Abstract:

The question of human agency has been one of the fundamental problems that concerned scholars throughout history. This is testified by the observation that a rich intellectual literature has accumulated on the issue in the course of time. In the tradition of Islamic thought especially the Kalâm scholars appear to have brought depth and breadth to the question within the possibilities of the theological schools to which they belonged. Against the approach of the Jabriyya that absolutely negated human free will, the Mu’tazila assigned a broad room to human agency. This led the Ahl al-Sunna scholars to adopt a synthesis between the two extremes. While the Ash’ari school, which embodies prominent figures of Kalâm, has proposed solutions based on certain principles, scholars of the Maturidi school appear to have pursued a perpetuated quest, from the first period to the end. The Ottoman ulama, who were the Maturidis of the later period, tried, in their newly composed risâlas, to develop with fresh verifications the interpretations of their Maturidi predecessors. Although the Maturidiyya continued to be the dominant thought, it is noteworthy that some scholars in the Ottoman realm nevertheless composed works in the Ash’ari line. In his Risâlat al-Irâdat al-Juz’iyya, which constitutes the subject of this study, Abdurrahîm Fedâ’î Efendi, both a member of the ulema and a sufi figure, levels harsh criticism from an essentially Ash’ari perspective against contemporary Maturidi ulama’s understanding of irâda juz’iyya. The identification of his critiques will contribute to our apprehension of the nature of the deepening Maturidi-Ash’ari strife in the later (muta’akhkhirîn) period on the question of human agency (irâda).

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