The mihna: the Abbasid inquisition over the createdness of the Qur’an
In 833, months before his death, al-Ma'mun ordered judges and scholars to be tested on whether they held, with the rationalist Mu'tazila, that the Qur’an was created rather than the eternal speech of God; those who refused faced dismissal, prison and the lash. Continued by al-Mu'tasim and al-Wathiq, the mihna was wound down by al-Mutawakkil between 848 and 852. Historians see its failure, embodied in the resistance of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, as the end of the caliphs’ claim to decide religious doctrine.
- Date
- 833 – between 848 and 852start: year known; end: exact date unknown: an interval is given · duration: ≈ 17 years
- Place
- Baghdadtoday: Baghdad, Iraq · Middle East and Egypt
- Participants
- Al-Ma'mun, Al-Mu'tasim, Al-Mutawakkil, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abbasid Caliphate
- Threads
- Middle East and Egypt (6th–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Mihna; Miḥna; Abbasid inquisition; Createdness of the Qur'an; Михна; Испытание; Сотворённость Корана
The Mu'tazili theologians taught that the Qur’an, as God’s speech, was created in time; the traditionalist scholars of hadith held it to be the uncreated word of God. Al-Ma'mun had proclaimed the createdness of the Qur’an as doctrine in 827, and in 833, while campaigning against Byzantium, he ordered his governors to question judges, officials and scholars. The test was imposed on the religious and administrative elite, not on the population at large, and was conducted above all in Baghdad, with the chief qadi Ahmad ibn Abi Du'ad as its moving spirit. Historians debate its aims: to assert the caliph’s authority as imam over the scholars, to test their loyalty, or to impose the caliph’s own theological convictions.
Al-Ma'mun died in August 833, but al-Mu'tasim and al-Wathiq kept the policy. Some scholars escaped with evasive answers; Ahmad ibn Hanbal refused outright, was imprisoned and flogged under al-Mu'tasim, and was released when the people of Baghdad threatened to riot. Al-Wathiq revived the inquisition, and in 846 he joined in person in the execution of Ahmad ibn Nasr al-Khuza'i, a Baghdad notable who had plotted a rising against him and refused to accept the doctrine; his body was displayed at Samarra beside the gibbet of the rebel Babak.
Al-Mutawakkil (847–861) turned against the Mu'tazila: he forbade debate about the nature of the Qur’an, removed Ibn Abi Du'ad’s family from office in 851 and in 852 released those still held for the inquisition. The scholars (ulama), not the caliph, emerged as the arbiters of doctrine; Ibn Hanbal became a model of steadfastness, and the uncreated Qur’an became the accepted Sunni position.
Connections
Related events
- Abu Hanifa and Malik: the oldest surviving Sunni schools of lawbetween 737 and 738 – 795 · Middle East and Egyptthe inquisition tested the jurists and hadith scholars who were heirs to Abu Hanifa and Malik; its victim Ahmad ibn Hanbal became the eponym of a fourth Sunni school
- The House of Wisdom and the translation movement in Baghdadc. 800 – c. 900 · Middle East and Egyptthe caliph who patronised the translation of Greek philosophy also imposed the rationalist Mu'tazili doctrine
- Ifriqiya under the Aghlabids800 – March 909 · Africafollowing Baghdad, the Aghlabids made the createdness of the Qur’an the official doctrine of Ifriqiya, and the Maliki jurist Sahnun suffered under the mihna in Kairouan
Same participants
- Al-Khwarizmi writes the book of al-jabrc. 820 · Middle East and Egyptvia Al-Ma'mun
- Al-Mu'tasim founds Samarra, the new Abbasid capital836 · Middle East and Egyptvia Al-Mutawakkil
- Sack of Amorium1 August – between 12 August and 24 September 838 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Al-Mu'tasim
Same place
- Reign of Vologases I51–78 · Middle East and Egypt
- Trajan’s Parthian campaign114–117 · Middle East and Egypt
- Roman–Parthian War of 161–166161–166 · Middle East and Egypt
- Reign of Vologases IV147–191 · Middle East and Egypt
- Mani begins his mission240 · Middle East and Egypt
- Reign of Shapur II309–379 · Middle East and Egypt
- Julian’s Persian expedition and the Peace of 3635 March 363 – July 363 · Middle East and Egypt
- Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon410 · Middle East and Egypt
- Reign of Bahram V Gurbetween 420 and 421 – 438 · Middle East and Egypt
- Suppression of the Mazdakitesbetween 524 and 529 · Middle East and Egypt
- Reign of Khosrow I Anushirvan531–579 · Middle East and Egypt
- Revolt of Bahram Chobin and the restoration of Khosrow II589–591 · Middle East and Egypt
- Founding of Baghdad: al-Mansur’s Round Citybetween 30 July and 2 August 762 – between 766 and 767 · Middle East and Egypt
- Indian astronomy in Arabic: the Zij al-Sindhindbetween 771 and 773 · Middle East and Egypt
- Paper comes to Baghdadbetween 794 and 795 · Middle East and Egypt
- Fourth Fitna: al-Amin against al-Ma'mun and the siege of BaghdadJanuary 811 – September 813 · Middle East and Egypt
- Siege of Baghdad29 January – 10 February 1258 · Middle East and Egypt
- Capture of Baghdad by Suleiman Ibetween November and December 1534 · Middle East and Egypt
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Oaths of Strasbourg14 February 842
- Treaty of VerdunAugust 843
- The “Rhos” at the court of Louis the Pious18 May 839
- Aghlabid conquest of SicilyJune 827 – 1 August 902
Eastern Europe
- Saltovo-Mayaki culturec. 750 – between 900 and 950
- Construction of Sarkelbetween 833 and 841
- The Khazar rulers adopt Judaismbetween 740 and 861
- Volyntsevo culture: the Slavs of the Dnieper Left Bank in the Khazar agebetween 700 and 750 – between 813 and 833
Balkans and Anatolia
- Sack of Amorium1 August – between 12 August and 24 September 838
- Leo the Mathematician heads the school of the Magnaurabetween 843 and 866
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843
Africa
- Georgios of Makuria’s embassy to the caliph and the revision of the baqt835 – between 836 and 837
- Ifriqiya under the Aghlabids800 – March 909
- Igbo-Ukwu: bronze casting in the West African forest800–899 – 1100–1199
Central and Northern Asia
South Asia
- The Kavirajamarga, the earliest Kannada work on poeticsc. 850
- Mahavira writes the Ganitasarasangrahac. 850
- Vijayalaya takes Thanjavur: the rise of the Cholasc. 850
- The tripartite struggle for Kannaujbetween 783 and 790 – between 915 and 918
- Devapala’s Nalanda charter for the monastery of Balaputrabetween 844 and 860
+ 1 event
East Asia
- Ennin’s pilgrimage to Tang China12 July 838 – 30 October 847
- Huichang persecution: Emperor Wuzong suppresses the Buddhist monasteries10 May – 12 September 845
- Jang Bogo’s Cheonghae garrison and the trade of the Yellow Seabetween 18 May and 15 June 828 – between December 841 and April 846
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Nanzhao plunders the Pyu kingdom832
- Building of Borobudurc. 780 – c. 833
North America
Latin America
- Classic Maya collapse in the southern lowlandsc. 800 – c. 950
- Rise of Chichén Itzá in northern Yucatánc. 800 – between 900 and 1000
- Wari culture and the Middle Horizon state in the Central Andesc. 600 – c. 1000
- Tiwanaku culture at its height by Lake Titicacac. 600 – c. 1000
- Cacaxtla and Xochicalco: the Epiclassic cities of central Mexicoc. 650 – c. 900
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Mihna
- Wikipedia (English): Ahmad ibn Hanbal
- Wikipedia (English): Ahmad ibn Abi Du'ad
- Wikipedia (English): Al-Wathiq
- Wikipedia (English): Abbasid Samarra
- Wikipedia (Russian): Михна
- Nawas J. A. The Miḥna of 218 A.H./833 A.D. Revisited: An Empirical Study // Journal of the American Oriental Society. — 1996. — Vol. 116, no. 4. — P. 698–708.
- Melchert C. Religious Policies of the Caliphs from al-Mutawakkil to al-Muqtadir, A.H. 232–295/A.D. 847–908 // Islamic Law and Society. — 1996. — Vol. 3, no. 3. — P. 316–342.
- Wikidata: Q1624489