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THE DOCTRINES OF THE MATURIDITE SCHOOL
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO AS-SAWAD AL-A'ZAM
OF AL-H.A KIM AS-SAMARQANDI
by
FA ROUQ 'OMAR 'ABD-ALLAH AL- 'OMAR
Thesis presented to the University of Edinburgh
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
May 1974
I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deep gratitude to my
w.
supervisor, Professor Montgomery Watt, of whose advice
and suggestions I have availed myself a great deal.
I am also in debt to the University of Kuwait for
granting me this scholarship, and for making it possible
for me to visit the Soviet Union, Istanbul, Iran, Cairo
and Baghdad, and to the Muslim Religious Board of the
Republic of Uzbekistan.
I should like to extend my thanks to my father, to
my wife Ibtisam al-Malik, to my family, to the
Revd. J.M. Ritchie, to Mr. El-Galli and to the rest
~ad
of my colleagues, and to the Librarians of Edinburgh
University.
My thanks also go to Mrs. P.B. Williams who typed
this thesis, and to Miss I. Crawford, the Secretary
of the Department of Arabic Studies.
II
ABSTRACT OF THESIS
Al-Maturidiyya are those who followed the teachings
of Abu Man~ur Mu~ammad b. Mu~ammad al-Maturidi who was in
his turn a follower of the Imam Abu ~anifa.
The school of al-Maturidi, along with that of al-
' -
Ash ari, made a great impact on Islamic thought and
together they upheld and defended Sunnism from the 4/10
century onwards.
In the first part of this thesis, an endeavour will
be made to get to know this scholar and other topics to
be studied will include the period during which this
school emerged, the position of Samarqand as the
headquarters of the Maturidites, the teachers of al-Maturidi
and the students who studied directly under him and their
contribution to Islamic thought.
The second part of the thesis will be devoted to an
introduction to al-?akim as-SamarqandiYs work, As-Sawad
Al-?akim was the first student to study under
al-Maturidi and together they planted the first seeds
of this school.
In another section of this part a comparison between
the teacher al-Maturidi and the student al-~akim will be
presented and this part will be ended by a translation of
As-Sawad al-A'?am which embodies the early dogmatic thinking
of the Maturidite school.
The last part of the thesis is an appendix which deals
with a mas'ala ascribed to Abu-1-Layth as-Samarqandi entitled:
Is Iman created or uncreated, Hal al-Iman Makhlug aw GhaY£
Makhlug?
III
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
(A & J) To Him belongs glory and power
Ahm Ibn-~anbal, Al-Musnad.
--L.-
fills ab as-Sam'ani, K. al-Ansab
(AS) peace be upon him
Ayylib Ayytib 'Ali, Al-'Agida al-Maturidiyya
Bagh al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad.
Balkh al-Balkhi, Fada'il Balkh
B.M. al-Hakim as-Samarqandi, As-Sawad al-A'~am
[Manuscript in British Museum]
B.N. al-~akim as-Samarqandi, As-Sawad al-A'?am
[Manuscript in Bibliotheque National]
Brok. Brockelmann Geschichte der Arabischen Literatur
Dar. al-~akim as-Samarqandi, As-Sawad al-A'?am
[bar al-Kutub al-Mi~riyya]
Abu Dawtid, Sunan
D. I. Amin, Duha-1-Islam.
Din. al-Baghdadi, K. U~ul ad-Din.
E.I. Encyclopaedia of Islam.
Farg. al-Baghdadi, Al-Farg bayn al-Firag.
Fawd. al-Laknawi, Al-Fawa'id al-Bahiyya fi Tarajim
al-Hanafiyya.
H.M.P. Sharif, A History of Muslim Philosophy.
Ira. al-~akim as-Samarqandi As-Sawad al-A'zam
[Persian version, published in Iran]
Isharat. al-Baya~I, Isharat al-Muram
Jar. Ibn-abi-1-Wafa', Al-Jawahir al-Mudi'a fi
rabaqat al-Hanafiyya
Juml. al-Bukhari, Jumal U~ul ad-Din.
Kaf. al-Kaffawi, Tabaqat Kata'ib A'lam al-Akhyar
IV
Kanz. al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Kanz al-'Ummal
(KAW) May God honour him.
Kh ~ajji Khalifa, Kashf az-Zunun.
Khald. Ibn Khaldun, Al-Mugaddima.
Khiz. Abu-1-Layth as-Samarqandi, Khizanat al-Figh.
(LA) God curse him.
Ibn-al-Athir, Al-Lubab fi Tahdhib al-Ansab
Mag. al-Ash'ari, Magalat al-Islamiyyin wa-Khtilaf
al-Musallin.
M. C. Wensinck, The Muslim Creed.
Mez. Mez, Die Renaissance Des Islams
[Arabic Translation]
Mift. ~ashkBprUzade, Mifta~_8s-sa'ada wa Mi~ba~
as-Siyada fi Maw~u'at al-'Ultim.
Mizan adh-Dhahabi, Mizan al-I'tidal fi Nagd ar-Rijal.
Mus. Muslim, Sahih
I I I
Must. Mustafizur-Ra~an, An Edition of the first two
Chapters of al-Maturidi s "Ta' wilat ahl
r
as-Sunna" [Ph.D thesis]
Q. Different translations of the~Qur'an, with
some amendments.
Qand. an-Nasafi, Qandiyya.
(RAA) God be pleased with him (them)
(SAAS) God bless him and Grant him peace.
Samarkand. Oumniakov & Aleskerov, Samarkand.
Sez. Sezgin, Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums.
Shadh. Ibn-al-'Imad. Shadharat adh-Dhahab fi Akhbar
man Dhahab.
Shr. Ash-Shahrastani, Kitab al-Milal wa-n-Nihal.
Subk. as-Subki, ~abagat ash-Shafi'iyya al-Kubra.
V
Sulm. as-Sulami, K. Tabaqat as-Sufiyya
(SWT) May He be praised and exalted
(T) The exalted
Tabt. rashkopruzade, Tabaqat al-Fuqaha'.
Tadhk. Adh-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz
Taj. Ibn Qutlubugha, Taj at-Tarajim
Tahdh. Ibn-~ajar, Tahdhib at-Tahdhib.
Ta'wilat. al-Maturidi, Ta'wilat ahl-as-Sunna.
Taw~Id. al-Maturidi, At-Taw~Id.
Tr. at-Tirmidhi, Sahih
I • I
Turk. Barthold, Turkestan Down to the Mongol
Invasion.
u~ul. al-Pazdawi, K. U~ul ad-Din.
Us d. Adh-Dhahabi, Usd al-Ghaba fi Ma'rifat
as-Sahaba
• ! !
Watt. Watt, The Formative Period of Islamic Thought.
VI
-C- -0- -N- -T- -E- -N- -T- -S
Page
Acknowledgements I
Abstract of Thesis II
List of Abbreviations III
Contents VI
Introduction 1 - 6
PART I
The School of al-Maturidi 7 - 54
1. Al-Maturidi, his Teachers and Students 8
a. The teachers of al-Maturidi 12
1. Mu~ammad b. Muqatil ar-Razi 12
. .
2. Nusayr b. Yahya al-Ba1khi 14
3. Agmad b. Is'~aq al-Juzajani 15
4. Abu Na~r al-'Iya~I 15
b. Al-Maturidi 18
i. His Life 18
ii. His Works 21
c. The Students of a1-Maturidi 28
1. A1-~akim as-Samarqandi 29
i. His Life 29
ii. His Works 30
2. Abu-1-Layth al-Bukhari 31
3. Abu A.h mad al- 'Iyad. i 31
4. Abu-1-~asan ar-Rustufaghni 32
i. His Life 32
ii. His Works 33
5. 'Abd-al-Karim al-Pazdawi 35
VII
6. Abu-1-Layth as-Samarqandi 35
i. His Life 35
ii. His Works 40
2. Al-Maturidi and al-Ash'ari 51
PART II
As-Sawad al-A'zam 55 - 78
1. Introduction to As-Sawad al-A'zam 56
2. Comparison between al-Maturidi and al-~akim 62
A. Faith 62
B. The Divine attributes 67
C. The Beatific vision 71
D. The Throne 73
E. The relation between God and human
actions 74
3. Translation of the text 79
Appendix.
Hal al-Iman MakhluQ aw Ghayr Makhluq
[a Mas'ala attributed to Abu-1-Layth
as-Samarqandi] 219
1. Description of the manuscript 220
2. The Commentator 223
3. The Origin of the Question 225
4. The opinions of al-Ash'ari, al-Maturidi,
al-~akim and Abu-1-Layth concerning the
creation of faith 228
5. The translation of the text 233
6. The text in Arabic 238
Bibliography 243
1
I N T R 0 D U C T I 0 N
The school of al-Maturidi is one of the important
theological schools in Islamic History. Nonetheless, this
school was deprived of its status and was overshadowed by
the school of al-Ash'ari. It has not been given the
attention which is due to it. This thesis, however, tries
to make up for that by laying more emphasis on the pioneers
of this school.
This work is divided into two parts:
I. The School of al-Maturidi. II. As Sawad al-A'~am of
al-~akim as-Samarqandi. Finally, there is appended a
Mas'ala ascribed to Abu-1-Layth as-Samarqandi.
I. The first part deals with the school of al-Maturidi,
Samarqand, the headquarters of the Maturidites; al-Maturidi,
his teachers and his students; and this part will be
concluded with an attempt to show why al-Ash'ari drew more
attention than al-Maturidi.
As for the works which are mainly consulted in this
part, they are the and the biographical
~anafite non-~anafite
books, historical works and different works written by the
Maturidites themselves.
The non-~anafite biographical books, such as Mizan al
I'tidal by Adh-Dhahabi; Tahdhib at-Tahdhib by al-'Asqalani;
Shadhrat adh-Dhahab by Ibn al-'Imad; etc., hardly yielded
any comprehensive idea about the Maturidites. Sometimes
the teachers and the students of al-Maturidi are mentioned,