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al- Māturīdī  (1,435 words), Abū Man ūr Mu ammad b. Mu ammad b. Ma mūd al-Samar andī , anafī theologian, jurist, andṣ ḥ ḥ ḥ ḳ Ḥ

ur ān commentator, founder of a doctrinal school which later came to be considered one of the twoḲ ʾ

orthodox Sunnī schools of kalām [see māturīdia !.

"is nisba refers to Māturīd #or Māturīt$, a localit in Samar and. %n the basis of a misunderstoodḳ

reference of al-Sam ānī #fol. &'(b$ to his son-in-law, some late sources consider him of distinguishedʿ

Medinan descent and call him al-An ārī. "is main teacher, Abū )a r A mad b. al- Abbās al- *ā ī,ṣ ṣ ḥ ʿ ʿ ḍ

was +illed between /(0& and 0'/(', 1robabl closer to the latter date. Al- Māturidī  thus must ha2e

been born before 3/(04, es1eciall since he is described as ha2ing been highl esteemed b his

teacher, who would not engage in scholarl debate exce1t in his 1resence. According to some late

authors, al- Māturīdī  also studied under al- *ā ī s teachers Abū Sulamān al- ū5 ānī, )u ar b.ʿ ḍ ʾ D j     dj     ṣ

6a ā al-7al ī #d. (/((-$ and Mu ammad b. Mu ātil al-8ā5ī #d. /(&$. 9he latter cannot ha2eḥ kh ḥ ḳ

been his teacher, and the re1ort is most li+el unreliable also in res1ect of the other two. )ot much else

is +nown about his career. "e is described as leading an ascetic life and as occasioning miracles #

karāmāt  $. 9he death date gi2en b the later sources, 444/'&&, ma be a11roximatel correct, though

the earliest biogra1her, Abu :l-Mu īn al-)asafī #d. ;3(/&$, did not +now it. Alternate datesʿ

mentioned in two late sources are 44/'&0 and 44/'&4. Al-Māturīdī:s tomb in the cemeter of

ā+ardī5a in Samar and was still +nown in the 'th/;th centur. Among his students were AbūD j     ḳ

A mad al- *ā ī, son of his teacher Abū )a r, Abu :l- asan al-8ustu fanī, and Abd al-.

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*n contrast to al-A arī, the founder of the other Sunnīshʿ kalām school, who es1oused the doctrines of

anbalī traditionalism, al-Ḥ  Māturīdī  adhered to the doctrine of Abū anīfa as transmitted and elaboratedḤ

b the anafī scholars of 7al and 9ransoxania. "e de2elo1ed 1re2ious eastern anafī teachingḤ kh Ḥ

sstematicall in arguing against the 1ositions of the Mu ta5ila, in 1articular, their chief re1resentati2eʿ

in the east Abu :l- āsim al-7al īG of the

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before creation and the latter confessed belief in "is Nordshi1 falsel under duress. Man:s 1ower #

udraḳ   $, gi2en b od, is 2alid for o11osite acts. Ba1abilit # isti ā aṭ ʿ  $ is of two +inds, one 1receding

the act, the other simultaneous with it. 9he im1osition b od of something beond man:s ca1acit #

taklīf mā lā #u āṭ ḳ  $ is in 1rinci1le inadmissible.

>aith # īmān $ was defined b al- Māturīdī  essentiall as ta dī bi ’l- albṣ ḳ ḳ   , inner assent, ex1ressed b

2erbal confession # rār bi ’l-lisānịḳ   $. Oor+s # a mālʿ  $ are not 1art of faith. >aith cannot decrease norincrease in substance, though it ma be said to increase through renewal and re1etition. Al- Māturīdī  

condemned isti nāth ʾ , adding the formula Lif od will to the affirmation L* am a belie2er. 9he

faithful sinner ma be 1unished b od but will e2entuall enter =aradise. 9he traditionalist tenet

bac+ed b al-A arī that faith is uncreated was rejected b al-shʿ  Māturīdī .

#O. Madelung$

Bibliography

7a5dawī, % &l al-dīnṣ , ed. ". =. Ninss, Bairo 4(4/'4, index s.2.

Abu :l-Mu īn al-)asafī,ʿ Tab irat al-adillaṣ , ?uoted in Mu ammad b. 9āwīt al- ān ī,ḥ Ṭ dj    Ab& Man &r al-ṣ

 Māturīdī , in !(, i2/- #';;$, -

*bn Abi :l-Oafā ,ʾ al- awāhir al-mu ī a Ḏj     ḍ ʾ , adarābād 44/'&, ii, 43-Ḥ

7aā ī,ḍ   ārāt al-marāmsh , ed. 6ūsuf Abd al-8a55ā , Bairo 4(/'&', 4ʿ ḳ

Cabīdī, t āf al-sādaḥ , Bairo n.d., ii, ;

Na+nawī, al-!awā id al-bahi##aʾ , Bairo '&, ';

M. Allard, 'e )robl*me des attributs di+ins dans la doctrine d’al-A, arī ʿ , 7eirut ';, &'-0

M. Dt5, Māturīdī und sein Kitāb Ta wīlāt al-ur ānʾ ʾ , in sl., xli #';$, 0-03

". @aiber, ur /rstausgabe +on al-Māturīdī , Kitāb al-Tau īdḥ , in sl., lii #'0;$, ''-44

Se5gin, 0A1, i, 3&-. >urther rele2ant literature is gi2en under the article on al-māturīdia.

Cite this page

Madelung, O.. Pal-Māturīdī.P Qncclo1aedia of *slam, Second Qdition. Qdited bF =. 7earman, 9h.

7ian?uis, B.Q. 7osworth, Q. 2an @on5el, O.=. "einrichs. 7rill %nline, 3;. 8eference. QM%86

I)*KQ8S*96. ' March 3;Rhtt1F//referencewor+s.brillonline.com.1rox.librar.emor.edu/entries/encclo1aedia-of-islam-/al-

ma-turi-di-S*M;3&;T

>irst a11eared onlineF 3

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Māturīdiyya(1,445 words), a theological school named after its founder Abū Man ūr al-ṣ  Māturīdī  [2.+.! which in the Mamlū+ age

came to be widel recognised as the second orthodox Sunnī kalām school besides the A aria. 9heshʿ

name Māturīdia does not a11ear to ha2e been current before al-9afta5ānī #d. 0'/4'3$, who used it

e2identl to establish the role of al- Māturīdī  as the co-founder of Sunnī kalām together with hiscontem1orar al-A arī. *n 2iew of the late a11earance of the name, the realit of a theological schoolshʿ

founded b al- Māturīdī  has been ?uestioned. *n earlier times, the school was commonl called that of

the scholars of Samar and or of 9ransoxania. *t claimed to re1resent the doctrine of Abū anīfa andḳ Ḥ

sometimes identified itself as the ahl al-sunna wa ’l- amā adj     ʿ  and Lthe great mass, al-sawād al-a amʿẓ  .

9he dominant influence of al-Māturīdī:s thought and wor+s on the later re1resentati2es of the school is,

howe2er, e2ident, and the latter did not de2iate more substantiall from his doctrine than did the later

A arīs from the doctrine of al-A arī. 9he latter was more readil recognised as the founder of ashʿ shʿ

new school both because he was originall a Mu ta5ilī and because he was re1udiated b the anbalīʿ Ḥ

traditionalists whose doctrine he claimed to defend, while al- Māturīdī  was considered full

re1resentati2e of traditional 9ransoxanian anafism whose theolog he elaborated.Ḥ

9he theological doctrine of the anafī scholars of Samar and s1read in the &th/3th and ;th/thḤ ḳ

centuries throughout 9ransoxania, eastern urāsān, 7al and among the newl con2erted 9ur+s inK h kh

the ara ānid territories of Bentral Asia. *n the &th/3th centur there were some differences on a fewḲ kh

theological ?uestions with the anafī scholars of 7u ārā, who were more strongl influenced bḤ kh

traditionalist, anti-rationalist tendencies. 9hese were mostl harmonised b later Māturīdī  scholars with

com1romise solutions. Māturīdī  teaching remained 2irtuall un+nown west of urāsān, where theK h

anafīs adhered to other theological schools, man of them to Mu ta5ilism. %nl the Sal ūḤ ʿ dj     ḳex1ansion into the central *slamic world since the middle of the ;th/th centur brought a radical

change. A arī authors now too+ note ofshʿ  Māturīdī  doctrine concerning the di2ine attributes,

characteristicall describing it as an inno2ation 1ro1ounded onl after the ear &33/33'. 9he militant

su11ort of the 9ur+s for eastern anafism including its theological doctrine led to a major clash withḤ

the āfi īs, now identified with A arī theolog. 9his is the bac+ground of the official cursing of al-Sh ʿ shʿ

A arī from the 1ul1its in urāsān ordered b the Sal ū o r l 7eg in &&;/3;4 and of theshʿ K h dj     ḳ Ṭ g  h i

1ersecution of A arīs and the extensi2e factional warfare between anafīs and āfi īs in the majorshʿ Ḥ Sh ʿ

towns of *ran in the later Sal ū age.dj     ḳ  Māturīdī  wor+s of this 1eriod are highl critical of A arism,shʿ

excluding the A aria from theshʿ ahl al-sunna wa ’l- amā adj     ʿ  and describing some A arī doctrinesshʿas kufr . As a result of the 9ur+ish ex1ansion, eastern anafism andḤ  Māturīdī  theological doctrine were

s1read throughout western =ersia, *rā , Anatolia, Sria and Qg1t. )umerous 9ransoxanian and otherʿ ḳ

eastern anafī scholars migrated to these regions and taught there from the late ;th/th to the (th/&thḤ

centur. Māturīdī  doctrine thus graduall came to 1re2ail among the anafī communities e2erwhere.Ḥ

*n @amascus and Sria it was first 1ro1agated b 7urhān al-@īn Alī b. al- asan al-Si+il+andī al-ʿ Ḥ

7al ī #d. ;&(/;4$, to whom the anafī scholars of Samar and send a co1 of Abū af al-)asafī:skh Ḥ ḳ Ḥ ṣ

 A ā idʿ ḳ ʾ  with their ex1lanations, describing it as the creed of the ahl al-sunna wa ’l- amā adj     ʿ  on which

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the had agreed.

As the antagonism between the anafīs and āfi īs subsided in the Mamlū+ age, the A arī āfi īḤ Sh ʿ shʿ Sh ʿ

9ā al-@īn al-Sub+ī #d. 00/403$ com1osed adj   n&ni##a 1oem about the 1oints of difference between

al-A arī and LAbū anīfa, meaningshʿ Ḥ  Māturīdī  doctrine. "e listed thirteen such 1oints, defining se2en

of them as merel terminological # laf i##a ẓ  $ and six as objecti2e # ma nawi##aʿ  $. 9he latter were in his

2iew so minor that the could not justif mutual charges of infidelit or heres # tabdī ʿ  $. Acommentar on the 3&ni##a was com1osed b al-Sub+ī:s student )ūr al-@īn Mu ammad b. Abi :l-ḥ

aib al- īrā5ī. 9his commentar with al-Sub+ī:s thirteen 1oints of difference was largel co1ied bṬ Sh

Abū I ba, writing ʿ dh ca. ;/04, in his well-+nown K. al-Raw a al-bahi##a fī mā ba#n al-A ā iraḍ sh ʿ

wa ’l-Māturīdi##a #a summar of the thirteen 1oints is gi2en b A. S. 9ritton, Muslim theolog#, Nondon

'&0, 0&-$.

)otable re1resentati2es of the school of al- Māturīdī  in the later ;th/th centur were Abū a+ūr al-Sh

Sālimī al-

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inde1endence and 1riorit of Māturīdī  kalām, founded on the teaching of Abū anīfa, in relation toḤ

A arism.shʿ

Inli+e Mu ta5ilism and A arism,ʿ shʿ  Māturīdī  theolog alwas remained associated with onl a single

legal school, that of Abū anīfa. *t also generall lagged behind the other twoḤ kalām schools in

methodical so1histication and sstematisation, es1eciall in the ?uestions of natural science treated b

them, and was less subject to the 1er2asi2e influence of the terminolog and conce1ts of falsafa onlater A arism and later, 1articularl *māmī ī ī, Mu ta5ilism. Ohile the conflict of the Māturīdiashʿ Sh ʿ ʿ

with the Mu ta5ila was ob2iousl most fundamental, the differences with the A aria were moreʿ shʿ

substantial than the later harmonising theologians would admit. 9he in2ol2ed mainl Māturīdī  

doctrine affirming the eternit of od:s attributes of act subsisting in "is essence, the rational basis of

good and e2il, the realit of free choice # i ti#ārkh  $ of man in his acts, and the Mur i ī definition ofdj   ʾ

faith as assent and confession excluding wor+s # a mālʿ  $. "owe2er, other, less significant 1oints of

difference dominated at times the contro2ers between the two schools.

#O. Madelung$

Bibliography

*n addition to the wor+s cited in al-māturīdi, see N. ardet, (e 2uel2ues 2uestions )osées )ar l’étude

du lm al-kalāmʿ , in 1 , xxxii #'03$, 4;-'

O. Madelung, The s)read of Māturīdism and H the Turks, in Actas do 4 5ongresso de /studos 6rabes

e sl7micos 5oimbra-'isboa 89:;, Neiden '0, 3'-(

O. M. Oatt, The formati+e )eriod of slamic thought , Qdinburgh '04, 4-

idem, The )roblem of al-Māturīdī , in Mélanges d’slamologie. 4olume dédié ge?

l’enseignement en slam et en =ccident au Mo#en >ge, =aris '0, '-3

@. imaret, Théories de l’Acte humain en théologie musulmane, =aris '(3, 0-4&

J. M. =essagno, The uses of e+il in Māturīdian thought , in 1 , lx #'(&$, ;'-(.

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