Editing Ijma (section)

===Mu'tazilite view===
The [[Mu'tazila|Mu'tazilite]] sect does not consider consensus to be a valid source of law, primarily due to their rationalist criticism of the [[Sahaba|first generation]] of Muslims, whom the Mu'tazila viewed as possessing defective personalities and intellects.<ref name=devin>Devin Stewart, "Muhammad b. Dawud al-Zahiri's Manual of Jurisprudence." Taken from Studies in Islamic Law and Society Volume 15: Studies in Islamic Legal Theory. Edited by [[Bernard G. Weiss]]. Pg. 107. [[Leiden]]: 2002. [[Brill Publishers]].</ref> Shi'ite theologians [[Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid]] and [[Sharif al-Murtaza]] held the Mu'tazilite theologian [[Ibrahim an-Nazzam|Nazzam]]'s book ''Kitab al-Nakth'', in which his student [[Al-Jahiz]] reports that he denied the validity of consensus for this reason, in high esteem.<ref>Josef van Ess, Das Kitab al-nakt des Nazzam und seine Rezeption im Kitab al-Futya des Gahiz. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Reprecht, 1971.</ref> Modern scholarship has suggested that this interest was motivated by the desire of Shi'ite theologians to impugn the character of the first three leaders of the [[Rashidun Caliphate]], [[Abu Bakr]], [[Umar]] and [[Uthman]].<ref name=devin/>