A Criticism of Al-Qadi Abd al-Jabbar Mu'tazili on Human Essence

One of the earliest questions with which human mind has been confronted and serves as the foundation for humanities is the nature of human essence. Anthropology has long been discussed in the theological tradition of Islam where issues such as monistic/dualistic or materiality/immateriality of human essence is debated. Al-Qadi Abd al-Jabbar, the prominent advocate of Mu’tazilite adopted an approach based on sensual reason to develop and promote the theory of “tangible body”.  In this view Man lacks any truth (essence) beyond this very tangible body. The most important reason that Al-Qadi Abd al-Jabbar submits on his claim is that the origination of primary action from human organs reveals that the organ itself is the agent which perform an action by its own might. Naturally, the denial of middle-world life is one of the most serious consequences of accepting this view because in the middle-world the tangible body is destructed. Besides, issues such as corporeal resurrection, metamorphosis, true dreams and near-death experiences stand in sharp contrast with this theory. The distinction of the current research is the emphasis put on investigating a scholar the views of whom is not independently investigated despite his influence on his contemporary theologians.