Wasil ibn Ata

Wāṣil ibn ʿAtāʾ (700–748) (Arabic: واصل بن عطاء‎) was an important Muslim theologian and jurist of his time, and by many accounts is considered to be the founder of the Muʿtazilite school of Kalam.

Wāṣil ibn ʿAtāʾ
Title	al-Ghazzal
Personal
Born	700 CE
Died	748 (aged 47–48)
Religion	Islam
Ethnicity	Arab
Era	Islamic Golden Age
Region	Arabian Peninsula
Main interest(s)	Islamic theology
Notable idea(s)	Rationalism in Islamic theology, Founder of Muʿtazila, Free will of humans, Indeterminism, Incompatibilism Metaphorical interpretation of the Qur'an
Occupation	Muslim philosopher
Muslim leader
Influenced by Hasan al-Basri, Ma'bad al-Juhani,[1] Ghailan ad-Dimashqi
Influenced Amr ibn Ubayd, Othman ibn Khaled al-Tawil, Abu Huzail al-Allaf, Abdul-Jabbar ibn Ahmed

Born around the year 700 in the Arabian Peninsula, he initially studied under Abd-Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, the grandson of Ali. Later he would travel to Basra in Iraq to study under Hasan of Basra (one of the Tabi‘in). In Basra he began to develop the ideologies that would lead to the Muʿtazilite school. These stemmed from conflicts that many scholars had in resolving theology and politics. His main contribution to the Muʿtazilite school was in planting the seeds for the formation of its doctrine.

Wasil ibn Ata died in 748 in the Arabian Peninsula.

He married the sister of Amr ibn Ubayd.[2]

See also

• Islamic scholars
• Hasan al-Basri

References

1. Valiuddin, Mir. "Muʿtazilism". muslimphilosophy.com. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
2. Al-Melal wan-Nahal (الملل والنحل) - Ja'far as-Sabhani(Arabic) Archived September 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Wasil ibn Ata an article by Encyclopædia Britannica online.