Faith And Good Deeds In Sunnite Schools Of Thought And Deviated Sects: Revisiting The Notion Of "Sunnite Murji'ites" To The Hanafites

The issue of faith and good deeds had triggered several controversies in early Islam, particularly raised by Kharijites, Murji’ites, and Mu‘tazilites. Among the Sunnite schools, the Hanafites holds a slightly different view of faith and its relationship to good deeds. Since the Hanafites exclude good deeds from being an element of faith, there are some parties who charge them with holding the heretical view of the Murji’ites concerning the issue, or at least, they are labelled as “the Sunnite Murji’ites.” This article argues, however, that this charge is erroneous and indeed, this article affirms that the Hanafites held a pure Sunnite position. To prove this stance, this article examines and compares briefly different views of the concept of, and relationship between, faith and good deeds, before critically scrutinize the Hanafite view and position on the issue. This article found that although the Hanafites do exclude good deeds from being an element of faith, their conception of faith is still dynamic, in which good deeds are absolutely still required, and this run counter the Murji’ite ultra-passive attitude towards good deeds. The slight difference between the Hanafites and the other three Sunnite Schools is due to the different socio-political context and different approaches employed by the two groups to the concept of faith. Thus, any allegation that the Hanafites are the Murji’ites or even “the Sunnite Murji’ites” is not only improper but is erroneous.