Ulrich Rudolph. Al-Maturidi und die Sunnitische Theologie in Samarkand. New York - Leiden - Köln, Brill Academic Publishers, 1997, 396 p., indexes (proper names, religious and political groups, Arabic terms).
Texte intégral
1In order to place the personality and work of the wellknown mutakallim al-Māturīdī (d. 333/944) in their historical and regional context, the author, in a first step, gets down to investigating the spread of the Ḥanafite doctrine in Transoxania as well as the religious milieu of Samarkand during al-Māturīdī‘s lifetime, both, by focussing in particular on the analysis of preserved theological texts. Thereby it is shown that already at the beginning of the 3rd/9th century a distinct theological identity of the eastern Ḥanafiyya existed, different from the one in the central Islamic lands. Furthermore, it is proved convincingly, e.g., that the K. as-sawād al-a‘ẓam the « Samanid credo » of Ḥakīm as-Samarqandī, is not to be considered as a, so to speak, proto-Māturīdite text, but as an independent one reflecting the then state of Ḥanafite theology in Transoxania. In a second step devoted to portray the thinker al-Māturīdī, his teachings and methods, the author in particular analyzes the K. at-tawḥīd and its intellectual basis in depth. From this al-Māturīdī appears as an open-minded and circumspect thinker who fed himself on multiple sources. In order to formulate a new synthesis, he used Ḥanafite tradition as well as models of opponents (e.g. Mu‘tazilites, Ismā‘īlīs, Dualists). In crucial questions (the nature of god, divine attributes, etc.) al-Māturīdī steered a middle course, previously developed within the Ḥanafiyya only with respect to the question of human acts. Thereby al-Māturīdī marks not only a progress, but a turning point in the development of the religious doctrine in Transoxania. Beyond just testifying and demarcating the belief, as has been done previously, with al-Māturīdī’s speculative theology Transoxania entered into the history of kalām. Nevertheless, it happened only a century later that in Transoxania, by disputing the Aš‘ariyya, the thinking of al-Māturīdī was recalled and the formation of the Māturīdite school took its course. All this and much more is presented by Rudolph; well-founded, competent and scholarly in its best sense. Very rarely the reader may have the slight impression that the points at issue are led to a positive solution through a desire to establish a coherent picture of al-Māturīdī’s person and work (see, e.g., p. 221 ff., the discussion of the K. at-tawḥīd as textual basis), but that does not affect at all the brilliance of this monography, which represents a challenge for specialists in the field, but can also serve as an exciting introduction into early Islamic theology and its distinct development in Central Asia.
Pour citer cet article
Référence électronique
Reinhard Eisener, « Ulrich Rudolph. Al-Maturidi und die Sunnitische Theologie in Samarkand. New York - Leiden - Köln, Brill Academic Publishers, 1997, 396 p., indexes (proper names, religious and political groups, Arabic terms). », Abstracta Iranica [En ligne], Volume 22 | 2001, document 347, mis en ligne le 17 février 2010, consulté le 18 avril 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/abstractairanica/36783 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/abstractairanica.36783
Haut de pageDroits d’auteur
Le texte et les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés), sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire.
Haut de page