Al-Ma’mun and the Islamic Inquisition: Unravelling the Threads of His Motives

Abstract

The Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun imposed Islamic Inquisition, referred to as Mihna in Islamic historiography, in A.D. 833. During the course of the Islamic Inquisition, Muslim scholars, jurists, and leaders were vehemently interrogated. Those who did not subscribe to the edict officially promulgated by the Abbasid dynasty were prosecuted, persecuted and some were even put to death. However, the Islamic Inquisition abruptly ended during the reign of the Caliph alMutawakkil. This academic paper aims to explore the possible factors and determinants that led to the imposition of the Islamic Inquisition during the reign of al-Ma’mun. The study, having explored four different propositions, ultimately establishes that the enforcement of the Islamic Inquisition was driven by the conviction of al-Ma’mun to merge together the political and religious authority in the office of his caliphate.