Al-Qadir's order of repentance for the Mu'tazila in Baghdad and Khurasan

استتابة القادر للمعتزلة ببغداد وخراسان

c. 1017 CE · 408 AH

Baghdad

In 408 the Commander of the Faithful al-Qadir billah required repentance of the Hanafi jurists among the Mu'tazila in Baghdad; they professed their return and disavowed i'tizal. He forbade them to speak, teach or dispute in defence of i'tizal or rafd, or any doctrine contrary to the Sunna, and took their signed statements to that effect. Yamin al-Dawla Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin obeyed the caliph's order in his domains in Khurasan: he killed, imprisoned and exiled the Mu'tazila, the Rafida and the Isma'ilis, and ordered them cursed from the pulpits of the Muslims 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era
Region
Levant & Iraq · Persia & Central Asia
Review
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In time

1000101010201030 c.
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era

In space

Baghdad

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Summary

In 408 AH the caliph al-Qadir billah proclaimed a repentance by the Mu'tazili jurists of Baghdad and put an end to their debates, in a striking doctrinal shift whose effect reached Khurasan and the rest of the East. 1

Repentance in Baghdad

Al-Qadir billah summoned the Mu'tazili jurists of the Hanafi school. They professed their return and disavowed Mu'tazilism. He forbade them to teach, to speak, or to debate Mu'tazilism, Rafd, or doctrines that contradicted the Sunna, and he took their signatures to that effect, with threats of punishment if they went against it. 1

Spread to Khurasan

Yamin al-Dawla Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin complied with the order of the Commander of the Faithful in the provinces that he held on the caliph's behalf in Khurasan and Transoxiana. He killed, imprisoned and exiled those who opposed the Sunna, ordered them cursed from the pulpits of the Muslims, and drove them from their homes, and this became a practice in his realm. 1

Connections

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Located in
Baghdad
Had participant
al-Qadir bi-llah Ahmad ibn Ishaq ibn al-Muqtadir· Mahmud of Ghazna

People and things also explored

The reading of the Qadiri Creed in the Dar al-Khilafa· The death of al-Qadir and the accession of al-Qa'im bi-amr Allah, 422· The Baghdad Attestation on Fatimid Lineage· The Baratha Mosque Affair in 420· Riot at the funeral of Bint Abi Nuh and the plunder of the Dar al-Rum church· Al-Qadir's rescript imposing distinguishing dress on the dhimmis· Al-Qadir bans dealing in Maghrebi dinars· The burning of a codex attributed to Ibn Mas'ud and the Karkh strife

Sources

  1. al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa'l-Umam — Ibn al-Jawzi , j.7 p.288
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Al-Qadir's order of repentance for the Mu'tazila in Baghdad and Khurasan”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/mutazila-qadiri-repentance-408/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Related

The reading of the Qadiri Creed in the Dar al-Khilafa

On Thursday 17 Muharram 409 a book setting out the doctrines of Ahl al-Sunna was read in procession in the Dar al-Khilafa at Baghdad. It stated the creed of the Imam al-Qadir bi'llah, and it was said of it: 'whoever says the Qur'an is created is an unbeliever whose blood may be shed.' al-Qadir confirmed the doctrine of the people of hadith and required people to hold to it in his correspondence and assemblies. In 433 the Qadiri Creed was read in full in the diwan of the Dar al-Mulk, in the presence of the vizier, the shaykhs and the judges. In its margin is the hand of the scholar Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn Umar al-Qazwini, attesting that he heard all of it in 433, that he concurred in it with the Imam of the Muslims al-Qa'im bi-amr Allah, that it is binding proof against whoever shares his faith, and that he holds to the creed it contains. It is the loftiest thing the state of al-Qa'im published in matters of creed.