Abu Mansur al-Maturidi - Key Beliefs and Theological Concepts (Notes on Islamic History and Theology)

 

The following are some of Abu Mansur al-Maturidi's key ideas and beliefs as expressed in his tome Kitab at-Tawheed.

-He believed that the attributes of essence and the attributes of act were both eternal and subsisting in the divine essence, in contrast to the Mu'tazilites and al-Ash'ari. 

-Al-Maturidi taught that takwin, the act of bringing something into existence, was distinct from mukawwan, the existing things. This became controversial with the Ash'ari school of aqeedah. 

-While the Muslims do see Allah in the afterlife, they do not "grasp" him with their bodily eyes.

-The speech of Allah is an eternal attribute, but it can not be heard. He agreed with the Mu'tazila in interpreting Surah 4:165 as meaning that Allah created a voice which Moses could hear.

-Al-Maturidi defined faith (iman) as intellectual assent expressed by verbal confession.

-One big issue in Islamic theology is the question of how Allah's attribute of creating is eternal, while the creation is not eternal. Here is al-Maturidi's response to this question:

"We respond to him that this is because God brings things into existence as they are supposed to be. Similar to this is His Qudra (power over things) and His Will for them, as well as His Knowledge about them - in such a way that everything occurs at its proper time. Creatio ex Nihil is viewed in the sense of what it will be’ and not of the knowledge about it, despite the fact that neither the knowledge of existing things nor the power over them are changed. The core principle of this issue is that if God is described by an Attribute [such as His Power and Knowledge] it necessitates that these are attributed to Him pre-eternally. On the other hand, if the thing is mentioned together with Him using a description that is similar to His, such as, ‘the thing known’ [by His Knowledge], ‘the thing decreed’ [by His Power], ‘the thing willed’ [by His Will] or ‘the thing originated’ [by His Origination], one would need to indicate when these things were created, so that there is no confusion by applying pre-eternity to them" (Abu Mansur al-Matridi, Kitab at-Tawheed (The Book of Monotheism): A Manual of Sunni Theology, pg. 94)

-Another big issue is the Islamic texts which speak about Allah sitting on the throne. This issue has been hotly debated amongst the different Muslim sects. A big problem has been that it would seem that putting Allah in a location (such as "seated on his throne [arsh]") is at the same time ascribing dimensional limitations to him. Here is who al-Maturidi discussed this particular question:

"In terms of ascribing particular things to God, it comes from the notion that God 1s showing [the thing] respect and favouring it, in terms of nobility, dignity and superiority”’ such as we find [in the following verse of the Holy Quran;] ‘God is with those who are conscious of Him and [the ascription to God such as when God] said ‘that is the mosque of God", ‘the camel of God of the house of God etc. Similarly, people’s relation to each other is also conceived in this way. We do not discount the possibility that accrediting creation to God can have the same implication as accrediting specific creation to another specific creation, it can imply that one is showing his favour towards another" (Kitab at-Tawheed, pgs. 137-138)

Abu Hasan al-Ash'ari (Notes on Islamic History and Theology)

 

Abu Hasan al-Ashari was born around the year 873 AD in Basran. He studied under a Mu'tazilite scholar, but later on, he abandoned Mu'tazilism and developed the school of the Ash'ariyya. 

There are variant stories of Abu Hasan al-Ashari's conversion. One reports that he saw Muhammad in a vision and was commanded to adhere to true tradition. 

"The chief points on which he opposed the doctrines of the Mu'tazila were:

1) He held that God had eternal attributes such as knowledge, sight, speech, and that it was by these that He was knowing, seeing, speaking, whereas the Mu'tazila said that God had no attributes distinct from His essence.

2) The Mu'tazila said that Qur'anic expressions, such as God's hand and face, must be interpreted to mean 'grace', 'essence' and so on. Al-Ash'ari, whilst agreeing that nothing corporeal was meant, held that they were real attributes whose precise nature was unknown. He took God's sitting on the throne in a similar way.

3) Against the view of Mu'tazila that the Quran was created, al-Ashari maintained that it was God's speech, an eternal attribute, and therefore uncreated.

4) In opposition to the view of the Mu'tazila that God could not literally be seen, since that would imply that He is corporeal and limited, al-Ash'ari held that the vision of God in the world to come is a reality, though we cannot understand the manner of it.

5) In contrast to the emphasis of the Mu'tazila on the reality of choice in human activity, al-Ash'ari insisted on God's omnipotence; everything, good and evil, is willed by God, and He creates the acts of men by creating in men the power to do each act......

7) Al-Ash'ari maintained the reality of various eschatological features, the Basin, the Bridge, the Balance and intercession by Muhammad, which were denied or rationally interpreted by the Mu'tazila.

(Umair Mirza, Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. 1, pg. 694)

al-Ash'ari was known for employing kalam in defense of orthodox Islamic theology, in contrast to many other Muslims, such as Ibn al-Jawzi, who denied the use of kalam altogether, viewing it as an innovation

Notable Mu'tazilite Theologians and Their Views (Notes on Islamic History)

 

1. Wasil ibn Ata

-It is widely agreed that the founder of the Mu'tazilite school was a man by the name of Wasil ibn Ata.

-Wasil ibn Ata left his teacher (Hasan al-Basri) due to his belief that a sinner could be in an intermediate state (neither a believer nor an unbeliever).

-Wasil is said to have argued with Kharijite scholars in his younger days.

2. Abu al-Hudhayl al-Alaf

He was born around 750 AD.

-Abu al-Hudhayl did not speak of the "attributes of essence" as later Mu'tazilite theologians did.

-He systematized the Mu'tazilite view of the attributes that went beyond merely negative theology, i.e. telling us only what God is not, rather than what he is.

-He seems to have viewed the attributes as separate entities from the essence of Allah. 

-A common objection to the Mu'tazilite view was that it made the attributes identical with one another. Abu al-Hudhayl responded by saying that though the attributes are indeed identical, their objects are different. 

-Abu al-Hudhayl stressed the omnipotence of God in the plan of human salvation. He attempted to maintain human free will in his theology and philosophy. 

-Abu al-Hudhayl did not make a distinction between God's attributes of essence and his attributes of act.

3. Ibrahim al-Nazzam

Al-Nazzam was born around 775 AD in Baghdad, Iraq. There he studied under Abu al-Hudhayl, but eventually broke off from him and founded his own theological school.

-"He made the one significant change to Abū al-Hudhayl’s model that would become the central point in the eyes of the majority of Muʿtazilites in Basra and Baghdad: he replaced the statement ‘God is knowing thanks to an act of knowledge that is identical with him’ with ‘God is knowing through himself" (Josef van Ess, Theology and Society in the Second and Third Centuries of the Hijrah: A History of Religious Thought in Early Islam, Vol. 3, pg. 443)

-Al-Nazzam answered the objection concerning Allah's attributes being identical with one another by stating that they differ due to their opposites, each of them signifying a distinct aspect. In this regard, he disagrees with Abu al-Hudhayl.

-Al Nazzam did not make a distinction between God's attributes of essence and his attributes of act.

-Al Nazzam distinguished five senses of will: intention, command/order, decreeing something, realization, and "to be about to...".

-Al-Nazzam understood the speech of Allah (i.e. the Qur'an) to not be generated through movement (as humans do when they make sound by the movement of the tongue and other organs). 

-Al-Nazzam taught that the speech of Allah is created at the moment of revelation.