Divine Justice Between Reason and Freedom The Theory of Good and the Best According to Al-Nizam and Judge Abd al-Jabbar al-Mu'tazili

Abstract

The principle of divine justice is one of the most important principles for the Mu'tazilites, who consider it the pinnacle of moral philosophy. This is achieved by rejecting determinism and defending human freedom, based on the verse: "And when you judge between people, judge with justice" [Quran 4:58]. Justice is the foremost virtue, governing actions that affect others, especially in God's relationship with His servants, and the affirmation of His power and responsibility for His actions, led the Mu'tazilites to consider the noble verse: "And do not throw yourselves into destruction" [Surat Al-Baqarah: Verse 195] as one of the foremost verses that explain divine justice in this way.

This affirms the responsibility of human action, as God Almighty has declared: “And I am not unjust to My servants” [Surah Qaf, verse 29]. Injustice necessitates a physical, human action to be realized. Therefore, God is free from it, and it is not permissible for Him to be unjust. Furthermore, His statement, “Would He be unjust even by an atom’s weight?” [Surah An-Nisa, verse 39], further emphasizes the negation of injustice from Him. And all credit is due to Him.                                                                                                                                          

The Mu'tazilites deepened the concept of divine justice in response to the dictates of reason and logic, citing the verse: "Your Lord does not wrong anyone" [Surat Al-Kahf: Verse 49]. They argued that if God willed, He could compel creation to obey Him and forcibly prevent them from disobeying Him, and He is certainly capable of doing so. This is supported by the verse: "Indeed, God commands justice and good conduct" [Surat An-Nahl: Verse 5].              

[Verse 90] There is a close connection between monotheism and justice in the doctrine of the Mu’tazilite sheikhs, because in the principle of monotheism they absolve God of the attributes of created beings, and in the principle of justice they absolve Him of injustice and oppression. God Almighty is unique in His essence in the principle of monotheism, He does not resemble anyone and no one resembles Him, and in the principle of justice He is unique in His goodness, so no evil or oppression emanates from Him.

The research aims to highlight the ideas of both Al-Nazzam and Judge Abdul Jabbar, as they are among the greatest sheikhs of Mu’tazilism, and their attempts to defend the issues of religion, and to study their opinions and the positive aspects they contained in serving Islamic thought.                                                                                                                                        

The importance of this research lies in revealing the points of convergence and divergence between al-Nazzam and Qadi Abd al-Jabbar, and attempting to clarify the points of agreement between them. Therefore, we adopted a comparative analytical approach to analyze and compare the views of the two scholars.