Faith in the Al-Maturidi teachings

Abstract

Imam al-Maturidi is the founder of maturidism, in one of the two main theological schools of the Sunni direction. He undertook the further development of the theological theories of Abu Hanifah and contributed to an in-depth study of Sunni Islam in Central Asia. The interpretation of al-Maturidi’s faith is based on the principle of the recognition of religion by heart. With this conviction, he spoke against the Mutazilites, Kharijites who believed that faith was one of the forms of action, the Karramiya believed that faith could be voiced, and Jachmia perceived faith as knowledge. Because, simply believing in God and her voicing does not lead to a true religion. True religion requires sincerity and respect. Sincerity and respect comes from the heart. Hence, faith becomes holistic only through sincere belief and acceptance by the whole inner world. Nevertheless, the language is an additional means for voicing faith in the heart. And knowledge is an indispensable condition for the further strengthening of faith and truth. From this point of view, the thinker recognized the importance of mind and knowledge. Al-Maturidi also mentioned that faith in divinity is not measured by actions, and faith is not measured by the number of committed acts. Since faith can not be measured by numbers. Therefore, he believed that in people who believe in God, decency is the same. In the thinker’s doctrine, faith was born later. Since faith in God and acceptance of his greatness is human activity. It is obvious that no one can doubt that human action takes place. Therefore, one must be sure of the faith of one’s heart and acknowledge one’s devotion to God.
Key words: Al-Maturidi, Iman, Tasdiq, Iqrar, Ithtithna’, Qalb, Ma’rifat, Qur’an, Mu’tazila, Khashwi, Madhab, Khariji.