Al-Mu’tazili (Isolationist) School between Freedom and Determinism (Djabriyya)

Al-Mu’tazil school is the school that defended human freedom to the extent that it has rejected the premise that Allah Almighty has any role in directing or influencing human action. Therefore, Al-Mu’tazil researches in the field of human freedom have constantly confirmed two issues:
First: Affirming the freedom of human will and humanitarian action, thereby demonstrating full human responsibility.
Second: Allah Almighty transcends injustice and immoral acts.
That is, Al-Mu’tazil sought that their research in the field of human freedom to set clear boundaries and borderlines between Man’s will and action and Allah Almighty’s Will and Action. This is clearly manifest them through two issues as follows: the first is Divine Will and the human will; the second is Divine Action and human action.
The question of human freedom is linked to and branched out for Al-Mu'tazili into two of the five Mu'tazili fundamentals; namely, monotheism and justice.
The origin of monotheism dictates for Al-Mu'tazili that Allah Almighty is one in His attributes and actions. Allah has neither resemblance nor counterpart among His creatures in terms of His attributes and actions. The origin of justice obliges that Man is responsible for his actions for he is to be punished or rewarded in the Hereafter: Man’s actions are the reason for his entry into Paradise or Hell.
However, this freedom, for which Al-Mu'tazili lived, was quickly challenged by their idea of the being of the non-existent. This idea advocates the precedence of essence over existence, propounding that the essence is not influenced by any Being even by Allah Almighty Himself.
Confirming the immutability of the essence subjects Man to determinism from there is no way out; rather, this determinism extends to human behavior, thus affecting his choices of faith and disbelief.