IMAM AL-MATURIDI (870-944)

As is known, our country has always been famous for its ge­niuses. Especially, the geniuses of the 9th-12th centuries astonished. One of such learned people of that period was Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi, who occupies a special place in the series of geniuses that made a great contribution to the science of kalam[1]. It is strange that when Imam al-Bukhari died in 870, the future star of the Islamic science Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi was born in one of the villages of Samarkand called Maturid. Inadequate information about Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi’s rarely life and his scientific activities was presented in some of the manuscripts written by the authors of the Middle Ages as Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, AbdulkarimSa’d as-Sam’ani, Abu-l-FidaZayniddinQasim ibn Qutlubugha, Muhiddin al-Qurayshi, al-Kafavi, Abu-1-Muin an-Nasafi, Tashkuprizada and Hajji Khalifa.

The full name of the scientist was Muhammad ibn Mahmud Abu Mansur al-Maturidi as-Samarqandi and he was born in 236/870 in Samarkand in the mahalla[2] called Maturid (Maturit). He died in 333/944 and was buried in the graveyard called Chakardiza in Samarkand. We have information about his early life and education that he received from his father ibn Mahmud. Later he attended the primary school in Kuttab and then the madrasah in a mosque of Samarkand called RabatiGhaziyan.

Thanks to the great contribution made by his estimated teachers, he became a famous scientist in the world of science of kalam. His teachers in this field were such estimated scholars of that time as Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn al-Abbas ibn al-Husain al-Iyadi, Abu Bakr Ahmad al-Juzjani, Nusayr ibn Yahya al-Balkhi and Mu­hammad ibn Muqatilar-Razi (he was the judge of the city of Ray).

  About the teachings of Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi

It is a great pity that the historians who wrote about the life and scientific career of Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi left very little information about him. We have at our disposal only the materials that have been mentioned above. Nevertheless, we have to mention with great satisfaction that the scholars of the later periods wrote a great deal of materials about Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi’s life and scientific career.

Our great ancestor and compatriot Imam Abu Mansur al-Matu­ridi, first, made a great historical discovery in the field of the science of kalam and founded a special school in this direction, whichis called by his respectable name “Maturidiya School” in the system of Islamic sciences. This school studies the religious teachings, clas­sifies them according to their aims of study and teachings, interprets their ideas in accord with the principles declared by the ayahs of the Holy Qur’an and shows the right way for the real Muslims to choose and follow. The teachings of Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi point out those trends and parties who lost their way in the vast field of Islam and lead them to the right way chosen for the real Muslims. 1-he experts who are engaged in the science of kalamare calledmutakallims, i.e. the scholars who are interested in defining and analyzing the aims and purposes of different parties and trends in the Islamic religion based on mental facts and proofs.

 An important source about the teachings of Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi

Unlike most of other scientists who lived in the Middle Ages in our country, Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi did not visit other countries but remained in his motherland — Samarkand. Perhaps because of this fact, his teachings, especially his ideas about the science of kalam were not so widely spread at his time in the territories of other Muslim countries. In comparison with the creative activity of the founder of the “Ash’ariya school”, a representative of the science of kalam Imam Abu-l-Hasan al-Ash’ari’s name and his teachings were widely spread in the East during his lifetime as he had lived in Baghdad. Even the bibliographic works contain very little information about the life and scientific legacy of Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi. As an instance, we can mention the famous book in the history of religion and its subclasses written by a well-known Arabic historian, an estimated expert in Islamic philosophy and religious teachings Abu-l-Fatkh Muhammad ash-Sharhastani (1076-1153). In his book titled “Al-Milalva-n-nihal” (Religions and Subclasses), he did not even mention Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi’s name and his Maturidiya School of kalam.

To conclude, the first edition of “Tabsirat al-adilla” is a precious research from the scientific point of view. Investigating it thoroughly and translating it into Uzbek would undoubtedly serve to study deeply the Maturidiya School founded by the great scientist Abu Mansur al-Maturidi.

[1]kalam — utterance, lexicology.

[2]mahalla — residential area.

️ Farrux Saydullaev, International scientific research centre of Imam Termizi Head of International Relations