Table Of ContentAl-Māturīdī and the Development of Sunnī Theology in Samarqand
Islamic History
and Civilization
Studies and Texts
Editorial Board
Hinrich Biesterfeldt
Sebastian Günther
Wadad Kadi
VOLUME 100
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ihc
Al-Māturīdī and the Development
of Sunnī Theology in Samarqand
By
Ulrich Rudolph
Translated by
Rodrigo Adem
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: Ulugh Beg Madrassah in Registan Ensemble. Samarkand, Uzbekistan. ciStock.com/
Humancode.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rudolph, Ulrich.
[Al-Maturidi und die sunnitische Theologie in Samarkand. English]
Al-Maturidi and the development of Sunni theology in Samarqand / by Ulrich Rudolph ; translated
by Rodrigo Adem.
pages cm. — (Islamic history and civilization / Studies and texts ; v. 100)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-23415-4 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-26184-6 (e-book) 1. Islam—
Doctrines—History. 2. Islam—Uzbekistan—Samarqand—History. 3. Maturidiyah. 4. Maturidi,
Muhammad ibn Muhammad, -944 or 945. I. Adem, Rodrigo. II. Title.
BP166.1.R8313 2015
297’.204109587—dc23
2014034960
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issn 0929-2403
isbn 978-90-04-23415-4 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-26184-6 (e-book)
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Contents
Preface ix
List of Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
1 The Famous Unknown 1
2 The First Image: al-Māturīdī as Faithful Successor to
Abū Ḥanīfa 4
3 The Second Image: al-Māturīdī as Eastern Counterpart
to al-Ashʿarī 7
4 The State of Research and Current Conceptualizations 11
Part 1
Preliminary History and Conditions: The Ḥanafite Tradition
in Northeastern Iran
1 The Foundation and Establishment of Ḥanafite Theology in the Second/
Eighth and Early Third/Ninth Centuries 23
1.1 The Preparatory Role of the Murjiʾa 23
1.2 Abū Ḥanīfa (d. 150/767) and the Letters to ʿUthmān al-Battī 28
1.2.1 The First Risāla 28
1.2.2 The Second Risāla 36
1.3 Abū Muqātil al-Samarqandī (d. 208/823) and the Kitāb al-ʿĀlim
wa-l-mutaʿallim 42
1.4 Abū Muṭīʿ al-Balkhī (d. 199/814) and the Kitāb al-Fiqh al-absaṭ 53
2 Development in the Third/Ninth Century 72
2.1 Stagnation in Theology and a Lack of Sources: Abū Bakr
al-Samarqandī (d. 268/881–2) 72
2.2 Ḥanafite Elements in Ibn Karrām’s Theology (d. 255/869) 75
3 The State of Theology during al-Māturīdī’s Lifetime 81
3.1 Abū Muṭīʿ Makḥūl al-Nasafī (d. 318/930) and the Kitāb al-Radd ʿalā
ahl al-bidaʿ wa-l-ahwāʾ 81
3.2 Al-Ḥakīm al-Samarqandī (d. 342/953) and the Kitāb al-Sawād
al-aʿẓam 97
vi contents
PART 2
The Emergence of al-Māturīdī
4 Life and Activity 125
4.1 Biographical Reports 125
4.2 Teachers 132
4.2.1 Abū Bakr al-Jūzjānī 132
4.2.2 Abū Naṣr al-ʿIyāḍī 134
4.3 Students 137
4.3.1 Abū Aḥmad al-ʿIyāḍī 137
4.3.2 Abū l-Ḥasan al-Rustughfanī 140
4.3.3 ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Pazdawī 144
5 Theological Opponents 148
5.1 The Wide Spectrum of Polemic 148
5.2 The Muʿtazilite Challenge 156
5.2.1 Abū l-Qāsim al-Balkhī al-Kaʿbī and the Baghdad School 158
5.2.2 The Basran School 159
5.2.3 Ibn al-Rāwandī 160
5.2.4 Muḥammad b. Shabīb 162
5.3 The Ḥanafite Rivals: al-Najjār and the School of Rayy 163
5.4 The Focal Point of the Discussion: Refutation of the Dualists and
the “Dahrīya” 166
6 Works 180
6.1 Lost Works 180
6.2 Extant Texts 183
6.2.1 The Taʾwīlāt al-Qurʾān or Taʾwīlāt ahl al-sunna 183
6.2.2 The Kitāb al-Tawḥīd 189
PART 3
Al-Māturīdī’s Theology
7 Structures and Their Forerunning Models 201
7.1 The Structure of the Kitāb al-Tawḥīd 201
7.2 The Bipartite Nature of the Work 214
7.3 Possible Sources 223
Contents vii
8 An Outline of al-Māturīdī’s Teachings 231
Prolegomena: Epistemology 231
8.1 The World 233
8.1.1 The Contingency of the World 233
8.1.1.1 Al-Māturīdī’s Proofs 233
8.1.1.2 The Background of the Argument 236
8.1.2 The Ontological Structure of the World 242
8.1.2.1 Bodies and Accidents 242
8.1.2.2 Natures 253
8.1.2.3 Informing Factors and Exemplary Models 260
8.2 God 262
8.2.1 God’s Existence 262
8.2.2 God’s Knowability 264
8.2.2.1 The Rationalistic Position of the Ḥanafites 264
8.2.2.2 Inferring the Unseen from that which is Seen 266
8.2.3 God’s Oneness 268
8.2.4 The Otherness of the One 274
8.2.5 God’s Attributes 278
8.2.5.1 Earlier Ḥanafite Views 278
8.2.5.2 Al-Māturīdī’s Contribution 282
8.2.6 The Ambiguous Descriptions of God in the Qurʾān 287
8.2.6.1 Earlier Ḥanafite Views 287
8.2.6.2 Al-Māturīdī’s Contribution 291
8.2.7 God’s Wisdom 296
8.3 Human Beings 300
8.3.1 Human Rationality 300
8.3.2 Human Actions 302
8.3.2.1 The Conceptualization of the Ḥanafites and the
Karrāmites 302
8.3.2.2 Al-Māturīdī’s Contribution 304
8.3.3 Belief and Sin 308
Concluding Observations 313
1 Al-Māturīdī’s Position in Islamic Theology 313
2 The Relationship to Abū Ḥanīfa 317
3 The Relationship to al-Ashʿarī 317
4 The Formation of the Māturīdīya 319
viii contents
Appendix: Inauthentic and Doubtful Texts 325
1 Inauthentic Texts 325
1.1 Sharḥ al-Fiqh al-akbar 325
1.2 Risāla fī l-ʿaqāʾid 329
1.3 Kitāb al-Tawḥīd 329
1.4 Risāla fī-mā lā yajūz al-waqf ʿalayhi 329
2 Doubtful Texts 330
Fawāʾid 330
Bibliography 332
Index of People 349
Index of Religious and Political Movements 353
Index of Arabic Terms 355
Preface
This volume is the edited English version of my book, Al-Māturīdī und die sun-
nitische Theologie in Samarkand, originally published in 1997 by E.J. Brill. In
addition to the original publication it includes a number of corrections and
addenda as well as references to more recent publications on al-Māturīdī,
including the Istanbul edition of his Qurʾān commentary which was completed
in 2011 (see the introductory chapter of “The State of Research and Current
Conceptualizations”).
The publication of this English translation was made possible by the per-
sonal dedication of several people whom I would like to thank by name: Wadād
al-Qāḍī (Chicago), Sebastian Günther (Göttingen), and Hinrich Biesterfeldt
(Bochum) who were ready from the outset to include the book in the series
Islamic History and Culture, Kathy van Vliet from E. J. Brill, who diligently saw
the work through to completion, and Nicolas Hintermann (Zurich), who pre-
pared the index. The greater part of this project, however, was the result of the
inexhaustible efforts of Rodrigo Adem, a former student of Wadād al-Qāḍī who
is currently completing his PhD thesis at the University of Chicago. He not only
expended considerable personal effort to translate the book, but also carried
on innumerable discussions with me on its theological topics. In this respect
he was the ideal translator, combining linguistic fluency with knowledge of the
field, interest in the subject matter, and a keen sense of judgment.
List of Abbreviations
bch Bulletin de correspondance hellénique
beo Bulletin d’études orientales
ei1 Encyclopaedia of Islam, First Edition
ei2 Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition
eir Encyclopaedia Iranica
gal Brockelmann: Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur
gas Sezgin: Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums
ilo Institut de Lettres Orientales
is Islamic Studies
ja Journal Asiatique
jaos Journal of the American Oriental Society
jras Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
mideo Mélanges de l’Institut Dominicain d’Études Orientales
musj Mélanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph
mw Muslim World
olz Orientalistische Literaturzeitung
rei Revue des études islamiques
rej Revue des études juives
rso Rivista degli Studi Orientali
si Studia Islamica
za Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete
zdmg Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft
