Mu’tazili Rationalism
Asst. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Bilgin

Abstract
The epistemological dispute, which emerged about religious problematics in earlier periods of Islamic thought, led to a search of method regarding how to attain accurate knowledge. Mu’tazila was the first school to study in a methodological manner and to bring forward through a rational perspective how religious facts and divine truths can be comprehended in the best and most accurate way. According to Mu’tazila, intellect/reason [aql], which is the source of any knowledge, is also the source of religious knowledge and a measure for evaluation of religious truths. Hereby study puts forth such rationalist methodological approach of Mu’tazila to Islamic thought within the scope of problems of “evidence/proof” [dalil], “intuitive knowledge of Allah” [ma’rifatullah] and “prettiness-ugliness” [husn-qubh].

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