Abū Mans ūr al-Ma¯turīdī (d. 333/944): multiplex cosmology and the ethics of belief

Abstract

Dialectical theology (ʿilm al-kalām) developed both as a response to and as a synthesis with the influx of Hellenistic and other non-Islamic philosophies. Kalām, although being first and foremost a theological discipline, discussed multiple subjects which are technically defined as wholly philosophical, such as atomism, but also subjects such as epistemology and moral responsibility which go beyond the boundaries of mere scriptural theology. Kalām has therefore, in the view by many historians, the same claim to be defined as a philosophy as Falsafa. Within the formative period before the Avicennian turn in Kalām there were many Muslim thinkers who innovated philosophical ideas next to and separate from the early Falāsifa. Sadly most of their works are extinct whereby we rely on later works who summarize, cite, or discuss their ideas. The significant but still fairly unknown medieval thinker Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d. 333/944) is one of the earliest Kalām representatives of what later would be defined as the Sunnī orthodox, which has left us with multiple extant works and citations. Al-Māturīdī, belonging to the Ḥanafī school of jurisprudence, was the first to successfully connect and synthesize the indigenous Ḥanafī philosophy of creed (uṣūl al-dīn) with the non-indigenously influenced theological and philosophical trends of the 9 th and 10 th century. In this chapter we will discuss al-Māturīdī’s philosophy on epistemology, cosmology, divine and human nature, and moral philosophy. In this chapter we will discuss al-Māturīdī’s philosophy on epistemology, cosmology, divine and human nature, and ethics.