ضرار بن عمرو
ضرار بن عمرو
Dirar ibn Amr — a head of the Mu'tazila; al-Mas'udi names him with Thumama and al-Jahiz as holding the Nabataean better than the Arab — read by Ahmad Amin as a political argument for easy deposition rather than belittlement of Arabs 1.
At a glance
- Roles
- Scholar
- Era
- The Early Abbasid Caliphate
- Region
- Levant & Iraq
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Overview
Dirar ibn Amr, one of the leading figures of the Mu'tazila. 2
The question of the Nabateans and the Arabs
Al-Mas'udi, al-Jahiz and others report from him and from Thumama ibn Ashras that they held the Nabateans to be better than the Arabs. Ahmad Amin discusses this reading and holds that Dirar and his companions did not stop at saying that the caliphate need not be held by the Quraysh or by the Arabs. They said that a non-Arab, even a Nabatean, has a better claim than a Qurashi, because he would be easier to depose if he were unjust. 2
In al-Nawawi's commentary on Muslim there is a phrase in which he criticises this view. 2
What is not mentioned here: his full biography and his death; an additional source is needed.
Sources
- Duha al-Islam — Ahmad Amin (Hindawi 2012), p. 60-61
- Duha al-Islam — Ahmad Amin (Hindawi 2012), p.60-61
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “ضرار بن عمرو”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/dirar-ibn-amr/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.