Mutazilite Approach into the Polemıcs of the Descen-Ding of Jesus and the Mahdism

This article is an inquiry into the approaches of Mutazila to the is-sues of the second coming of Jesus (nuzūl al-‘Isa) and appearance of al-mahdī (zuhūr al-mahdī). In the contemporary era, a number of assertions on the approaches of previous generations, especially of Mutazila's, have been put forward during the discussions of the subject. However, the Mutalizite sources reveal that the claims do not correspond neatly to the actual situation. It could be stated that the Mu'tazilites had three different tendencies towards the descen-ding of Jesus and the Mahdism. The first generation of scholars ten-ded to reject the beliefs completely. Although there were scholars among the later generations who performed ta'wil on the subject, some others accepted it, however, they did not consider it as a cre-dential component. Hence this article aims to analyse different di-mensions of the subject and reveal the approach of Mutazila to the problem by drawing a holistic picture.