Al-Māturīdī and the Development of Sunnī Theology in Samarqand

372 Pages·2014·1.61 MB·English

by  Ulrich Rudolph, Rodrigo Adem

Al-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