Ibn Qubba Rāzī in between I‘tizāl and Imāmiyya

Ibn Qubba Rāzī is one the Imāmī theologians in early fourth century, who is regarded as among the Shī’a Mu‘tazilīs. The scholarly heritage and opinions left behind from him are all concerned with Imamate, in which many traces can be found of his inclination toward I‘tizāl. Thus, the question arises as to whether in his tendency toward Imāmiyya theology, Ibn Qubba has accepted all the Imāmiyya’s thought system or he has become a Shī‘a only in concern with Imamate. With a comparative study of the viewpoints of Ibn Qubba and the Mu‘tazilīs in method and content, this article tries with the aim of clarifying the climate of Imāmī theology in terms of impressionability from the Mu‘tazila, to show that Ibn Qubba has accepted Imāmiya views in relation to Imamate, and as such, only the specific and not the general Imamate, and that he keeps maintaining the epistemological principles of the Mu‘tazila in other ideological suppositions.