Amr ibn Ubayd

Amr ibn Ubayd ibn Bab (Abu Uthman al-Basri) was an early-eighth-century scholar of Basra in southern Iraq, counted among the first generation associated with the Mu'tazila — a school that stressed reasoned argument (kalam, "rational theology") in matters of God's justice and human free will. According to Encyclopaedia Iranica his family was of Persian/Kabuli origin: a grandfather was reportedly taken captive in the early Muslim campaigns, and his father worked as a weaver, a trade Amr is said to have followed himself.

He belonged to the close circle of disciples around the renowned preacher al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 110/728), and is reported to have transmitted al-Hasan's Qur'an commentary. Tradition links him with Wasil ibn Ata, regarded as a founder of the Mu'tazila, who is said to have married Amr's sister; later sources say Wasil drew Amr toward Mu'tazili positions. Sources portray Amr above all as an ascetic (a practitioner of zuhd, world-renunciation) — famed for night prayers, wary of luxury, and disapproving of music.

He kept a quietist stance toward the new Abbasid state, and reportedly knew the future caliph al-Mansur before his accession; around 142/759 he is said to have spoken with al-Mansur regarding the Alid rebel known as al-Nafs al-Zakiyya. Sunni hadith critics, including Yahya ibn Ma'in and Abu Dawud, judged him an unreliable narrator — partly for his theological views — and his reports were widely rejected. He died, by traditional reckoning, around 144/761 at Marran near Mecca while returning from the pilgrimage.