The Question of the Createdness of the Qur’an (Halku’l-Kur’an) in Relation to Mental Transformations in the Early Period

Abstract

The Trial (Miḥna), a period that was officially initiated by the seventh Abbāsid Caliph, Ma’mūn (218/833), and officially brought to an end by the tenth Abbāsid Caliph, Mutawakkil (234/848), constituted a turning point in Muslim history. The essence of the Miḥna period consisted of forcing others to accept the doctrine of the createdeness of the Qur’an through the state, claiming that this was being done in order to venerate Allah and to avoid tashbih and tajsim (anthropomorphism). The events that took place during this harsh ideological period, which included all kinds of cruelty and persecution tolerated by those who did not adhere to the doctrine of the state, affected society broadly and Islamic literature specifically. How the events began and who were the first claimants of this idea is the theme of this study. The claim of this study is that the idea of the “createdness of the Qur’an” as a divider of society was more a result of the mind code transformations experienced in the Muslim community at that time than of the impact of the propaganda of some individuals who had innovative religious ideas in the early period.