Caliph al-Ma'mun publicly adopts the Mu'tazilite position that the Qur'an is created (not eternal), laying the ideological groundwork for later enforcement measures against dissenting judges and scholars.
From his military camp, al-Ma'mun sends orders to Baghdad officials to interrogate qadis and traditionists about affirming the createdness of the Qur'an—initiating the Mihna as an instrument of caliphal religious authority.
Al-Ma'mun dies in August 833; his successor al-Mu'tasim continues the Mihna, demonstrating that the inquisition was becoming a durable state policy rather than a single ruler’s initiative.
Under early Mihna procedures, leading judges are examined and then tasked with testing others, institutionalizing doctrinal screening within Abbasid administration and judicial life.
The traditionalist scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal refuses to affirm the created Qur'an; during al-Mu'tasim’s reign he is punished (including flogging), later becoming a central symbol for anti-Mihna traditionalism.
Caliph al-Wathiq maintains vigorous enforcement of the Mihna, keeping pressure on scholars and officials to conform to the state-backed Mu'tazilite doctrine.
During al-Wathiq’s reign, accounts describe doctrinal questioning even in connection with a Byzantine prisoner exchange, underscoring how the Mihna’s creed-test extended beyond courts into broader public episodes.
Baghdad notable Ahmad ibn Nasr al-Khuza'i is implicated in a plot against al-Wathiq and is publicly examined, with the interrogation emphasizing theological conformity (created Qur'an) alongside political loyalty.
With al-Mutawakkil’s accession, Abbasid religious policy begins shifting away from Mu'tazilite enforcement, setting conditions for the Mihna’s dismantling and the re-centering of traditionalist influence.
Al-Mutawakkil issues policy measures to halt debate on whether the Qur'an is created or uncreated, a key step in ending the state’s enforcement of Mu'tazilite doctrine and narrowing caliphal claims over creed.
Al-Mutawakkil’s reversal is widely dated to 851, marking the effective termination of the Mihna as an inquisition and symbolizing a retreat from the caliph’s attempt to dictate formal doctrine to scholars.
Reports place a major closure step in March 852, when al-Mutawakkil orders the release of prisoners held due to the inquisition—helping end the coercive machinery even where it lingered beyond earlier decrees.
The Mihna and the Rise of Sunni Orthodoxy (833–c. 870)
