Rereading the Theory of Amr Bayn al-Amrayn in Early Imāmī Thought, and Its Relation to the Viewpoint of Ahl al-Hadith and Muʿtazilah (Up To the End of the Fourth Century)

Qurʾān and Islamic tradition provided evidence for free will and determinism, but since the pre-Islamic Arab culture was inclined to determinism, the first theories developed about the question of human freedom in the Islamic society was oriented towards determinism. In the second century and by beginning of the theological debates and emergence of theological theories, two conflicting theories were proposed in this issue, that both theories cited a body of evidence driven from the Qurʾān and tradition that tend to the determinism. Meanwhile a theory was proposed in the teachings of Aha al-Bayt which offered the best interpretation of the Qurʾānic teachings and embraced the arguments of both side. This third way, which is known as “amr bayn al-amrayn”, based on potency and free will, insists on the real agency of human, does not considers this agency out of agency of the God. The historical study of Imāmī thought by the end of the fourth century states that the Imāmī followers who invoked to the hadiths of Ahl al-Bayt and the theological principles and ideas provided by them explain the idea of “amr bayn al-amrayn”. Though there were slight disagreement on the interpretation of the premises or in the manner of explaining in different versions on this idea among imāmī theologians, but all versions of this theory in Shi’a literature diverged from both jabr and tafwīḍ. By accepting the role of human power and his real agency, they differed with the determinists from one side, and by believing that the external fulfillment of the actions is depended on the Divine will. The comparison between the theory of amr bayn al-amrayn with the viewpoint of Muʿtazilites and Ahl al-Hadīth shows that these three theories such as interpretation and potency or Divine will differ essentially with each other in some of premises. amr bayn al-amrayn not only is the best way to solve the problem of agency but also correctly interprets some of theological issues and teachings – such as, guidance and misguidance, tawfāq (divine assitance), khudhlān (abandoned by God), Istidrāj (fall from God by hidden divine deception) . These doctorines which are rooted in religious sources cannot been explained by neither the theory of jabr nor theory of tafwīḍ, and they only under the theory of amr bayn al-amrayn they can be properly interpreted and understood.