Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī’s Universalist Interpretation of Islam

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This article, composed of three main sections, analyzes the views of the founder of the Māturīdī school of Islamic Sunnī theology, Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d. 333/944), that directly concern or can be legitimately associated with nationalism. The first part will discuss al-Māturīdī’s theoretical framework concerning the relation of superiority among the Muslim nations by examining his arguments about the superiority of man over the angels and that of Adam over Satan/the Devil (Iblīs). It will also discuss the Arab-ʿAjam (non-Arab) relationship, a context in which the Imām intensifies his discussion of nationalism, and I will unpack his perspective on the relationship between the Arabs and the non-Arabs in terms of superiority. The second part will examine relationship between the Qurʾān and Arabic qua the language of the Qurʾān as well as the possibility and probability of the Qurʾān being revealed in any language other than Arabic. The third part will focus on the relationship between the wording and meaning in the Qurʾān as well as between translations of the Qurʾān and its Arabic original. In the conclusion, I will suggest the relevance of al-Māturīdī’s Qurʾānic hermeneutics to the present situation of the Turks as a non-Arab Muslim nation vis-à-vis the question of better understanding the meaning and essence of the Qurʾān.