Seerah al-Maturidi — Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (852-944 CE): The Samarkand Theologian Who Founded Maturidi Kalam as the Theological School of the Hanafi Madhhab, Developed Positions Closely Parallel to al-Ashari While Differing on Key Questions of Reason and Revelation, and Whose School Became the Dominant Theology of the Ottoman Empire and Central Asian Islam

Seerah al-Maturidi (سِيرَةُ المَاتُرِيدِيّ; full name: Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Maturidi al-Samarqandi; born approximately 238 AH / 852 CE in Maturid, a district of Samarkand [in modern Uzbekistan]; died 333 AH / 944 CE in Samarkand; a Hanafi scholar who founded the Maturidi school of kalam, the theological expression of the Hanafi madhhab; the two schools: al-Maturidi and al-Ashari developed their theological positions at roughly the same time in the 4th century AH [10th century CE] — al-Ashari in Basra/Baghdad, al-Maturidi in Samarkand; both were defending traditional Sunni theology against Mu'tazili rationalism and anthropomorphist literalism [those who took Quranic descriptions of God's hands, face, etc. literally]; both became the two orthodox Sunni kalam schools; the key agreements with al-Ashari: [1] God's speech is uncreated [against the Mu'tazili created-Quran position]; [2] God's attributes are real and subsist in the divine essence; [3] the divine attributes should not be interpreted away [against Mu'tazili tawil] but should also not be taken anthropomorphically; [4] human acts are ultimately created by God; the key differences: [1] on 'what can reason establish independently': al-Maturidi: reason [aql] can independently establish the existence of God and the obligation of gratitude before revelation; Ash'ari: this is possible but revelation is required to make the obligation binding; Maturidi gives more scope to unaided rational cognition; [2] on divine attributes: the two schools agree on the basic position but differ slightly on categorizations; [3] on fi'l al-'abd [human acts]: Maturidi uses ikhtiyar [choice] rather than al-Ashari's kasb [acquisition] to describe the human contribution to acts; the nuance between the two is debated; [4] on iman [faith]: Maturidi position: iman is tasdiq bil-qalb [attestation of the heart] alone; acts are not part of iman; Hanafi school of iman excludes outer acts; Ash'ari position: iman increases and decreases, and acts affect it; [5] on the definition of mu'min: Maturidi: a mu'min can say with certainty 'I am a mu'min'; Ash'ari [following Ahmad ibn Hanbal]: one should add 'if God wills' [in sha' Allah] when asserting one's faith, due to uncertainty about acceptance; the historical impact: the Maturidi school became dominant in three major zones of Islamic civilization: [1] Central Asia [Transoxiana — the heartland of the Hanafi tradition]; [2] the Ottoman Empire [the Ottomans adopted Hanafi fiqh and Maturidi kalam as their official positions; the combination shaped Islamic practice across Turkey, the Balkans, Egypt, Syria, the Levant, and large parts of South and Central Asia]; [3] South Asia [the Hanafi/Maturidi combination in India and Pakistan]; in approximate terms, approximately half of all Sunni Muslims are Hanafi in fiqh, and many of these are Maturidi in theology; major works: [1] Kitab al-Tawhid [The Book of Divine Unity]: the foundational Maturidi kalam text; a comprehensive systematic theology; [2] Ta'wilat Ahl al-Sunna [Interpretations of the People of Sunna]: a major tafsir work; less well-known than Kitab al-Tawhid but significant) is the theological foundation of Hanafi Islam.