Career
A student of the famous early theologian Hasan al-Basri, he led the Mutazilis during the early years of the Abbasid caliphate. He generally followed a quietist political stance toward the Abbasid political establishment. Amr"s father had served as a sergeant under al-Hallaj, but by profession he was a weaver.
Amr had learned the same craft and thus may have made an early acquantance with Wasil ibn Ata.
More than Wasil, Amr had belonged to the circle of close disciples around Hasan al-Basri, whose Tafseer he transmitted. The Mu"tazila
These were: (1) the unity of God.
(2) divine justice. (3) the promise and the threat.
(4) the intermediate position. And (5) the commanding of good and forbidding of evil (al-amr bil ma"ruf wa al-nahy "an al munkar).
Hasan was displeased and remarked, "He has withdrawn from us (i"tazila "anna)", at which Wasil withdrew from his circle and began to propagate his own teaching. The historicity of this story has been questioned on the ground that there are several variants: according to one version the person who withdrew was Amr ibn Ubayd, and according to another the decisive break came in the time of Hasan"s successor Qatada ibn De"ama.
After his masters death he seems to have contended with Qatada ibn De"ama (died 735) for the leadership of the school.
The fact that he lost this competition may explain, to a certain degree, why he became a Mu"tazilte and created a circle of his own. In about 759 he had to negotiate, as the doyen of the Mu"tazilities, with the caliph al-Mansur concerning the attitude of his adherents toward Nafs az-Zakiya, who had begun propaganda for the cause of the Alids in Iraq. He died before the outbreak of rebellion.
