 9.

³⁴ Siyāsat, p. 106, 12.

³⁵ Siyāsat p. 106, 13.

³⁶ 'Iḥṣā p. 71.12. His own definition of “sophists” has to do with distortion of truth rather than with scepticism. Cf. 'Iḥṣā' p. 81, 2.

³⁷ For a condensed description of three schools of scepticism, see al-Baghdādī, Uṣūl, p. 6: one school denies reality (haqīqah) to anything, a second doubts (shakk) the reality of things, and the third claimed that all beliefs (i'tiqādāt) are true.

For the view of the speculative theologians about doubt see Rosenthal, F., Knowledge, p. 302Google Scholar. See also van Ess (1968), p. 1 who refers to Maqālāt, p. 434, 1; Ja'far, Qudāmah ibn, Naqd al-Nathr, Cairo 1938, p. 33, 11Google Scholar; al-Maqdisī, , al-Bad' wal-Ta'rikh, p. 48, 11Google Scholar; 'Abd al-Jabbār, al-Mughnī, XII 41, 1Google Scholar.

³⁸ Al-Jushamī, , Risālah, p. 35, 4Google Scholar.

³⁹ Van Ess (1968) I refers to Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi's al-'Iqd al-Farīd. See his note no. 1 p. 15.

⁴⁰ al-Nadīm, Ibn, Fihrist p. 70, 4 ffGoogle Scholar.

⁴¹ al-Ash'arī, , Maqālāt, (ed. Ritter, ) p. 433, 11 fGoogle Scholar. Van Ess (1968) p. 2 who points to the Hellenistic roots of calling the Sceptics by the name of “Sophists”.

⁴² Which is known as a Zaidī school, the closest to the Sunnīs.

⁴³ See al-Jushamī, , Risālah, p. 35, 4Google Scholar.

⁴⁴ Van Ess (1968), p. 7. For the meaning of shukkāk as first applied by the Murji'ah to the Sunnī traditionalists because of their practice of istithnā', i.e. adding in shā' Allāh to the statement “anā mu'min”, see Madelung, , al-Qāsim, 236–7Google Scholar, and ibid., SI32 (1970) 239 ff. Also Ibn Abī Ya'lā, Tabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, ed. M. M. al-Fiqī, where Ibn Ḥanbal is quoted as stating that the Murji'ah call the ahl al-sunnah “shukkak”. I am indebted to Prof. Madelung for this note.

⁴⁵ al-Naubakhtī, , Firāq, p. 7, 6Google Scholar.

⁴⁶ Cf. Cook, Early, p. 45 n. 19Google Scholar, who quotes Shabīb b. ‘Aṭiyah's al-Radd ‘alā-Shukkāk wal-Murji'ah, where the author may also have the traditionalists in mind as sceptics. See Madelung's view that Cook's hypothesis is far-fetched in his review of Cook, , Journal of Theological Studies 33 (1982) pp. 628–33Google Scholar.

⁴⁷ Cook, M., Early, p. 156Google Scholar.

⁴⁸ Van Ess, op. cit., p. 11.

⁴⁹ Kraemer, , Humanism, p. 15Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ Kraemer, op. cit., p. 181

⁵¹ Kraemer, op. cit., p. 189.

⁵² Van Ess (1968), p. 14

⁵³ See van Ess (1968), p. 10 where he refers to al-Ghazālī, Faḍā'iḥ al-Bātiniyah, p. 80, 11; 13: “When we regard something as a ‘necessity’ and not to be doubted, it is only to afterwards discover that it was nevertheless false”.

⁵⁴ Kraemer, , Humanism, p. 189Google Scholar.

⁵⁵ Van Ess (1968), p. 6.

⁵⁶ See also Kraemer, , Humanism, p. 191Google Scholar.

⁵⁷ Van Ess (1980), p. 4.

⁵⁸ Van Ess (1968), p. 3 refers to al-Fārābī's Risālah fimā yanbaghī an yuqaddam qabla ta'allum al-Falsafah, in Schmoelders, Documenta Philosophiae, p. 4, 1–4.

⁵⁹ Siyāsat. p. 106, 15.

⁶⁰ Siyāsat. p. 104, 10.

⁶¹ ibid.ibid.

⁶² ibid., p. 105, 7.

⁶³ ibid., p. 106, 15.

⁶⁴ E.g. the Muḥarrifah, those of ignorant goals and the distressed.

⁶⁵ 'Ārā', p. 252, 15: “In opposition to the Excellent cities is the ignorant city…”

⁶⁶ E. I. J. Rosenthal suggests the reading of nawābit. See his (1971), p. 204, n. 59.

⁶⁷ 'Ārā' p. 252, 15. See Walzer's note 725 on p. 451.

⁶⁸ 'Ārā' p. 286, 2.

⁶⁹ 'Ārā', p. 290, 13.

⁷⁰ The term can also mean “detention”. Cf. Lane, , Lexicon, vol 1. p. 2103Google Scholar.

⁷¹ Siyāsat, p. 106, 9.

⁷² In Fuṣūl al-madamī, p. 120, 4, al-Fārābī makes the distinction between the “necessary” (ḍarūriyah) and the “perfect” (fādḍilah) cities. Perhaps this pair of terms is to be interpreted on the quantitative level, i.e. the former means necessary = sine qua non, the other, the superfluous.

⁷³ Siyāsat, p. 104, 7 – “Wa'amma al-Nawābit fi al-mudun al-Jāḍilah…”

⁷⁴ Siyāsat, p. 106, 3 – “fa-ha 'ūlā' hum aṣnāf al-nābitah fi khilāl ahl al-madinah . . .”

⁷⁵ 'Ārā', p. 52, 2.

⁷⁶ 'Ārā', p. 230, 4.

⁷⁷ 'Ārā', pp. 230, 12–231, 14; see conclusions.

⁷⁸ Sherwani, op. cit. p. 16, 14 and Mahdi (1975) p. 64.

⁷⁹ Siyāsat p. 104, 7. See note 65 above.

⁸⁰ 'Ārā' p. 455.

⁸¹ 'Ārā' p. 472.

⁸² 'Ārā', p. 259, 13; 462.

⁸³ Walzer, 'Ārā', p. 334.

⁸⁴ Pines (1971), p. 230.

⁸⁵ Pines (1971), p. 228.

⁸⁶ This is a common practice with al-Fārābī. See E. Rosenthal (1955), e.g. p. 170.

⁸⁷ Although Allāh is called Muḥarrif al-gulūb (“The Turner, or Incliner of Hearts”) Lane, s.v. ḤRF. For the negative sense, see Dozy, , Supplem., I, p. £271Google Scholar.

⁸⁸ Al-Dārimī, , Sunan, Muqaddimah 56Google Scholar. The opposite to this term is taqbīiḥ, used by al-Fārābī in Iḥṣa', e.g. 136, 13 meaning “to refute another's argument”.

⁸⁹ See Kohlberg (1972) p. 211.

⁹⁰ ibid., p. 212, 11.

⁹¹ ibid., p. 213, 15.

⁹² ibid., p. 213, 8.

⁹³ Al-Nasafī, op. cit. p. 57. One example of a group that might have been in people's minds in this regard is the Jahmiyah who were accused of distortingly interpreting verse 5, 93 of the Qur'ān so as to allow them to disregard Islamic dietary laws. See Ash'arī, , Maqalat, vol. I, p. 170, 7Google Scholar. On the other hand, in the fourth form the verb is also employed positively, i.e. “serving God as if He were before one's eyes” (Muslim, Iman, (1).) The opposite to this term is taqbīḥ, used by al-Fārābī in Iḥṣā', e.g. 136, 13 meaning “to refute another's argument”.

⁹⁴ E.g. Dā'ud, Abu, Manasik, 56Google Scholar: “The Qur'ān will come down to him (i.e. the Prophet), and he knows its interpretation (ta'wīl)”.

⁹⁵ See al-Bukhāri, , Diyat, 6 “Wal-māriq fī al-dīn al-tārik al-jamā'ah”Google Scholar

⁹⁶ Ibn Abī Hadīd, op. cit., VI, p. 129, 10

⁹⁷ Al-Tirmidhī, Bab ṣifāt al-māriqah.

⁹⁸ Al-Jāḥiẓ, Risālah fī al-Nawābit., Rasā'il, vol. 4, p. 243Google Scholar. The other groups being the Rāfiḍite and the Murji 'ite.

⁹⁹ Ṭabarī, Annales, p. 2235, 10Google Scholar.

¹⁰⁰ Al-Ash'ari, , Maqalat, I, 191, 10Google Scholar.

¹⁰¹ Ṭabarī, Annales, p. 2174, 9Google Scholar.

¹⁰² Taimiyah, Ibn, Mu'āwiyah, p. 31, 2Google Scholar.

¹⁰³ Siyāsat, p. 104, 15.

¹⁰⁴ Lane, vol. 1, p. 718.

¹⁰⁵ Dozy, , Supplem., vol. 1, p. 358Google Scholar.

¹⁰⁶ Lisān, s.v. khrj.

¹⁰⁷ See Taḥṣīl, e.g. p. 45, 6.

¹⁰⁸ See S. Pines (1957)

¹⁰⁹ See above, p.5.

¹¹⁰ See Mas'ūdi, , Tanbīh, p. 395, 13Google Scholar.

¹¹¹ See below, p. 38.

¹¹² Al-Khayyāt, , Intiṣār, p. 55, 15Google Scholar.

¹¹³ The group has been the subject of a number of scholarly works since van Vloten published al-Jāḥiẓ's treatise in 1897. In his article he described this group as related to the Mu'tazilah and the Hashwiyah (p. 112), or even as part of them (ibid., p. 113), a view that Halkin adopted (1936, p. 4, n. 5): “without a shadow of a doubt”. The Nawābit in turn are associated with the Sufis and the Karāmiyah (van Vloten, p. 114). For Lecomte (op. cit., p. 338) the Nawābit were identical with the ‘Uthmāniyah, a group that he thought had started at about the same time as the Nawābit.

¹¹⁴ Sometimes attributed to Abū al-Walid Muḥammad b. Aḥmad ibn Abi Da 'ūd. See Majallat Lughat Al-'Arab (1930) as quoted by al-Hajiri, op. cit. p. 191.

¹¹⁵ Pellat (1956), p. 56–7.

¹¹⁶ Al-Jāḥiẓ, , Rasā'il, vol. 1, p. 300, 5Google Scholar.

¹¹⁷ Al-Jāḥiẓ, , R. Fi al-Nābitah, p. 119, 2Google Scholar.

¹¹⁸ Al-Jāḥiẓ, , Hayawān, 2nd ed. vol. 3, p. 130, 4Google Scholar.

¹¹⁹ Al-Jāḥiẓ, , Risālah fī al-Nābitah, p. 112, lOfGoogle Scholar.

¹²⁰ Liddell, and Scott, , Lexicon, vol. 2, p. 1000Google Scholar. See The New Catholic Encyclopaedia, McGraw-Hill, 1967, vol. 10, p. 333fGoogle Scholar.

¹²¹ Al-Jāḥiẓ, , Risālat al-Nubl wal-nubalaā in Rasā'il, vol 2, p. 173, 13Google Scholar.

¹²² Lambton, op. cit. p. 62.

¹²³ Al-Jāḥiẓ, , R. fī al-Nābitah, p. 122, 2Google Scholar.

¹²⁴ Dodge, , Fihrist, p. 918Google Scholar.

¹²⁵ Mas'ūdī, , Murūj, vol. 4, p. 338Google Scholar.

¹²⁶ Ṭabarī, , Annales, vol. 3, p. 1098Google Scholar; Mas'ūdī, , Murūj, vol. 7, p. 91Google Scholar; See Pellat (1965) p. 55.

¹²⁷ Sourdel (1962) p. 39.

¹²⁸ A governor who had been appointed to his post by al-Ma'mūn.

¹²⁹ Al-Khaṭib, al-Baghdādī, Ta'rīkh Baghdād, vol. 12Google Scholar.

¹³⁰ Al-Ma 'mūn appointed his successor 'Alī ibn Ja'far Ibn M. b. 'Alī b. Ḥusain b. ‘Alī Ibn abī Ṭālib, a direct offspring to 'Alī, in disregard of both the ‘Abbasids and the other 'Alawites.

¹³¹ Ṭabarī, , Annales, p. III, 1026, 8Google Scholar.

¹³² And in particular in Wāsit. See Madelung (1965) p. 224.

¹³³ Al-Khayyāt, , Intiṣār, p. 102, 2 (”al-fi'ah al-baghiyah min ahl al-sha'm”)Google Scholar.

¹³⁴ al-Baghdādī, Al-Khaṭīb, Ta'rīkh, vol. 12, p. 464Google Scholar.

¹³⁵ Aghānī, XXIII, 50, 8.

¹³⁶ Mas'ūdī, , Tanbīh, 273, 13Google Scholar. Naming our group in this context is quite curious. It may be explained by a scribal error, a name shared by two different groups or by retroactive attribution of the name to 'Alī.

¹³⁷ Al-Khayyāt, , K. al-intiṣār, p. 68, 10Google Scholar.

¹³⁸ See p. 31 below.

¹³⁹ Qutaibah, Ibn, Ta'wīl. Cairo 1966, p. 80Google Scholar

¹⁴⁰ Mas'ūdī, , Tanbih, Beirut 1965, p. 337Google Scholar

¹⁴¹ Al-Khayyāṭ repeatedly quotes “those of the Nawābit who theologize (man takallama min al-Nawābit) e.g. p. 22, 5.

¹⁴² Al-Jāḥiẓ, , Risālah, p. 119, 9Google Scholar. E. Rosenthal (1971) p. 53, n. 63. Al-Ḥanafī, , al-Farq, p. 40, 13Google Scholar.

¹⁴³ Cf. also Lambton, op. cit. p. 63.

¹⁴⁴ The connection between Mu'āwiyah and the stem NBT is indicated in Lisān, vol. 2, p. 402, 8, where the noun Nabitah is used in a general way.

In the context of the positive attitude towards Mu'awiyah, another name was used with the same connotation as “Nabitah”, namely “nāshi'ah”. See Salim, Sīrat, in Cook, , Early, p. 160, 15Google Scholar. Could these two names be related?

¹⁴⁵ Al-Ḥanafi, , al-Farq, p. 40, 13Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁶ Quoted in al-Hajiri, op. cit. p. 191, note 1 from al-munyah wal-'amal, on the authority of al-Jubbā'ī. See also al-Murtadā, Ibn, Tabaqāt, p. 82Google Scholar. See Madelung, , al-Qasim, p. 227Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁷ Hajiri, op. cit. p. 189. Funnily enough, the most outspoken supporter of Mu'āwiyah was, reportedly, al-Asamm the Mu'tazilite who claimed that 'Alī had never been an Imam and that there was no necessity that an Imam should be in the world.

¹⁴⁸ Tabarī, , Annales p. 2167, 12Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁹ Pellat (1956) p. 58.

¹⁵⁰ Pellat (1956) pp. 56–7.

¹⁵¹ For him see Mas'ūdī, , Murūj, vol. 4, p. 316 ffGoogle Scholar.

¹⁵² Pellat (1956) p. 55; Ṭabarī, , Annales, vol. 3, p. 1098Google Scholar; 2164; Mas'ūdī, , Murūj, vol. 7, p. 90Google Scholar; Baihaqī, , Maḥāsin, p. 151Google Scholar.

¹⁵³ Named after al-Ḥasan b. 'Ali b. Khalaf a. M. al Barbahārī (d. 387/997). See H. Laoust in El ², vol. 1, pp. 1039–1040.

¹⁵⁴ Aḥsan al-taqāsim, p. 126, 14. Other groups who took up the issue of Mu'āwiyah in a like manner to that of the Nawābit were the Shāfi'iyah who claimed that Mu'awiyah belonged to the people of paradise. (Safadī, , al-Ghaith, vol. 1, p. 165, 15)Google Scholar, and the Ḥanbalites whom Maqdisī blamed for excessive love towards Mu'āwiyah (Maqdisī, Bad', p. 126) and ahl al-sunnah wal-hadīth, (Lecomte, op. cit. p. 337).

¹⁵⁵ Al-Jāḥiẓ, , Risālah, p. 3Google Scholar; Ibn Taimiyah, Yazid, p. 21, 9.

¹⁵⁶ Pellat (1956) p. 59.

¹⁵⁷ Among the philosophers, Ibn Rushd agreed with the view that with Mu'āwiyah the Caliphate had deteriorated into timocracy = mulk. See Ibn Rushd, (1956), p. 223; 291. This view is in line with traditional political thought in Islam. See e.g., Ibn al-Ṭiqtaqā, Fakhrī, p. 102.

¹⁵⁸ Lecomte, op. cit. p. 338.

¹⁵⁹ Houtsma, , ZA 26 (1911) p. 196Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁰ Halkin, op. cit. p. 3.

¹⁶¹ Lecomte, op. cit. p. 337.

¹⁶² See E. I. J. Rosenthal, (1956) p. 290, who refers to Rushd's, IbnTalkhīṣ Siyāsat Aflātūn. The same attitude in al-Jaḥiẓ, Risālah, p. 117, 13 fGoogle Scholar.

¹⁶³ Election of the Imām is practised by the Shūrā, and was advocated by a faction of the Zaidites. See Maqalat I p. 135, 1.

¹⁶⁴ Al-Khayyāṭ, , Intiṣār, p. 102, 1Google Scholar. The solidarity is that agreed on by the Mu'tazilah and other Sunnites with all the companions except for Mu'āwiyah, who was only supported by al-Nābitah and al-fi'ah al-bāghiyah min ahl al-Sha'm. I am indebted to Prof. Madelung for this remark.

₁₆₅ Al-Jāḥiẓ, , Risālah, p. 119, 4Google Scholar. Al-Khayyāt, , Intiṣār, p. 105, 14Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁶ For the views of the Rāfiṣite on this issue see Maqālāt, I, 102, 12. The views of the Nawabit on anthropomorphism correspond to those of ahlal-ḥadīth wal-sunnah, ibid. I, 320 ff. The Nābitahshare anthropomorphistic views with the Rawāfiḍ, and both are clear heresy. [al-Jāḥiẓ, , al-Qur'ān, Khalq, Rasa'il, III, 296, 13]Google Scholar; ibid. [al-Jāḥiẓ, al-Radd''alā al-naṣārā, I, 300, 4, ibid, ibid. 351.]

¹⁶⁷ al-Jāḥiẓ, , al-Radd:alā al-naṣārā, Rasā'il, III, 351Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁸ Al-Isfarā'inī, op. cit. p. 100, 2.

₁₆₉ On the controversy regarding the creation of the Qur'ān in the period that preceded the Mihnah, see Madelung (1985), especially p. 617 n.

¹⁷⁰ Al-Jāḥiẓ, , Risālah, p. 121, 2Google Scholar.

₁₇₁ Al-Kh'ayyāt, , Intiṣār, p. 55, 15Google Scholar.

¹⁷² Madelung, (1985) p. 121 where he also refers to van Vloten. See also Sourdel (1962) p. 45.

¹⁷³ Al-Mas'ūdī, , Tanbīh, p. 273, 13fGoogle Scholar.

¹⁷⁴ Mas'ūdī, , Tanbīh, p. 337, 7Google Scholar. The views of the Nawābit correspond, although with a difference, to the report in Maqālāt I, p. 321.

¹⁷⁵ Al-Khayyāt, , Intiṣsār, p. 105, 15Google Scholar.

¹⁷⁶ al-Nadīm, Ibn, Fihrist, (English translation), I, p. 446, 3Google Scholar.

¹⁷⁷ Zimmermann, Introduction to his edition of De int. pp. cxi and cxvi. Compare al-Fārābī's, definitions of choice (ikhtiyār)in ffa, p. 124, 4Google Scholar; Siyāsat p. 72, 9 and 'Ārā p. 205, 14 which certainly accept human choice.

¹⁷⁸ Al-Jāḥiẓ, , Risālah, p. 120, 22Google Scholar. Cf. Maqālāt, vol. 1, p. 322, 23 for the attribution of this position to aṣḥāb al-ḥadith wa-aht al-sunnah.

¹⁷⁹ For God's ability to do injustice, see al-Ash'arī, , Maqālāt, I, p. 138, 19 ffGoogle Scholar. where part of the Zaidiyah is described as holding this view. The main discussion though, is that of the Mu'tazilite views on the topic (ibid. I, p. 252 ff.). Even some Mu'tazilites agreed that Allāh is capable of doing injustice, e.g. al-Iskāfi (ibid. I, p. 253, 13).

¹⁸⁰ Al-Jāḥiẓ, , Risālah, p. 119, 9; 14Google Scholar

¹⁸¹ For his detailed position on the issue, as well as that of the other Mu'tazilites, see R. Frank, “Can God do what is wrong?”

¹⁸² Al-Khayyāṭ, , Intiṣār, p. 22, 4Google Scholar.

¹⁸³ Al-Khayyaṭ, , Intiṣār, p. 22, 22Google Scholar.

¹⁸⁴ Al-Khayyaṭ, , Intiṣār, p. 22, 4Google Scholar.

¹⁸⁵ Al-Khayyaṭ, , Intiṣār, p. 59, 18Google Scholar.

¹⁸⁶ Al-Khayyaṭ, , Intiṣār, p. 105, 17Google Scholar. The same idea, this time in reference to the similarity between the Mu'tazilah and aṣḥāb al-ḥadith, ibid. p. 101, 21.

¹⁸⁷ See above, pp. 11; 21; 30; 36; 37.

¹⁸⁸ E.g. al-jāḥiẓfī, , Khalqal-Qur'ān, Rasā'il, vol. 1, p. 287, 14 fGoogle Scholar; al-Jushamī, K. al-'Ūyūn fi alradd 'alā ahl al-bida', MS. Ambrosiana B66 fol. 12a; ibid., k. fi Naṣīḥat al-'āmmah, MS. Ambrosiana C5 fol. 23a as quoted by Modarisī, H. in al-Jushamī, , Risālah, p. 8, n. 1Google Scholar. I am grateful to Prof. Modarisī for giving me his edition of the book.

₁₈₉ Of the leaders of the Mu'tazilah. In prison, where he was jailed by Harun, he composed poems on justice, Tauḥīd and Wa'īd.

¹⁹⁰ Al-Jāḥiḥ, , Ḥayawān, vol. 6, p. 62, 10Google Scholar.

₁₉₁ Al-Jāḥiḥ, , fī Khalq al-Qur'ān, in Rasā'il, vol. 1, p. 296, 13Google Scholar.

¹⁹² Rosenthal (1955), p. 25.

¹⁹³ Bājjah, Ibn, Tadbīr, p. 43, 1Google Scholar.

¹⁹⁴ Bājjah, Ibn, Tadbīr, p. 43, 9Google Scholar. See also E. I. J. Rosenthal, (1971), p. 51, n. 23.

¹⁹⁵ Al-Fārābī, , Fuṣūl muntaza'ah, p. 95, 12Google Scholar.

¹⁹⁶ Bājjah, Ibn, Tadbīr, p. 42, 17Google Scholar.

¹⁹⁷ Bājjah, Ibn, Tadbīr, p. 42, 18Google Scholar.

¹⁹⁸ Except for one instance where Ibn Bājjah uses al-Fārābī's term. Tadbīr, p. 41, 3.

¹⁹⁹ Bājjah, Ibn, Tadbīr, p. 43, 3Google Scholar.

²⁰⁰ Bājjah, Ibn, Tadbīr, p. 43, 1Google Scholar.

²⁰¹ Bajjāh, Ibn, Tadbīr, p. 42, 14Google Scholar.

²⁰² Bajjāh, Ibn, Tadbīr, p. 57, 9Google Scholar.

²⁰³ Bājjah, Ibn, Tadbīr, p. 43, 5Google Scholar.

²⁰⁴ This view stands in opposition to Rosenthal's assertion that “al-Fārābī had a purely theoretical interest in politics as a part of practical philosophy” [(1956), p. 199].

₂₀₅ Mahdi (1971) p. 524.

²⁰⁶ On the whole, a process similar to that was undergone by the Rāfḍdite. See Kohlberg (1972).

²⁰⁷ Mahdi, M., “Science, philosophy and religion in al-Fārābi's enumeration of the sciences”, in Murdoch, J. E. and Sylla, Edith Dudley (edit.) The Cultural Context of Medieval Learning, Dordrecht-Boston, pp. 113–47, especially pp. 131–37Google Scholar.