Abu al-Hudhayl al-Allaf

Abu al-Hudhayl al-Allaf (born in Basra, southern Iraq, around 135 AH / 752 CE; died around 227 AH / 841 CE, though dates given range from 226 to 235 AH, roughly 840-850 CE) was among the most influential early thinkers of the Mu'tazila, a rationalist school of kalam (Islamic speculative theology). His nickname al-Allaf is traditionally explained by the Basran quarter of fodder-sellers (allafun) where he is said to have lived.

By report he studied under Uthman al-Tawil, himself a companion of Wasil ibn Ata, an early figure associated with founding the Mu'tazila; the standard encyclopedic accounts thus make Abu al-Hudhayl an INDIRECT disciple of Wasil. (Some popular accounts make him a direct student of Wasil or of Amr ibn Ubayd; this is chronologically doubtful and the indirect chain is more reliable.)

He is credited in the encyclopedic tradition with first clearly setting out the school's framework of guiding principles, and with developing a detailed account of God's unity (tawhid), of the divine attributes, and of a physics in which the world is composed of atoms and "accidents" (transient qualities) — ideas in conversation with Greek thought. Later writers, including his nephew and critic al-Nazzam, debated his positions.

He settled in Baghdad around 203-204 AH / 818-819 CE, in the reign of the caliph al-Ma'mun, and was remembered for his skill in disputation. He is generally said to have died in Baghdad, though some reports name Basra; the year is likewise unsettled. Because Mu'tazili works survive mostly through opponents and later summaries, much of his doctrine reaches us secondhand.