Qadriyya, Jabriyya and Murjea – In the Umayyad Era

It is written in the book ‘Tarikh e Tahleeli e Islam’: During the Umayyad rule, from the second half of the first century, new ideological sects[1] came into being whose center was Iraq. The reason behind this was that some of the cities of Iraq, like Kufa, became the center were ideological and intellectual interactions such as philosophical and religious ones took place. Presumably, the first discussion that took place was: Do the humans possess freewill in their actions or are they compulsive? The supporters of these two ideologies were named Qadriyya and Jabriyya, respectively.

          This issue was raised between the Muslims after the battle of Siffeen when a person asked the Leader of the Faithful, Ali (a.s.): Did we enter this battle with our own freewill or were we compelled towards it?

          Thereafter, each group began to quote the narrations in favor of their belief and in opposition to their rivals.

          During the Umayyad reign, a new sect was found which was named ‘Murjea’. The Umayyad rulers utilized this group for the approval of their oppressive actions. As we said, a group of Khawarij considered the ones who committed greater sins to dwell in hellfire eternally. In contradiction, ‘Murjea’ used to say that the judgment on this group should be left on God. The excuse they presented for this belief was that the Muslim society will be divided into various groups if we show strictness in this case. With such an ideology, they approved the oppressions committed by the Umayyad caliphs like the assassinations of the pious Muslims and the destruction in Kufa, Basra and other cities.

          Murjea has derived its actual ideology from this verse:

(وَآخَرُونَ مُرْجَوْنَ لِأَمْرِ اللّہِ اِمَّا یُعَذِّبُہُمْ وَامَّا یَتُوبُ عَلَییْہِمْ وَاللّہُ عَلِیْم حَکِیْم)[2]

With the interaction of the ideologies of Jabriyya, Qadriyya and Murjea, another balanced school of thought came into being, the Motazela. It is said that the cause of the birth of this group was the viewpoint that Hasan Basri used to consider the committers of greater sins to be infidel, but one of his students, Wasil bin Ataa, had a contradicting opinion and he said: Such a person will remain in a position between faith and infidelity.

It is said that since Wasil bin Ataa parted from his mentor, Hasan said: ‘اعتزل منّا’, he separated himself from us.

          Regarding the reason behind the name given to them, there are other theories also.[3]