The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought

Murji’is

The Murji’is were a religiopolitical group that emerged in Kufa in the second century of Islam and later spread to Khurasan. They formulated a unique position on the moral standing of the caliphs involved in the First Islamic Civil War, and in later times they were renowned for a theological position that measured faith by belief rather than acts. Heresiographers treat the latter as the most fundamental dogma of the Murji’is, giving less attention to their views on the caliphs.

The basic contention of the Murji’is was that human beings should not judge the caliphs who participated in the civil war, ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan and ‘Ali b. Abi Talib; rather, that judgment should be deferred to God. In contrast, the two caliphs who ruled before the civil war, Abu Bakr and ‘Umar b. al-Khattab, deserved praise and emulation, while anyone was free to take a stance on the (iniquitous) status of the Umayyad caliphs. The Murji’is argued for the suspension of judgment with respect to ‘Uthman and ‘Ali on the basis of the Qur’anic expression “and others are deferred to God’s commandment” (9:106). By advocating this position, the Murji’is distanced themselves from Shi‘is, who repudiated the caliphs preceding ‘Ali (including ‘Uthman); the ‘Uthmanis, who repudiated ‘Ali (the official Umayyad position); and the Kharijis, who denied the legitimacy of all the participants as well as the Umayyad caliphs. The Murji’is position was an attempt to avoid extreme partisanship on the issue of the caliphate and to advocate a return to unity among Muslims.

The Murji’is formulated the suspension of judgment doctrine on the basis of a unique epistemological principle: that something can be judged only on the basis of personal observation or unanimous testimony. Because the First Islamic Civil War was a disputed event that happened before their time, the Murji’is declined to pronounce on the rightness or wrongness of ‘Uthman’s and ‘Ali’s actions. The Murji’is accepted Abu Bakr and ‘Umar as Rightly Guided Caliphs, however, because the members of the community were in agreement on this point.

The main opponents of the Murji’is were the Kharijis, who attempted to undermine the Murji’i position by showing that their epistemological position resulted in a rejection of tradition. The Kharijis argued that if the status of the Muslims who fought in the First Islamic Civil War was so uncertain, then the status of some of the Companions of Muhammad—the founders of tradition—was also uncertain. If the status of even the Companions was uncertain, then the Murji’is had lost their connection with God’s messenger.