The Mu'tazilah are from the Rationalist school of thought and have very many deviations in their methodological principles These people are the Rejecters of the Sunnah, and spring from the works of Ghulaam Ahmad Parweiz and Rashad Khalifa, both of whom were declared apostates, due to their very clear and apparent kufr.

In the time of the tabi`in, in the days of Hasan al-Basri in particular, Wasil ibn `Ata' emerged with his concept of "the station between the two stations." He claimed that a Muslim who commits a major sin is no longer a believer, nor is he a kafir, but that he is in an intermediate station between kufr and Eemaan - that of fisq (transgression) and will remain eternally in Hell. Imam Hasan expelled them from his circle (halaqah), and they isolated themselves near one of the pillars of the mosque. As a result, they became known as "Al-Mu`tazilah", meaning: the Isolated Ones. The Mu`tazilah eventually fragmented into twenty separate sects, each pronouncing kufr on the rest, and whose common ground was an over-emphasis on the use of the mind. They tried to interpret Islam in the light of first-order logic. Their other beliefs included: That it is permissible, lexically, to ascribe creation of deeds to human beings. That the Qur'ân is created. That the attributes of Allah are not eternal. Interpretation of allegorical verses without exception, so that they denied that the believers will see Allah in the Hereafter.