Abstract:

Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad al-Māturīdī was a scholar who used the reason while evaluating Islamic tradition. His masterpiece Ta’wīlâtu’l-Qur’ân was also formed by this understanding. This caused the perception that alMāturīdī was standing at a distance from Sufism. This might stem from the inability to reconcile the concept of asceticism or Sufism and his rationalistic perspective. The fact that the symbolic / ishārī interpretations of verses by Sufis were not seen in al-Māturīdī strengthened this perception. Al-Māturīdī made an ishārī interpretation in his book for only one verse, but he reached that conclusion through the reason as well. On the other hand, he narrated some statements in his Ta’wīlât which were very similar to Sufi statements. For example, he mentioned some of the Sufi statements regarding being rich or poor, being patient or grateful, staying away from the evil in order to train the nafs and have an edge with the sultans. When compared to some scholars such as Qushayr (d. 465/1072), Ghazzali (d. 505/1111), Sarraj (d. 378/988), al-Kalabadhi (d. 380/990), this fact would manifest itself clearly. On the other hand, provided that his opus is read with a holistic approach, it will be figured out that he annotated the Sufi statements and made them be understood explicitly. For example, a Sufi might define the patient as the one who abandons complaining. Al-Māturīdī expounds these statements as: the human whose essence is under the control of Allah since he/she was created by Him. The owner has the right on His property. In this case, the human does not have the right to complain about the things he/she faces. It is possible to increase the examples. Besides, his accomplishment to show how somebody reaches some good deeds such as being generous and patient is remarkable. On the other side, he might open a new perspective in Sufi tradition by his own approach. In this context, he has re-defined the concept of asceticism/zuhd and the clarification/purification of the soul. According to him, asceticism is not only to turn someone’s face from the worldly life but also to share the wealth with others. The obligatory conclusion of this definition is to have wealth in order to share it with others. In order to share the wealth, one has to be rich. Therefore, being rich is not a situation to be blamed. However, many Sufis opposed this idea. He has also re-defined the purification of the soul in a similar way. The purification of the soul is to stay hungry in order to be purified. By this means, the person will prevent him/ herself from the sins. However, according to Maturidi, there is no need to stay hungry in order to abstain from the sins even though the hunger helps it. On the contrary, the person needs to eat good food because things like this might lead to gratefulness. Being grateful might also prevent someone from doing bad deeds. By this way, he/ she might know how weak he or she is. On the other side, to think how great Allah is might help people to abstain from the sins. Also, to think about the hell will be helpful to keep one away from the sins because bad deeds will be paid by the punishment in the hell unless Allah forgives them. Besides, to contemplate on the blessings in the heaven might keep someone away from doing bad deeds because reaching a better position and gaining eternal wellness is preferred rather than deceptive and ill-gotten things. In that case, being wealthy, healthy and powerful might cause to do bad deeds, but a person might abstain from the sins thorough deep contemplation. In this paper, the Sufi understanding of al-Māturīdī will be examined. This study will display the position of al-Māturīdī in the Sufi literature even though he had been seen as a scholar who had a reason-based thinking system on Islamic thought tradition. It is also discussed that al-Māturīdī has redefined some terms of Sufism. 

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