Product Code Database
Maturidism () is a school of theology in Sunni Islam named after Abu Mansur al-Maturidi. It is one of the three Aqidah of Sunni Islam alongside Ash'arism and Atharism, and prevails in the Hanafi school of Madhhab. (2025). 9780199696703, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199696703
Al-Maturidi codified and systematized the theological Islamic beliefs already present among the Hanafi Muslim theologians of Balkh and Transoxiana under one school of systematic theology ( Kalam); (2025). 9781474451673, Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781474451673 Abu Hanifa emphasized the use of rationality and theological rationalism regarding the interpretation of the sacred scriptures of Islam.
Maturidism was originally circumscribed to the region of Transoxiana in Central Asia but it became the predominant theological orientation amongst the Sunnī Muslims of Persia before the Safavid conversion to Shīʿīsm in the 16th century, and the (people of reason). It enjoyed a preeminent status in the Ottoman Empire and Mughal India. Outside the old Ottoman and Mughal empires, most Turkic tribes, Hui people, Central Asian, and Muslims also follow the Maturidi theology. There have also been Arab Maturidi scholars.
The Maturidi school of Islamic theology holds that:
Regarding aqidah (creed), unlike many Mu'tazilites (free-will theology), al-Maturidi does not hold that angels are necessarily infallible. Pointing at surah al-Baqara, he notes that angels too, have been tested. Referring to surah Al-Anbiya, he points out, angels who claim divinity for themselves are sentenced to Jahannam.Yüksek Lisans Tezi Imam Maturidi'nin Te'vilatu'l-kur'an'da gaybi konulara İstanbul-2020 2501171277 About Iblis, otherwise known as Satan, he states, disputing whether he was an angel or a jinn before his fall is useless, as it is more important to know, that he has become a devil and enemy of humans.T.C. İSTANBUL ÜNİVERSİTESİ SOSYAL BİLİMLER ENSTİTÜSÜ TEMEL İSLAM BİLİMLERİ ANABİLİM DALI YÜKSEK LİSANS TEZİ İMAM MÂTURİDÎ’NİN TE’VÎLÂTU’L-KUR’ÂN’DA GAYBÎ KONULARA YAKLAŞIMI ELİF ERDOĞAN 2501171277 DANIŞMAN Prof. Dr. Yaşar DÜZENLİ İstanbul-202
Maturidism holds that humans are creatures endowed with reason, which differentiates them from animals. The relationship between people and God differs from that of nature and God; humans are endowed with free-will, but due to God's sovereignty, God creates the acts the humans choose, so humans can perform them. Ethics can be understood just by rational thought and do not require prophetic guidance. Al-Maturidi also considered the aḥādīth to be unreliable when they are at odds with reason.Rico Isaacs, Alessandro Frigerio Theorizing C entral Asian Politics: The State, Ideology and Power Springer, 2018 p. 108 Furthermore, Maturidi theology opposes anthropomorphism and similitude, but simultaneously does not deny the divine attributes.
Maturidism defends the idea that paradise and hell are coexisting with the temporal world, against the assertion of some Muʿtazila that paradise and hell will be created only after the Day of Judgement. The attributes of paradise and hell would already take effect on Dunya ( dunya). Abū l-Laiṯ as-Samarqandī (944–983 CE) stated that the purpose of simultaneous existence of both worlds is that they inspire hope and fear among humans.
According to Maturidism, belief ( ʾīmān) does neither increase nor decrease depending on observation of religious law. Instead, deeds follow from faith. Based on Surah Ta-Ha (verse 112), if a Muslim does not perform the deeds prescribed by the Sharia ( sharīʿa), he is not considered an apostate as long as he doesn't deny his obligations.Yerzhan, K. "Principles of Abu Mansur Al-Maturidi, Central Asian Islamic Theologian Preoccupied With.pdf." A. Akimkhanov, A.Frolov, Sh.Adilbaeyva, K.Yerzhan (2016): n. pag. Print. According to al-Maturidi, faith isn't based on actions or confession, but comes from the heart. He supports his doctrine by referring to Surah Al-Imran (verse 3:22): "They are the ones whose deeds have become worthless in this world and the Hereafter, and for them there will be no helpers." These people would have performed the obligatory actions and rituals without the proper faith in their heart. Therefore, actions must be based on faith to be acceptable before God. Maturidism is known for its reserved position regarding takfir: Based on Surah 2:30, Kitāb al-ʿĀlim states that neither humans nor angels can know what is in the heart of a human, thus it couldn't be said who is inwardly a Muslim and who is not, except for those who commit acts of disbelief.Rudolph, Ulrich. al-Māturīdī and the Development of Sunnī Theology in Samarqand. Brill, 2014. One who is committing sins isn't necessarily a disbeliever, but someone who explicitly dissociates themselves from God is.
Similarly, it is argued that the obedience to God observed by angels and prophets derives from their insights to God's nature and doesn't result from their creation. Abū al-Qāsim Ishaq ibn Muhammad al Maturidi (9th to 10th centuries CE) drew an analogy on Harut and Marut, who are regarded as sinful yet not Kafir ( Kuffār) in the Islamic tradition.Tritton, A. S. "An Early Work from the School of Al-Māturīdī." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, no. 3/4, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1966, pp. 96–99, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25202926. Al-Samarqandī further stated that children cannot be considered unbelievers and all of them go to paradise. According to al-Maturidi, human rationality is supposed to acknowledge the existence of a creator deity ( bāriʾ) solely Rationalism and independently from divine revelation. He shared this conviction with his teacher and predecessor Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān (8th century CE), whereas the 10th-century Muslim scholar and theologian Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī never held such a view. Although Māturīdism adhers, like the Mu'tazilites, to ethical realism, the former holds that moral objects are ultimately created by God, thus God is not bound by them, but human reason can detect such moral truths on their own.The Biographical Encyclopedia of Islamic Philosophy. (2015). Vereinigtes Königreich: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 311
Yohei Matsuyama points to al-Maturidi's wording about faith, referring to the only obligation to believe in a Creator deity ( bāriʾ) or maker ( sanī), not specifically in Allah, and concludes, it is only necessary for salvation to construct a belief in a creator, not necessarily accepting the theological or doctrinal formulations of Islam.Zhussipbek, Galym, and Bakhytzhan Satershinov. "Search for the theological grounds to develop inclusive Islamic interpretations: Some insights from rationalistic Islamic Maturidite theology." Religions 10.11 (2019): 609. p. 5 Toshihiko Izutsu likewise argues that "believing in islam" refers to submission to the creator, by voluntarily surrendering to his will, and not necessarily accepting a religious formula.Zhussipbek, Galym, and Bakhytzhan Satershinov. "Search for the theological grounds to develop inclusive Islamic interpretations: Some insights from rationalistic Islamic Maturidite theology." Religions 10.11 (2019): 609. p. 6
Yet, al-Maturidi did not view all religions as equal. He criticized Christians, Jews, Zoroastrianism, and Atheism or Materialism ( Dahrīya). However, he drew a distinction between other Abrahamic Monotheism and non-Abrahamic non-monotheistic religions, criticizing Judaism and Christianity on the matter of prophecy and individual prophets, not about God.Zhussipbek, Galym, and Bakhytzhan Satershinov. "Search for the theological grounds to develop inclusive Islamic interpretations: Some insights from rationalistic Islamic Maturidite theology." Religions 10.11 (2019): 609. p. 3 Dualistic religions faced criticism by al-Maturidi regarding their conception of God, arguing that an Omnibenevolence, who creates only good, opposed to a devil, who is responsible for everything evil, implies a deficit in God's omnipotence and is incompatible with God's nature.Bürgel, J. Christoph. "Zoroastrianism as Viewed in Medieval Islamic Sources." Muslim Perceptions of Other Religions (1999): 202-212.
|
|
