786–833 CE · Abbasid caliph; instituted the Mihna over the createdness of the Qur'an

Al-Ma'mun

Al-Ma'mun (r. 813-833 CE) presided over the height of the House of Wisdom's translation activity in Baghdad, but is remembered in legal history chiefly for instituting the Mihna in 833, four months before his death — a state inquisition compelling scholars and judges to publicly affirm that the Qur'an was created rather than eternal, a Mu'tazilite theological position he had adopted as doctrine.

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Research Paper
Islam or Muslim Culture? Measuring the Distance Between Revelation and Practice
A historical-critical essay testing whether practices commonly defended as Islamic -- from denying women their Qur'anic inheritance shares to state corruption and the political shaping of orthodoxy -- rest on the Qur'an itself, or on later interpretation, historical tradition, absorbed local custom, and political authority defended in revelation's name.

Al-Ma'mun

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Islam or Muslim Culture? Measuring the Distance Between Revelation and Practice