The Development of the Idea of Exigent Knowledge in the Mutazilite Thought

The idea of the exigent knowledge (al-marifat ul-iztirariyyah) is examined by the Mutazilites with the two different criteria of being "non- arbitrary" and "needless of contemplation and reasoning". It encountered many developments and changes during the Mutazilite thought history. With the criterion of being "non- arbitrary", Abu al-Hudhayl al-Allaf considered the genuine of knowledge of God as exigent and the rest of the knowledge as attainable (ektesabi). With the same criterion, Beshr ibn al-Mutamer regarded all knowledge as attainable and denied any kind of exigent knowledge, whereas Jahez and the Ashab ul-Maaref (the companions of Knowledge), counted all knowledge as exigent and denied any kind of arbitrary knowledge. Al-Nazzam was the first Mutazilite which by changing the measure of the exigent knowledge, considered only the sensory knowledge as exigent with the criterion of "needled of thinking and contemplation" (nazar) and named other knowledge as theoretical that need to thinking and contemplation. The believers in the attainability of the knowledge of God (ektesabiyytu marefate Allah), on the contrary, regarded it the first duty and believed that for the responsible person in order to attain and choose the knowledge of God, there must be a moratorium for thinking and contemplation between knowing the self – which occurs exigently- and knowing God.