When Imam Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Isma’il al-Ash’ari (r.a.) Repudiated the Mu’tazilah

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Imam Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Isma’il al-Ash’ari (r.a.) was a Sunni Muslim coming from a Sunni household.  When he was young, he studied Mu’tazilah theology with Abu ‘Ali al-Jubba’i.  He then repented from this, and one day ascended the teaching chair in the mosque and spoke at the top of his voice, “He who knows me, knows me, and he who does not know me, let me introduce myself.  I am so and so and I used to say that the Qur’an was Created and that Allah cannot be seen by human eyes and that evil actions are actions I commit.  I repent from this and I will respond to the teachings of the Mu’taziliyyah, and expose their falsehood.”