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**Wāṣil ibn ʿAtāʾ**
Wāṣil ibn ʿAtāʾ
Personal life
Born	c. 699; Medina, Arabia
Died	c. 748
Era	Islamic Golden Age
Region	Arabian Peninsula
Main interest(s)	Islamic theology
Notable idea(s)	Rationalism in Islamic theology, Founder of Muʿtazila, Free will of humans, Indeterminism, Incompatibilism, Anti-anthropomorphism
Occupation	Muslim philosopher
Religious life
Religion	Islam
Denomination	Mu'tazila
Muslim leader
	Influenced by Hasan al-Basri, Ja'far al-Sadiq, Ma'bad al-Juhani, Abd-Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, Ghailan ad-Dimashqi;
	Influenced Amr ibn Ubayd, Othman ibn Khaled al-Tawil, Abu Huzail al-Allaf, Abd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad;

Wāṣil ibn ʿAtāʾ (699–748) (Arabic: واصل بن عطاء) was a Muslim theologian and jurist. He is considered to be the founder of the Muʿtazilite school of Kalam.^[3]

Born around the year 699 in the Arabian Peninsula, he initially studied under Abd-Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, the grandson of Ali. Later he would travel to Basra in Iraq to study under Hasan of Basra (one of the Tabi‘in). In Basra he began to develop the ideologies that would lead to the Muʿtazilite school. He married the sister of Amr ibn Ubayd.^[4]

Wasil's thoughts and solutions stem from the conflicts experienced by many scholars in resolving theological and political problems. His main contribution to the Muʿtazilite school was in planting the seeds for the formation of its doctrine. Wasil ibn Ata died in 748 in the Arabian Peninsula.^[3]