Abstract
This article aims to reveal the grounds for the criticisms in the commentary named Ta’wîlât al-Qur’an by Imam Maturidi (d. 333/944) to the Qur'an interpretation of Mu’tazilah, known as the representative of rational discourse in the tradition of Islamic science and thought. As it is known, tawhid and justice, which are the essence of the five principles in Mu'tazili thought, played an extremely important role in shaping the mentality of Mu'tazili exegesis. The most of Imam Maturidi’s criticisms in his Ta’wîlât al-Qur’an against Mu’tazilah is addressed to the topics related to these principles. As the main concern of this work is to determine the reasons of Imam Maturidi’s criticism of Mu‘tazili principles rather than to discuss his general criticism about them, the work will not include all of the topics addressed by him, only the ones that are enough to exemplify his opinions. Although Imam Maturidi's criticisms of Mu’tazilah have been the subject of some academic studies, as far as we can determine, there is no study that deals with the reasons of these criticisms in an orderly manner. In this study, in which the document analysis method, one of the frequently used methods in qualitative research is used, firstly I give preliminary information about Imam Maturidi’s perception of Mu’tazilah, then I determine that his criticism of Mu’tazilah is based on reasons such as ignoring of context, narrowing interpretation, literal reading, linguistic reasons, interpretation contrary to the dogmas and denominational presuppositions. Mu’tazilah scholars have undertaken an extremely important mission in responding to the criticisms voiced by non-Islamic circles to cast a shadow on the divinity of the Qur'an. This mission, undertaken to defend the Qur'an against external attacks, prompted the Mu’tazilah to expand their intellectual interests to include philosophy. This made Mu‘tazilite system of thought open or vulnerable to the effect of philosophical ideas. As a matter of fact, Mu’tazilah took a close interest in the philosophical heritage inherited from ancient Greece in this process, and this interest brought along traces of philosophical rationality, which is the distinguishing characteristic of Mu’tazilah. The influence in question was also reflected in the content of the five principles, which formed the basis of the Mu’tazilah's understanding of religion. In fact, the five principles are a whole of principles that are comprised of religious, political, and ethical efforts of a kalam sect that tries to contribute to solutions of the Muslim society’s problems. Therefore, these principles, which can be considered as an impression of religious sensitivity of Mu’tazilah, were also seen as a precondition of understanding the Qur’an properly. Moreover, these principles were regarded as an indicator as to whether a person affiliates with Mu’tazilah or not, and those who do not adhere to all of these principles were not considered as Mu‘tazilites. However, understanding the Qur'an in the determination of these principles corresponds to the affirmation of the views that have gained wide acceptance within the sect with references to the Qur'an. The Mu’tazilah made a serious effort to harmonize the verses that they deemed contrary to the basic principles of the sect, and in this respect, they turned to forcible interpretations many times by narrowing the meaning of Quranic provisions, ignoring the context, forcing the capabilities of the language as much as possible, exceeding the meaning limits of Quranic provisions, and making sectarian presuppositions decisive. Imam Maturidi criticized Mu’tazilah for almost all these interpretations, which are the subject of fierce debates in both tafsir and kalam traditions. All these criticisms explicitly show that there is a great difference between understandings of Maturidi and Mu’tazilah with regard to, in general, religion, in particular, Qur’an.