Theology, Law and Social Configuration: Views and Attitudes towards Theological Innovators (mubtadiʿūn)

Abstract

As Muslim societies split into different theological trends, proto-Sunnīs and later Sunnīs, asked themselves how they should interact with individuals who strayed from their system of beliefs. One of their concerns was whether members of theological movements such as Shīʿīs, Muʿtazilīs, Khawārij and Qadarīs should be considered as equal believers within wider Muslim society, or marginalised and treated as second-class believers. Should they establish a hierarchy based on beliefs, much like the social grading that differentiates between Muslims and non-Muslims, or uphold an egalitarian social structure? And if such a hierarchy should come into being, what should be its concrete sociolegal implications? It should be pointed out from the outset that Sunnī jurists distinguished between innovators and heretics. A heretic, most jurists would agree, is one who rejects essential Muslim truths about the Prophet or Allāh, and in so doing leaves the fold of Islam. In his discussion of apostasy Yohanan Friedmann remarks: