المعنى الاصطلاحي

Followers of Aristotle, the Macedonian, (322-384 B.C.) who argued that the universe is eternal, denied knowledge of the Lord and the resurrection of the body, and said that the angels are the intellects, in addition to other false beliefs and ideas.

الشرح المختصر

Mashsha"iyyah" trace back to the pioneer, Aristotle of Macedonia, in whose footsteps they used to walk. Born in 384 B.C. and died in 322 B.C. aged 63. Aristotle was one of Plato"s most prominent students. He founded a school called the Lyceum, which later came to be known as the Peripatetic School, as its members would discuss intellectual issues while walking to and fro. One of their ideas was that they believed that the soul – or the spirit - stays after leaving the body, but they falsely believed that when the soul departs from the body it is intellect, which according to them, is separate from matter and its associates. They believe that the body is matter, while the mind is independent and does not have any movement or change whatsoever. They also believed in the eternity of the universe, denied knowledge of the Lord and resurrection of bodies, and held that the angels are the intellects, in addition to other wrong beliefs and thoughts, as reported by Avicenna, Al-Farabi, Ibn al-Khateeb, and others. What we should know here is that philosophers do not believe at all in the existence of Allah, the revelation, the prophets, the messengers, and they deny all the unseen. Overall, philosophical principles rest on two foundations: 1. The essence and source of all knowledge is the human intellect. 2. Knowledge is strictly confined to material and visible things.

التعريف اللغوي المختصر

"Mashsha"iyyah": walking from one place to another on foot, slowly or quickly. "Mashsha"iyyoon", the Peripatetics; a group of philosophers who used to walk in the footsteps of Aristotle