Freethinker

A freethinker is someone who forms their own opinions and beliefs, especially about religion or politics, rather than just accepting what is officially or commonly believed and taught.

Muslim polymath al-Biruni, described by Bruce Lawrence as the "greatest freethinker of all time"

Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Illuminati, was regarded as a "dangerous freethinker" by the Jesuits

Some religious traditions have had groups that supported freethinking. A well-known example is the Mu'tazila in Islam. Described as the "free-thinkers" of early Islam, the Mu'tazila strongly opposed any idea that gave God human qualities, and they rejected beliefs about God having a body, ideas common to some early Shia groups and the emergent Hadith movement. People have also compared the centralized, hierarchical authority of the Vatican with the more individual style of Protestant freethinkers, who are often seen as more open to new ideas and personal interpretation.

Today, freethinking is most closely linked with atheists, agnostics, deists, liberal religionists, religious innovators, and those who have challenged the predominant orthodoxies in every field of endeavor, from science to politics to the arts.

Notable individuals

• Al-Jahiz, a Muslim polymath
• Al-Biruni, a Muslim polymath
• Ibn Rushd, a Muslim philosopher
• Al-Hallaj, a Sufi Muslim mystic
• Adam Weishaupt, a German philosopher
• Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher
• Noam Chomsky, an American linguist

See also

• Thought
• Philosophy
• Islamic Golden Age
• Renaissance
• Protestant Reformation
• Age of Enlightenment
• Hadith rejectors
• Muslim Hebraists