rehabilitation of orthodoxy to the caliphate following the abandonment of Mu'tazilism, orthodox traditionalists became less inclined to discuss the role of the caliphs in fostering the ; as a result, the caliphs were re-imagined as reluctant supporters or even outright opponents of Mu'tazilism and the Inquisition, and the blame for these was instead shifted to Ibn Abi Du'ad. Muhammad Qasim Zaman, who characterized the chief judge as a "much maligned figure" in Sunni sources, likewise saw the portrayal of al-Mu'tasim and al-Wathiq as halfheartedly continuing the policies of al-Ma'mun as a narrative pushed by traditionalists in an attempt to de-legitimize the . By making the Inquisition the product of a subordinate official rather than of the caliphs themselves, supporters of orthodoxy hoped to prove the moral bankruptcy of the affair and mitigate the culpability of the caliphs. Notes References Tillier, Mathieu. (2009). Les cadis d’Iraq et l’État abbasside (132/750-334/945). Damascus: Institut français du Proche-Orient, 2009. . 770s births 854 deaths 8th-century Arabs 9th-century Arabs Muslim scholars of Islamic jurisprudence 9th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 9th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate People from Basra Mu'tazilites Chief qadis of the Abbasid Caliphate