Imom Buxoriy xalqaro ilmiy-tadqiqot markazi bukhari.uz
Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi’s teachings in the science of kalam and law are described in his two books: “Kitab at-Tawhid” and “Kitab ta’vilat ahl as-Sunnah”. Information concerning their essence is also declared in the scientific research works devoted to Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi’s teachings called “Maturidiya”.
The period in which Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi lived, i.e. the second half of the 9th century and the first half of the 10th century, was a golden flourishing period of the Islamic science and particularly the science of kalam. This period also became the period of free expression of ideas and visions. At that period in Maveraunnahr the scholars in secular and religious sciences began to express their concerns and attitudes to the real facts of life and religion, and this factor lead to the formation of different trends and parties in religion. One of the wide-spread trends of that period was called Mu’tazilah. During the reign of Arabic Caliphate, this trend was rather influential teaching and it covered a considerable part of the believers. Later on there also appeared some sub-branches of this trend called Jahmis, Karramis, Murji’as and others which were not so widely spread among Muslims. These parties were mistaken in the theory of knowledge and belief. As to Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi’s theory, it was based on pure knowledge of belief and cognition, and it was created as a tool to fight against mistaken trends and parties to lead them to the correct way of belief and knowledge. The importance of his teachings lies in the fact that they were based on pure and correct principles of understanding the world in secular and religious sciences.
Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi left us about fifteen original works. Among them the books devoted to law and its styles are the following: “Kitab al-jadal” (A Book of Dialectics) and “Kitab maakhaz ash-Shariah” (The Basic Sources of Shariah).
The main products of Maturidi’s creation constitute mostly the works devoted to the science of kalam and its different branches. The others are mainly refusals to criticism of those trends and parties that were mistaken on the road to real knowledge. Among them we can mention his works titled as “Kitab at-Tawhid”, “Kitab al-maqalat”, “Kitab radd a’la-l-karamita”, “Kitab bayan vahm al-Mu’tazilah”, “Kitab radd usul al-khamsa li-Abi Muhammad al-Bahili”, “Kitab radd avail al-adillat li-l-Ka’bi”, “Kitab va’id al-fussaq li-l-Ka’bi”, “Kitab radd tahziyb al-jadaj li-l-Ka’bi”, “Kitab radd al-Imamat li-ba’z ra-vafiz” and others. The earliest written book among them is “Kitab at-Tawhid” and it is devoted to criticising the Mu’tazilah and other trends in religion and their incorrect understanding of the essence of religion.
Another important book written by Imam al-Maturidi is titled as “Ta’vilat ahli as-Sunnah” or “Ta’vilat al-Qur’an”. Scientific and practical importance of this book is great as it is one of the first attempts of the Sunnah community to comment on the essence of the Holy Qur’an. This commentary was based on consciousness of mind and its expression in reality. In other words, the Holy Qur’an is commented on and classified from Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi’s point of view.
On the bases of the above-mentioned ideas, we can state that the two books written by Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi “Kitab at- Tawhid” and “Ta’vilat ahli as-Sunnah” are of great importance for the Islamic science. These books promote different positive ideas concerning the philosophy of Islam and criticize those parties which lost l heir right way in religion, especially those of the Sunnah community.
According to the opinion expressed by Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi, bad behaviour of the man is his fate and it was decided by the will of Allah but the person realizes this fate without the will of Allah and therefore each person is responsible for his behaviour and doings in the society. Allah created the man and gave his hcedom into his hands and he acts according to his own will. Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi calls this freedom of will “af’ali ikhtiyari”, i.e. the man has his will in his hands and acts in accord with it.
Although mentioned eleven centuries ago, Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi’s ideas promoted in his above-mentioned books are of great importance even today. As we know, the possibilities of man’s mind and his thought do not have limitations but he must be responsible for his doings and wrong acts. In Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi’s activities, a clear-cut commenting on the essence of the leligion of Islam and merciless fight against those parties which try lo comment on the essence of Islam in their own way is the main motto in his books.
There are many possibilities for scholars to study and investigate the legacy of Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi. The manuscripts of his scientific works and the commentaries written on the m are preserved in the scientific libraries of not only Egypt, Turkey, India and Britain but also in the libraries of manuscripts of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On celebration of the 1130th anniversary of Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi” serves as a very important document in the organization of the study and investigation of the legacy of Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi.
Ubaydulla Uvatov Professor, Doctor of History
Press service of ISRCIB
