Key Pages:
Home
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World
Brown University
Box 1837 / 60 George Street
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: (401) 863-3188
Fax: (401) 863-9423
[email protected]
Posted at Apr 08/2009 12:56PM:
JRG: The mihna, which lasted from 833-848, occurred when the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun tried to impose his theological views on his subjects by forcing them to acknowledge the doctrine of the createdness of the Quran. Those who refused faced major consequences. The issue of the createdness of the Quran had many political implications: if the Quran was not co-eteranal, then the ruler coud interpret/change certain aspects of what it taught.
The mihna was discontinued after the caliph's death.
Posted at Apr 12/2009 09:23AM:
ian: See Mu'tazilites.
Posted at Apr 12/2009 09:24AM:
ian: It also was a major spur to the forces of tradition (i.e. the sunna) and was central to the later formulation of what would become sunnism.