Abu al-Husayn al-Basri
Abu'l-Husayn al-Basri was a Mu'tazilite faqih and theologian. He wrote al-Mu'tamid fi Usul al-Fiqh, a major source of influence in the field of usul until Fakhr al-Din al-Razi's al-Mahsul fi 'Ilm al-Usul.
He was a physician as well as a disciple of the Qadi Abd al-Jabbar in Rey. He challenged some of his master's teaching and eventually compiled a huge critical review of the arguments and proofs used in Islamic Scholastic Theology. This he summarised in al Mu'tamad "The Reliable". He including a critique of the qualifications a scholar of Islamic law needed to practice. His theological works were generally handed down among students of medicine and it was a century before his teaching was revived and espoused by the Mu'tazili scholar Mahmud b. al-Malahimi in Khorezm in Central Asia where they gained recognition as a school of Mu'tazili theology.
